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