Methadone Uses

Question by Sarah: Methadone detox hell?
I’ve been on it for three years and my last.day to dose is October 8th. Im on 5mg and already feel like hell. Should i just stop dosing now instead of prolonging the sickness. What do u think.

Best answer:

Answer by Mieren
The best choice depends on your pain tolerance. Slowly decreasing the dose drags out the pain and takes a long time, just like you think it will. Some people try to use a different pain killer to ease the pain while the body recovers from methadone, but that can lead to detoxing from the second pain killer. If you relapse during that time, then you’ll be addicted to two pain killers and it will be twice as bad.

I recommend just going cold turkey. It will hurt like hell for the first few days, but a few days of hell is better than a month or two of feeling miserable and sore. After you make it first few days, the worst is over and you should be able to handle the rest. Be sure to have a full week off so that you don’t have to do anything or go anywhere. It will feel like you have the worst flu of your life. If you have a friend or family member to help you during this time, it will be much easier.

Get lots of soft pillows and blankets. Anything that touches you needs to be soft, and the blankets need to be free so that you can toss them off and pull them back on when your body shifts between fever and chills. Have a case of water nearby because you will be thirsty. Keep either a bucket or trashcan near your bed just in case you have to puke but don’t think you can make it to the bathroom. Eat mild foods like ramen or oatmeal, so they won’t upset your stomach or burn if they do come back up.

At first, you’ll be unable to sleep and you’ll feel nausea. Get a prescription for promethazine (phenergan). It works very well for nausea and puts most people to sleep. If you have allergies, this is definitely your best bet because it’s also an antihistamine. Valium is also a good idea. It will help with any muscle tremors, and if taken with promethazine, you will fall asleep. It’s very effective and since it’s been around for a long time, it’s cheap and there are no surprise drug interactions. Once you’re asleep, go ahead and sleep as long as you can.

For natural supplements, ginger is fairly effective against motion sickness and nausea. Valerian root and melatonin help some people sleep, but I’ve never found it to be effective. If you’d like to try them, they can’t hurt you. For the valerian root, hold your breath while opening the bottle or handling any of the pills. They smell absolutely vile.

Drink as much water as you can. Dehydration will make everything ten times worse.