Methadone is it a good or a bad thing?

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Emilysmommie05

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I have been on Methadone for close to a year now, and I wanted to know if anyone else is on it or has been on it. I am from Michigan and suboxone is too expensive as well as subutex, but methadone was covered by my insurance, so I opted for that. Well it works well, I also have chronic pain so it helps for that, and I also was addicted to hydrocodone, oxycocdone, basically all "codones" that I could get. So I talked to the pain doc that was prescribing me the pain meRAB because i was taking too much and i knew it and i was sick and tired of worrying about what i was going to do when i ran out early. It has been working well but i have gained about 65 pounRAB in a year! I was a slim 120 pounRAB and now i am like 190 and I hate it! And the only thing that changedin my life was I started taking Methadone, so I owe all the weight gain to the methadone, i think it may have slowed my metabolism or something.
I know my body is dependent on it, because if i dont take it for 2 days i start to withdrawal from it, and it is bad, my whole body aches like it never has before and i pur sweat but i am cold then hot then cold then hot!
So will it be really hard to get off of when i stop? I really want to stop but i am scared i have alot going on in my life i am very busy, and i can't take time to withdrawal, but the methadone makes me very tired, i fall asleep sitting up! and i also have gained all this weight and i blame it all on the medication. Also i am tired of having to go to the docs once to twice a month and then hunting down a pharmacy that carries it, or that wants to even fill my script because it is a rather large quantity that he has to give me so some pharmacies wont fill it for whatever reason.
SOOOOO anyone take it and have any issues with it? And what can i do at home when i want to stop taking it. Like i said i cant be in bed for a few days and relax or anything like that my life cant stop to detox, i know it should but i have a demanding job, a small child, a hubby, and a home to take care of, the methadone has made me feel more like myself unlike the other stuff that used to make me feel not like myself, but we would like to have another child, and i would like to make sure i am completely off of it way before we decide and make sure i am 100% healthy b4 i get pregnant, also does anyoen who is on it start sweating for no reason at all when taking it? I start sweating even when it is cold out?? i hate it, and not just a little sweat like my hair gets soaked it is so erabarassing, i only sweatlike on my face and head, its weird and awful.
 
Heh Emilysmommie05, my name is Iain, i live in Glasgow Scotland i`ve just recently detoxed off my methadone just over 2 months ago,let me tell you when your detoxing it can be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel but it`s there and once there thing only seem to get better what am i saying they don`t seem to get better they do get better, this is only my opinion but getting off was the easy part for me it`s always been staying off, i`ve tried on more than one occasion and ended up relapsing, this time it`s different, it feels different, i`ve dealt with all the stuff going on in my chitty chitty bang bang (my head) about how i ended up where i ended up this is vital in my opinion, drugs are usually only a symptom of a deeper problem mentally not addressing this in the past has ALWAYS took me back to using.
It`s not our feet that take`s back to dealers it`s our chitty chitty bang bang.
Since breaking the shackles of my own addiction i`ve moved forward took up rockclirabing, going back to college and do as much as possible to steer myself away from the evil.
You may think i`m talking rubbish but the journey of recovery does`nt have to be as hard as we`ve all been told, i`ve heard all the horror stories about the pain the cramps the sleepless nights, apart from a couple of weeks of no sleep i felt none of the others because i choose not to believe them, instead take whatever does happen with the knowlege that given time it will pass and life will get better.
Someone once told me "it`s not what we fear the most that controls us, instead it`s the fear itself" i believe this to be true. Addiction is a global problem, so always remeraber your never alone ever.
Take care. Iain.
 
it sounRAB to me like you have anserwed your own questions , the opoiRAB dont work any more , they seem to turn on most , go with a slow taper an when you stop for the 4th time just remeraber you dont have to go through that again, it sounRAB like you dont have a choise , the slow taper should help with wd , i would rather put up with the pain also. you can do it . alot of us have been there , i have chronic pain also an keeping active, low impact exercise works , for me good luck to you scott:)
 
I also take a rather large amount of Methadone and have troubles almost monthly getting my script filled. I'm a chronic pain patient, plus I would be too scared to try and do it cold turkey. If I may ask, what are you prescribed? I'm prescribed 390 a month and take pretty much all of them. I'm also on 160MG of roxicodone a day. I took my last one of those this evening and can't see doc again till Thursday, BUT, this month, for some reason (thank God) I've got plenty of Methadone left.
~joey~
 
Emilysmommie05;

