Methadone Withdrawal (Length and Symptoms)?
Question by JT: Methadone Withdrawal (Length and symptoms)?
I have been on Methadone for the past few months to treat the pain of a surgery I had. My doctor gave me a prescription for it and said that when I was out of refills I should be fine and should stop taking the methadone. I was on 15 mg a day (5 mg three times a day) for most of the time, but I had heard that methadone withdrawal could be real hell even at low doses. I started lowering my dose when the pain lessened and last week I was down to 5 mg a day, once in the morning. My pain was completely manageable so I decided I would stop taking the methadone then. Now it has been a week and for the past few days I’ve felt extremely tired and have had bouts of depression. I’ve read these are symptoms of methadone withdrawal, so I was wondering if someone could either verify this or refute this, as well as give me some more information on other symptoms and how long this could last if it is withdrawal. It’s not extremely awful (I assume because I stopped from such a low dose) but it really does inhibit my ability to work.
Thanks
Best answer:
Answer by Jared
Yes this is most assuredly post acute withdrawal from your methadone use.
Given the short term duration of your use, I wouldn’t worry. It will pass, and get better each day, and sometimes noticeably better each day. In a few weeks/months you will have forgotten all about it.
Just know this is the cause, and go about life as normally as you can.. trying to squeeze in some exercise will help — even if all you can do is walk.
Take care,
Answer by oldgoat
The timing sounds about right even though the symptoms sound very mild, likely to your early tapering and low dose. Most methadone withdrawal horror stories are from ungodly high maintainence doses taken for years, many times going cold turkey out of frustration. It’s a great drug for pain, but for an addiction problem, it’s just trading an illegal drug for a legal one. There’s a bit more to it but that’s it in a nutshell.
Most of the physical withdrawal issues dissapate in 3 to 4 days. Methadone has a much longer half life than the opiates that are being abused, so you have to tack on an extra 2 or 3 days to get it all out. You should be feeling better very shortly. If not you may still want to talk to your doctor. The long term effects of the type I imagine required methadone for months is not always finished when the pain is gone. It’s ok, things are not always the same, as much as we hope they would be.Traumatic is a good word to describe your experience. Talking about it it can help a lot. Feel better soon
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