May sound like a stupid question but will taking methadone put a cluck back???

[brumbird]

AFOAF is currently trying to come of gear, and his/her partner is on a methadone programme and has some going spare.

If my mate was to take methadone on day 3 of his/her cluck would that mean he/she would be back at square one??

The logic is that methadone isnt actually gear so could it be used for a couple of days just to get through the worst of it???

May sound like a stupid question but any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[yaba]

Am not the right person to answer, but swim thinks methadone is worse then gear.(to get of)

Ask Dickon,

Good Luck

[Dickon]

Methadone and Heroin belong to the same broad category of drugs, viz opiates. Pedantically one should say opioids because methadone is a synthetic compound that bears no relation to the morphine-like class of opiates found in the poppy and the semi-synthetic derivatives of these.

To use methadone on day 3 of a withdrawal would be little different from using heroin on day 3 of a withdrawal. It would essentially end the withdrawal, and put you back to square one as you say.

A better thing to do would be to obtain some clonidine or lofexidine and use these to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms. They work quite well, and are not opiates, and have no addictive potential. Make sure, if you do, particularly if you get clonidine that you make yourself aware of its effects on blood pressure, both the initial lowering and the potential rebound raising.

Good luck to AFOAF (I've used you in my post for simplicity; think of it as a generic "you") and if possible avoid going on to methadone before quitting. It is considerably harder to give up than heroin, at least so my cat tells me, and he is rather experienced in these matters.

I'd recommend the thread "How to go told turkey from 150mg of methadone! The easy way" in this section. What will work for methadone detox will work equally for heroin detox. Bear in mind that this is an inpatient program and so you won't be able to get hold of everything mentioned, but it's a good start. My cat's experience of detox is on the "Screaming in the Night air.." thread in this section. I say a little about his methadology and it's a good story in that, so far at least, it is a happy one.

It's a hard ask, but it's doable!

Dickon

[kaloochi]

That's a definate yes. The three days will be completely wasted!

[willowwater]

I totally agree. The 1st 3 days are the worst in my experience, if you've gotten through them without methadone, I'd strongly advise that you don't take any, as it will most definately put you back where you started! 1 more night and you will start to feel the cluck easing off.