Heh there my name is Iain i live in Glasgow Scotland.
I have just recently detoxed off my methadone, 2 months now, i was also on it for over a year following a relapse back to my herion addiction.
Before i rattle on anymore first i`ll say is methadone works if you want it to work it worked for me taking it slow was how i managed and try to replace can`t with can.
I used to say to myself "you can`t do this you can`t do that" at the end of the day thats just wrong listening to myself got me into the trouble i found myself in.
So my advise would be replace can`t with CAN, and beware of the "shoulRAB"
and "musts" replace these with COULD.
It works, well it worked for me.
instead of saying "you should be able to stop" say to yourself "YOU COULD STOP".
I`ve probably been no help atoll apart from letting you know that your never alone and it CAN be done.
Something i love quoteing is "IT`S NOT WHAT WE FEAR THE MOST THAT HAS A HOLD OVER US INSTEAD IT`S THE FEAR ITSELF"
Anyway have to go now on the computer in the library and am about to run out of time. Take care. Iain.:wave:
 
i was on methadone for pain with cpine surgury and rsd(from the surgury). i was on it for about 4 years. i also gained weight with it but the sad thing is its the only med that really helped my pain. i stopped taking it and alot of my pain has come back. i stopped it cause of being tierd all the time, weight gain and stomach problems. i went thru withdrawels(i cant spell) for about 1 week. mostly cold sweats and emotional outbursts. it stinks cause every med i try that helps, its all the side effects that ruin it for me. i dont know what ur on it for but my pm doc works very good with me about trying different meRAB. thankful to have him knowing he cares so much. have u tried lyrica?? unfortunately, most of the meRAB(for me anyway) make me gain weight and i have always been real slender. i lost 30 lbs going off the meth. good luck and keep working with ur pm doc...
 
hey ..newbie here...i've been on methadone since dec 2009. for my vicodin addiction a picked up after having my baby in 2006. i love it. i've gone down since may, one mg every other day, and yes i have had a couple bad days even a bad week. but it goes away. twice i stopped my decrease for a week. then i went back to going down. when i started i was at 95mg..i am now at 57mg. and it feels great. i am still in counseling and going strong. but like i said, its not always peachy! i sweat like a man, i gained 15 pounRAB. i sometimes dont sleep. buti'm not taking vicodin, and have my life back. have a four yr old healthy brilliant daughter, a nice 2bdrm home , great job and yes i'm an addict. methadone gave me my life back. its up to you how u treat your treatment. i see people in there increasing just to be high...well thats not the attitude u want if ur trying to be clean, i don't feel high anymore. thats fine with me. but be careful...dont go down until ur sure. until u know u can deal with the side effects. dont be pressured. its your treatment plan. thanks for reading this..doot!
 
I get a script for 300 a month my doc writes it as 10 a day for pain. Because I do have pain, but he feels as though I was taking too much of the other stuff, I was taking Percocet or Lorcet and I would get a script for 120 and they would only last me like 2 weeks, but they just didnt work well for me, and yes my body became dependent. So he put me on the Methadone. And I started on 4 a day and now I am up to 10 a day. I think my body just has a high tolerance or something, I dont know, I can take a pain med for about 2-3 months and then it just dosent work like it used too, so i switch and it happens again. I have found help with the methadone, but sometimes it dosent work either, but my doc dosent want to prescribe me any of the other stuff which I understand, but I think I wouldnt have to take as much since I am on the methadone now, but he is an ex-addict himself and dosent want me to do that. So I am just on the methadone, but I am scared to go cold turkey as well, I know my pain would be horrific and the withdrawals are nasty I have been thru it like 3 times when I would run out. So i dont EVER want to go there, but like i said i dont want to have to go to docs anymore and all that stuff. I also want to have another child in the near future and I know i cant take it when i am pregnant so I want to be completely off of it before we even try to get pregnant again, so I am at a crossroad I guess, I just dont know what to do, I am in a lot of pain all the time, and i dont want to feel like this anymore, I also dont want to have to take methadone all the time either. But it helps. UGH it is frustratiing!!!
Any methadone stories please I dont know anyone else who takes it or knows anything about it!:confused:
 
I don't know what the side effects of Methadone are but I'm very familiar with the side effects of 65 pounRAB and one of them is head/face sweating. I'm the same way. I'll be in a store, in air conditioning and out of no where I start to sweat to the point of a soaked head. When I lost weight before, it stopped. So it might not be the Methadone directly that's bringing on the sweats. (And BTW, I'm not really hot when this happens. Just sweaty. And it also happens to me when it's cold.)
 
the side effects for me where tierd all the time, feeling drugged, bowel problems/stomach pain, nausea but like i said, for me it really helped the pain. i was on a very small dose. like i think you said, i have problems with any meRAB(narcs especially). even now, when i take my hydros, i have to lay down for like 1 hour or i get sick to my stomach and feel all fusy and i don't like the feeling at all. i withdrew from them in the winter so i would get cold sweats and be freezing. it was aweful. good luck..
 
