Trying to wean from Methadone

[SemperFi]

Update on my progress.. a bit more "regular" tho still having GI bloat big time and am very tired. Want to go to bed by 7p.m. tho wake up frequently. Have been on same reduced dose a good 3 weeks now and will probably stay at this dose until returing from the 3 weeks in Fla. visiting my father again.. (he was just in the hospital again for 2 days and released today tho he's very weak and really should be in a Assisted Living facility soon). So roughly 77mg Methadone/week. Absoultely no new or additional low back pain and pain control is still very good now at this slightly decreased dose.

[KBear]

That's great news on the weaning.... sorry to hear about your dad. I hope you have a good visit.

[Justin]

Update on my progress.. a bit more "regular" tho still having GI bloat big time and am very tired. Want to go to bed by 7p.m. tho wake up frequently. Have been on same reduced dose a good 3 weeks now and will probably stay at this dose until returing from the 3 weeks in Fla. visiting my father again.. (he was just in the hospital again for 2 days and released today tho he's very weak and really should be in a Assisted Living facility soon). So roughly 77mg Methadone/week. Absoultely no new or additional low back pain and pain control is still very good now at this slightly decreased dose.

Hi Maria,

Good job on weaning down on the Methadone. I hope your Father is doing better.

[Cindylou]

Yes, I second that. Good job Maria! I hope your Dad is doing better and enjoy your time with him in Florida.

[scduggan]

Dear Maria,
Just wanted to tell you I am so excited about your meds reductions. You are doing it the right way and it sounds like it is paying off. Keep us posted!
CD

[SemperFi]

Thanks for all the well wishes re my visit to Fla. Dad's having back pain and he's really unhappy about it because it hurts everytime he gets up to move tho once moving or sitting or lying down he's fine. Still he's really limiting his activities which were just coming along when he was discharged from the Rehab facility. I wish he would really listen to me about going to live at Assisted Living. He's so dang set on staying in his condo until they carry him out feet first!

My latest is that I'm still on the same dose of Methadone and now more regular bowel wise with less bloating (that was wild how the gut responds to the taper/wean) and a problem I was having at the beginning with feeling like I was gasping for breath or having difficulty breathing passed. Now I"m pretty well set at this dose and guess at the rate I'm bringing myself down it'll be something like 6 months vs. 3 that the PM told me or at least so it seems right now.

My back has been fine except I got a new pair of walking shoes because I have bilateral posterior tibial tendonitis and PF in both feet and my feet have been the problem lately not my back at all.

These are New Balance shoes (leather) and they are a bit heavy because they're made with a great deal of stabilization for pronating feet. Then I add my inserts (Sole) and man these things are heavy! The PF and PTT feels better immediately but I can feel the diff on my low back to try using shoes that stabilize the ankles more and are heavier.

I am so grateful to have been as pain free as I have been even using a low dose of Methadone. I truly have felt wonderful spine wise and I've lived with so much low back pain for 28 years so you all can imagine how great it is to not be always reminded of one's back problems and to feel like my legs don't weigh a ton and my butt isn't aching and paining with piraformis pain or sciatic screaming pain or SI joint pain... (list goes on here of what stuff I've felt over the years)..

And to date no surgeries past the 2 discectomies

Whooohhoooo!!! Ima keep going here Keep ya'll posted

[Cindylou]

Wonderful news Maria on your spine feeling so great! That is fantastic. And it sounds like you are taking early measures to address your feet issues as well, so good for you.

Some people equate moving into a nursing home or assisted living with putting that first foot in the grave. Sounds like your Dad is one tough cookie and hanging on to his spirit of independence voraciously. Frustrating, I know, but you gotta love him for his fighting spirit! My mother-in-law is actually beginning to show interest in assisted living and went touring a few in Connecticut this past week with my sister-in-law, so there is hope!

[NancyC]

I was going to answer this question, but I see it is dated from May - guess it's all over, right?

Nancy (was on 300mg liquid methadone for 14 months 2006-7)

I don't know if this is the appropriate place for this post however I'd surely appreciate some feedback from anyone that's ever successfully weaned off Methadone or knows how..

Here is the situation~ I've asked my PM so many times to prescribe Suboxone for me and he would like to but isn't certified yet to do so. The practice he is part of doesn't really want to have patients in any state withdrawls showing up in the office hence he'd rather refer out for this for now.

Re my WC status I cannot afford to be transferred to someone else for this process because he is one of my Primary Treating Physicians and it's been difficult enough to get ESIs authorized now w/WC and he does a great job with this so I want to keep him as my treating PM.

So while I await his process to get certified I've taken matters into my own hands with weaning.. I've tried before and failed because of the pain and other symptoms.

For the last year I have only taken 12.5 mg of Methadone/day. So over a week ago I started weaning by alternating 12.5mg one day and 10mg the next. If I take Methadone 10mg 4x/week and 12.5 3x/week then I've decreased my dosage by nearly 10mg/week.

I know this isn't much but I know I have to go slow as I once tried going from 10mg/daily to 7.5mg daily and after the first week I was in such horrific pain I couldn't walk around the block.

Now my symptoms are flu like with runny stuffy nose and GI bloating and just generalized malaise.

I had been sick for 3 weeks with sinus and ear infection and do have seasonal allergies so I'm not sure if I don't have a combo of all 3 things going on like ongoing sinus stuff (drainage is gunky/green only at night and .am. for now) cold and/or allergies and mild withdrawl symptoms.

I want to maintain this schedule for about a month then drop it down a bit.. is this sounding ok or too slow or ??

I'm wanting to see where my true pain levels are at because L5S1 has autofused and on my full dose of pain medication I feel very good re very little pain unless I aggravate L4/L3 which have small bulges.

Ok I hope I've been clear enough.. I find I can't get things done as I feel mentally impeded but that could be viral as well ... ??

thanks anyone who has input~ Maria