Methadone Uses

Question by PlayNice: How do I lower my tolerance to Methadone. Most answers possible please?
How do I lower my tolerance to Methadone? How do I wean down?
-I use to take 1 to 1 1/2 (10mg tablets) three times a day. One time a week and a half ago I took 4 (10mg) on accident. I had taken two (10mg tablets) and then a half hour later without even thinking I took two more (10mg tablets) not remembering I already took some. Ever since then my the Methadone has not worked when I took less than 4 tablets. Now it has gotten out of control. I can take up to five twice a day and it doesn’t even work. I need help to lower my tolerance as fast and safe as possible. I don’t want to waste next months supply. I already wasted this months obviously. Please help by giving me facts and helpful instructions. Please do not write “contact your Dr.” He retired last month and gave me instructions on how to obtain one more prescription through his other colleague. Thank you so much!
I forgot to mention that I take Methadone for pain Managment. Not for addiction control.

Best answer:

Answer by Jane O.
well you can’t just lower your tolerance. and the obvious answer would be to ask a doctor not random uncertified people on yahoo answers. go to a pharamacy and ask the pharamicist.

Answer by RAVEN
Sorry Jane – no offense, but you have no clue as to what you’re talking about. If you had any experience with opiates you’d have never said such a thing. And frankly, for anyone else here, if you don’t have the knowledge or experience in this area, then don’t answer. Bad information here on these subjects can literally cost someone their life – or worse. This is not a points competition. People who are suffering with pain you can’t imagine (myself included) need answers from people who are qualified to answer the questions, not someone who can use a database or a book, make an educated guess based on using a drug once, or what your pet has been through.

There are several ways to lower tolerance levels. Since I’ve been using some of the strongest opiates on the planet for about 9 years (Duragesic 100’s, Percocet 10/325’s, Demerol 100mg’s, MS Contin 30mg), there have been times when I’ve hit the ceiling on my opiate level ( that level where you no longer gain any pain relief, only increased opiate side effects) and needed to lower it after I no longer needed to use that much. Once you hit that level of tolerance it’s a very fine line indeed. However, there are things you can do to deal with it effectively, so don’t despair.

There are 2 ways you can approach the problem – withdrawal drugs or what I call incremental dosage reduction (IDR) over time. The time factor and dosage reduction amount are the variables, as is how well you deal with the withdrawal process.

Withdrawal drugs you have to get through a doctor – I personally don’t like them because one, it’s just something else to deal with, and two, they can make you sick if you take them at the wrong time. Three, my dosages stay fairly constant unless I have more spinal damage to deal with, and that doesn’t occur that often.

There are 2 problems you know you’re going to have to deal with when reducing your tolerance level – withdrawals and the pain your taking the drug to begin with. You need to have way to deal with both at the same time. To reach a lower tolerance level, you first have to lower your overal dosage intake. That will address your immediate problem – lower tolerance I’m afraid actually takes longer as you have to maintain dosage intakes at lower levels over time for your body to adjust. Since I’ve been in formal Pain Mgt for over 10 years and even longer on opiates, and I know I’ll need them for the rest of my life, I can plan and deal with what I know needs to be done – I’ve been dealing with this a very long time. If this is too long for you, there are other options and I’ll note those at the end.

Before my last spinal operation (I’ve had 3 in the past 12 years, along with less serious surgeries and injuries), which was necessary to correct collapsed disk at L3 (my problem, when it accelerates to a certain point, allows the disk to collapse to a point where the bones of the adjacent vertebrae are touching each other) I had literally had to increase my normal dosages and meds (1 100 micro Duragesic Patch, Percocet 10/325’s for breakthrough (120/150 per month) to 2 100 mic patches, my Percocet, and 100mg Demerol tabs. I was on that mix for about 2 months, and even that wasn’t dealing with the pain. I wound up having to do several courses of Prednisone up until 3 weeks prior to surgery when I had to stop. At that point my doctor added the MS Contin to compensate. While I’ve had much worse pain, this was no cakewalk at all. If you have access to Prednisone (I have it because I’m also an asthmatic and keep it for emergencies), keep that in mind for tolerance lowering later.

The Prednisone was a fluke – since as I said I normally have it, and the normal pain drugs weren’t working to maximum potential, I began to think about whether or not it could reduce the inflammation in the spine enough to allow the drugs to work. Getting the okay from both of my doctors (Pain and Primary Care), I tried it out and was relieved to find it worked fairly well, at least enough to let the opiates work.

After the surgery, I knew it would take at least 18 months to recover, given what I’d already been through previously. About a year ago, I was recovered enough that I decided to go through the dosage/tolerance reduction process I’ve used before, which is a combination of incremental dosage reduction, minor withdrawal pain relief with OTC meds, and self sedation with other prescription meds I have.

INCREMENTAL DOSAGE REDUCTION (IDR)

My preferred method – easy, safe, takes relatively a short amount of time depending on the person. I’m surprised your doctor didn’t say something before he bailed.

In incremental dose reduction, what you do is cut the pill in half or in quarters. If you’re using 2 pills per dose, just cut one down and add the 1/2 or 3/4 of one pill to the other. The idea is to lower your overall dosage by 1//4, 1/2, etc., at the outset, whichever you can tolerate better.

First try taking 1/2 your normal prescribed dose,

Find More Methadone Reduction Side Effects Information…