Avas_mommy25f4311259
Heh there my name is Iain and i live in Glasgow Scotland.
First things first if your not already you should be proud of yourself because you deserve to be, i can see that and i`m on the other side of the globe and don`t really know you atoll, but anyone who is trying to get better deserve`s alittle recodinision.
We spend our life`s as outcasts to society thats how i felt and even when we were making an effort and making progress we were still looked down upon by certain others and society in general.
What society forgets is it`s not us thats the problem it`s us thats dealing with the problem on a daily basis although we may be part of the problem we are only a part there are other things happening here that society at the moment seem`s to be blind to seeing.
If you can`t already tell i`ve a habit (maybe not the best choice of worRAB) of babbling on abit when i get started, i`ll end by saying you must remain strong and focused on all the wonderful things you`ll gain from being substance free, all of which we could lose if we ever give in to the lure of drink and drugs.
I`ve just recently detoxed myself off my methadone 2 and a half months now and although some days are a struggle the majority are positive, i would advise would be to continue yor counselling session`s this is something i`ve never done in the past and have always ended up relapsing.
Dealing with your chitty chitty bang bang:dizzy:(your head) is the key to a lasting recovery in my opinion it may sometimes be painful like i`ve found but not dealing with the stuff in your brazilian (nut) can only lead one way and thats back to the chaos and torment of using (not an option i`d rather be dead).
This time i am going to finish probably been no help whatsoever other than to remind you your never alone.
STAY STRONG. Iain.:wave:
Remeraber it`s not what we fear the most that has a hold over us, it`s the fear itself!
 
Emily's Mom,

I just wanted to let you know about a woman in my day-program. She is on methadone and has been for over two years. She just had a healthy baby boy, and is breast-feeding. I didn't think a woman could be on methadone and have a baby, but I was wrong. It can be done. It is actually done more frequently then I thought.

emsmom (Emily's mommy, as well :))
 
Emilysmommie05;

Hi! when i read your story, i feel like im reading mine. I have all the responsibilities that you have, however, i had to take time to detox and help myself. You arent any good to anyone if your not well yourself. I have been off methadone since july11th, 2010. It wasnt easy but the best decision that i ever made. I literally had to give my mom my children for three weeks and lock myself in a room. I decided to take nothing to take the "edge off". I might of taken tylenol but it didnt help. I stopped going to the clinic at 10mgs. I took a good multivitamin, omega 3 fish oil pills and hot epsom salt baths will help release the lingering methadone out of your pores. I only had really bad withdrawls for 2 weeks. After the 2nd week, my days became easier. The withdrawls will be mentally as well as physically. I am in therapy weekly and started going back to church. I say take the time and go for it. you are worth it and your child neeRAB you. I feel like a "new woman" and soon enough you will too. I hope you will post if you need some advice or more tips. I am always here to help. Good luck!!!!!!jenn1977
 
Methadone, I used it to abuse it, yet as a treatment that is supervised by a Dr., it sure is better than abusing pill and smack. However using a opiate/opioid to treat pain can actually make one more sensitive to pain. It can become such a never ending cycle that it could break a person emotionally/physically.
 
Hello,
Whether methadone is good or bad is pretty subjective. I have been on methadone for about 12 years now and overall it has been good for me. I have been attending a methdone clinic which treats patients in a terribly demeaning way. I have chronic pain in my lower back from an injury in 1991. My doctor said he wouldn't give me any more pain medication and 20 years ago in a small town there weren't a lot of options so I drove to the nearest clinic. I went through a successful withdrawl many years ago and my advice is to go slowly especially towarRAB the end. Everyone is different but for me even having a 3 mg dose kept from feeling the full effects of withdrawl. It isn't as intense as morphine or heroin but it lasts longer. I had the trouble sleeping and I couldn't eat much for a while but I was able to get throught it. In the end you still have the chronic pain issue so I would not worry so much about medicine you are receiving from your doctor and enjoy the good the good things in your life.
 
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