Trying to wean from Methadone

[SemperFi]

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

[Jack-of-all-trades]

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

I have heard Methadone is one of the hardest drugs to taper off as the half-life of the drug is very long. It can also be dangerous if you try to 'catch back up' to fast to avoid withdrawals because of the hlaf-life (how long it takes your body to get rid of 1/2 of the drug). The flu like symptoms are most like due to withdrawal. It gets worse.

If you are still having pain, it might not be worth the anguish of withdrawals.

Terry, a poster here, knows a lot about this sort of thing but may still be on vacation. You might get a faster reply from him by PM.

[SemperFi]

thanks Jack.. I'm aware of the half life issue and I'm on a very low dose so I think it's difficult to titrate down because of this tho fortunately I've no added pain at this dosing schedule so I think I'm Ok. The flu like symtoms are certainly something I've experienced when forgetting a daily dose or even being hours off schedule.

I had a very bad sinus infection and rt. ear infection in Feb lasting nearly 3 weeks. At this time I was on same dose medication and now I cannot really tell if there is some residual sinus stuff going on because of there is same very discolored (green) sinus drainage at night in a.m. altho I think that's more the norm but what is really aggravating is this runny nose all day and then worse is a stuffiness at night that nearly chokes me!

It may well be withdrawl symptoms as well.. I will see my PM on Friday for a lumbar ESI and tell him at this time what is going on. He said previously it should take 3 months to wean off Methadone very slowly and now I've forgotten how he told me to take it down but I'll check w/him on Friday.

I'll also private mail Terry if possible and see what he might recommend as I recall he is an addictionologist?

Thank you again for your response~ M

[KBear]

Thanks for asking this. I have been wondering if the sickness I have been dealing with for the past several weeks is withdrawal or something else. I also have bad allergies, so wasn't sure if it was that or not. I have had the drainage, stuffiness at night, diarhea for a couple of weeks now, my stomach hurts horrible bad and I feel like I have the flu. My muscles ache; but muscle relaxers don't help. I am having trouble sleeping, can't go to sleep or stay asleep. My back still has pain; but it's not what is really bothering me, it's my whole body now. I finally took a phenegran last night to get some relief and sleep. I was wondering if my stomach is from the withdrawal or from taking too much ibuprofen and acetamenophine.

[KBear]

Oh, and I wasn't on methadone, it was Kadian and Vicodin. I haven't taken Kadian for 2 weeks and the Vicodin I may take 1 a week.

[Jack-of-all-trades]

KBear,

Sounds a lot like withdrawal but this being the internet it serves as a poor choice to make a diagnosis. Kadian, being oral morphine is a pretty potent pain drug. I'm assuming hydrocodone was your breakthrough med. Personally, I would consider this to be a fast taper and depending how long you were on opioids, you are doing very well with your symptoms, assuming it is withdrawal. The third to fifth day is when withdrawal peaks with a gradual reduction after that. Methadone has such a long half life you could probably double this time to peak. After a week you begin to feel you might make it back to the human race but not there yet. Even after weeks or months you can have flashbacks. Drink lots of water. At your stage, I would try to stop all opioids. Soma is a very good centrally acting muscle relaxer. Be careful as it is normally dosed 3-4 times a day, even for the stronger dose. If taken as Rx for over say a couple months it to can be habit forming.

NSAIDs are hard on your gut. I had two ulcers with Advil.

[Jack-of-all-trades]

One other thing that drives me nuts with the withdrawal is restless leg syndrome. (kicking the habit}. I hate to use up part of a days ration to be able to have an effective nights sleep but do keep a piece of a pill beside my bed.

[SemperFi]

KBear
Your symptoms sound like withdrawl and personally for me the nsaids caused probs like with Jack..
I also took Soma for muscle spasms without codeine tho.. it worked very well when I had TMJ and then after I developed migraines Soma no longer worked so switched to Fioricet (without codeine) and some oral muscle relaxers such as Skelaxin. I have found when I'm in incredibly bad muscle spasms a 60mg injection of IM Toradol does wonders to halt spasms!

Re the Methadone w/d .. I'm always gassy these days, hungry (which I rarely was on regular dose), and constipated badly!! Sleep is ok ~the usual tho I'm irritable/cranky. Last time I started weaning myself I must have tried to go down too fast because I became hyperirritable and lost too much weight (I'm 5'2" and weigh 110/112 now tho went down to about 102 last time and had diarrhea every day). I felt psychotic the last time I tried weaning so I'm trying to take it slower this time).

So far I feel fine tho pain wise and in fact .. no increase in pain so I guess I'm doing good. The bilateral transforaminal ESI really helps tho and makes sitting much more pleasant for me!

[KBear]

I felt human again on Saturday. I acutally went all day without needing any meds! I took a dose of Excedrin Back & Body at 5 pm and felt great. My sister reccomended Melatonin for sleep, which personally, being that I have been on so many hard drugs, I really didn't think it would help. Well, I was WRONG! It works wonders, I wake up feeling refreshed and I sleep sooo good. You can buy it at any store, it's in the supplements section. It is a natural drug your body makes for sleep. I am taking 9 mg a night, about 30-60 minutes before I want to go to sleep. I am sleeping amazing. I can not believe how well it works, way better than the muscle relaxers I have been taking. Let's cross our fingers that I am over the 'hump'.

[SemperFi]

KBear
I've had lots of friends use Melatonin and report success with sleep. I've bought it and not tried it due to my meds and just a certain OTC type of cautiousness with things I'd use for various conditions (cold remedies, health food store supplements. I may yet try it if I get in a snit re sleep while trying to wean off Methadone. Currently I need Tums or perhaps I'll go back to Prilosec tho that's for my GERD and I hadn't felt the need to take it for a while.

Anyway great to hear your success w/getting off the drugs!! And sleeping!