Methadone for short period of time advice.

[85gtdrop1]

SWIM was addicted to methadone for a long time and stopped taking it two years ago. He has not done any in two years. Swim now takes Oxycodone 7.5 mgs every 3 to4 hours. Over the weekend during a family get together someone helped themselves to SWIMs Oxys leaving him only 10. SWIM cant get a refill until the 19th. SWIM just got 160mgs of methadone from a friend to get him by until his refill. SWIM is concerned that he is going to "remember" the feeling and start the addiction all over again. SWIM would like to know if anyone knows how much he should take daily just to keep the dts away but not awaken the beast. SWIM takes 70 to 80mgs of oxycodone daily.SWIM would really appreciate any experiances with this predicament.

[tayo]

If possible, probably don't let SWIY start the methadone at all, it is a whole different ball game since the withdrawals last so long, etc. If it must be done, SWIM would switch to 40mg's a day in the morning, then 10-20mg (depending on the feeling) every morning after until the 19th, since methadone seems to build up after the initial dose if taken daily.. keeping it as low as possible with methadone is probably the best idea.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

Or perhaps not starting with the methadone at all.It's hard to convey in words just how difficult methadone withdrawals are.They are like the withdrawals of any other opiate times 200.

[85gtdrop1]

SWIM has gone through methadone withdrawls before and you are dead on. They are brutal. Do you think that taking it for a week would be enough to suffer withdrawls when stopping?

[Orchid_Suspiria]

Not sure if taking it for a week would cause withdrawals,swim thinks it might to a small extent but not sure if they would be full on.Every person is different so it is hard to say.If swiy was addicted to methadone before then it is a gamble.Methadone is that way.Swiy might escape for a little while but it is so easy for it to get its hands on you again.Swim understands methadone all too well.

[tayo]

the higher the dose, the worse it is... and since swiy has had it before there could be a more difficult psychological factor.

[~lostgurl~]

SWIM used low doses of methadone over 4 days to come off heroin a number of times and it was a lifesaver. She used 20mg, 15, 10, 5. It didn't take away all the withdrawals but it took away the worst of it. SWIM doubts that using it for a week would lead to addiction, even if SWIY used higher doses. If SWIY is not taking oxycodone for medical purposes they may find they can stop using oxycodone altogether after this. But as SWIY is getting a refill in the near future, the psychological addiction and cravings will more than likely get the better of them.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

Originally Posted by ~lostgurl~

SWIM used low doses of methadone over 4 days to come off heroin a number of times and it was a lifesaver. She used 20mg, 15, 10, 5. It didn't take away all the withdrawals but it took away the worst of it. SWIM doubts that using it for a week would lead to addiction, even if SWIY used higher doses. If SWIY is not taking oxycodone for medical purposes they may find they can stop using oxycodone altogether after this. But as SWIY is getting a refill in the near future, the psychological addiction and cravings will more than likely get the better of them.

Swim somewhat disagrees with this.If someone was hooked on methadone before then just a weeks use could bring back dependence.Swim knows because a very similar situation has happened to him.

[~lostgurl~]

The buzz from oxycodone would be much better than the one from methadone, so swi85 is more likely to have a psychological addiction to the oxys rather than to the methadone. As for physical addiction, small doses over a short period of time seems unlikely to cause this. If the choice is cold turkey or a few days of methadone, SWIM knows what she would choose regardless.

SWIM has done a couple of 30 day methadone programs and suffered some withdrawal symptoms following, (much more than with 4 days of methadone) which may have partly caused her to fall back into her heroin addiction.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

Swim would definitely choose methadone over cold turkey aswell.Swim does think that those who have been addicted to methadone need to use it more cautiously than those who have never been addicted to it.There are things about methadone that make it different from any other opiate.

[MrJim]

Originally Posted by 85gtdrop1

SWIM was addicted to methadone for a long time and stopped taking it two years ago. He has not done any in two years. Swim now takes Oxycodone 7.5 mgs every 3 to4 hours. Over the weekend during a family get together someone helped themselves to SWIMs Oxys leaving him only 10. SWIM cant get a refill until the 19th. .

Now Cue someone to come on and start a thread "I just swiped these 7.5mg Oxy's from a family event and I was wondering...."

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[85gtdrop1]

Dont think that that didnt cross SWIMs mind. lol. The only reason SWIM got the methadone in the first place was to keep from getting sick from not having oxycodone or hydrocodone. The waffers just happened to be available and the fear of a pain pill detox right in the middle of something SWIM is doing for his company made him get all that were available. It is never a good time to detox but this week would cost SWIM a lot if he wasnt on his A game. He didnt really think about it, he just bought all he could.

[Wflash]

Can't really answer as SWIM doesn't have access to oxys & therefore doesn't know how much meth one needs to take to maintain a given oxy habit. the equivalance to smack could probably be worked out from other threads on this forum though.

Methadone is, of course, dangerous - but can be a real life saver in situations where someone with a habit has to go away somewhere to do something for a bit and can't get.

SWIM's rule of thumb has been similar to Lostgurl's. The last time he did something like this, he'd been using as little as a quarter gramme of smack a day (escalated pretty heftily again since then though now I think about it). From there, he could do 40ml of meth (equal to 40mg), then 35, 30, 25, 20, 18, 16 and get through a week no bother. Not on the full "A-game", but pretty durned good.