Methadone and barbiturates

[rodent]

SWIM just wanted to tell his tale of stupidly combining two drugs.
Here goes-

SWIM was once very addicted to opiates (mostly oxy) and addicted to Xanax too. Being addicted to both made things very complicated when he went to get help at the local methadone clinic. He got into the clinic (they have a screening where you have to show up quite dope sick and answer lots of questions) quite easily… maybe too easy. This clinic would only start people at about 15 mgs (maybe 35 mgs, can’t remember) and then if needed one could go up 5 mgs per day till withdrawals are non-existent. SWIM was very happy to be free from the oxy grip but now, he had to show up every morning for the dose, pay $100/week and pass random drug tests. All this was difficult yet tolerable compared to trying to work while sick. Stupidly SWIM wound up taking 135 mgs/day for months not really knowing that this was a very high dose (the clinic was mostly worried that he pays on time). The drug tests were fine with SWIM as he didn’t use anything else at the time, except Xanax for which he didn’t have a real script but was getting them online for several sources. SWIM tried to cut down the 6mg/day Xanax habit but this was very difficult while also just starting to reduce the methadone dosage.

To get to the point of this post, SWIM ran out of benzo’s during all this and his next shipment wouldn’t be for a few days. He happened to have Butalbital (barbiturate prescribed for headaches) and thought he could make it through till his Xanax came in by taking many Butalbital's to counter the massive anxiety he had.

This was a MASSIVE mistake to say the least!

He had NO idea that barbiturates facilitate the metabolism of methadone!
After taking 3 or 4 Butalbitals he noticed he was feeling worse and thought, maybe the Xanax withdrawals were just kicking him hard so, he took several more! Again, later in the day he noticed really feeling like crap and took more! After feeling like he was about dying, he tried searching the net for Butalbital and methadone combination issues (now suspecting that that might be the issue) he found nothing of significance. He finally dug out his Pill Book and it had nothing specific about Butalbital but, it mentioned that barbiturates in general speed up the metabolism of methadone. Oh sh*t, he thought…

Needless to say, he went through severe HELL that night. He thought about going to the hospital but knew from experience that they would never give any opiates to someone looking dope sick. He cannot overstate how badly he felt that day and swore he would quit all addictive drugs ASAP. He finally did with the help of Suboxone (god bless it) and a compassionate doctor who helped with the benzo’s. Even the next day, speaking with the clinic counselor, they said they had never heard of such a thing… but, SWIM brought his Pill Book and showed them. They eased his pain some that day by upping the methadone dosage 5mgs.

Ok, this story is long enough… moral of the story is:

DON’T take barbiturates while on methadone treatment.

Probably best to stay away from any other drugs too.

Hope this helps someone from going through what SWIM did.

(before posting I tried searching this combo and didn't find anything related)

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Interesting experience: Thanks for sharing.
	this is the kind of info for which I am thankful to this forum

[Forthesevenlakes]

I cant believe I havent seen this thread before. Never heard of anyone using this combination, now SWIM sees why. Other sources SWIM has read state that barbiturates and opiates "reinforce" one another, and that "addicts will sometimes use barbiturates to reinforce a weak heroin dose". Of course, this is a canadian government report SWIM is quoting so who knows if its true. He's going to do more research when he has time to see if barbiturates speed up the metabolism of other opiates.

[Riconoen {UGC}]

Only thing swim has heard of people taking with opiates are benzos to "boost" the euphoria. Barbs would seem to swim a very bad idea along with speedballing or taking dxm with amphetamines.

[rodent]

Found this -
http://www.haworthpress.com/store/Ar...A5R28&ID=32202
"Because methadone is metabolized by the hepatic cytochrome P450 enzyme system, drugs that interact with that enzyme system, particularly the 3A4 family, have the potential of drug interactions with methadone."

Also-
http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/...zymes1.shtml#4

I have read of P450 enzyme inducers/inhibitors and possible drug interactions but never thought the effect could be quite so dramatic. Obviously SWIM wasn't thinking clearly while going through withdrawals.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

Swim found this post interesting.The reason why being he could have saved himself some pain had he read it long ago.Swim was in the misery of methadone withdrawal and was searching the house for anything that might ease the pain.Well he was looking through the house and found some pills called fiorcet.They contained butalbital and acetaminophen,swim does not remember the milligrams.

Swim looked them up on the internet and found out butalbital was a barbiturate.Ah he remembered he had experienced them once years ago and they weren't bad.Barbiturates just aren't drugs you see everyday.So swim proceeded to take four of them,he got in the shower as hot showers are very useful when in the midst of any sort of opiate withdrawals.When he got out he did not feel better,he did not feel anything from the fiorcet.Infact swim felt abit worse.

In retrospect maybe this experience might not have been as horrible without butalbital.At the time he would have never guessed anything like that.He thought the pills were expired or no good anymore.They weren't helping but swim didn't know they were actually hurting.Now swim knows.