i have been suffering from opiate addiction and have been on and off using oxycontin 80mg and heroin for the passed 2 years. yesterday i was placed on suboxone induction to help with withdrawals and it is working but only to a certain point. i feel like the relief im getting dosent last as long as it should and i dont really want to increase the dosage i am on 12 mgs total daily ( 8 mgs in the morning and 4mgs at night). even at this point i feel like the sub dosent work as well as it should because i still am experiencing moderate withdrawals and i would like to switch from suboxone to methadone. i was wondering how i would go about doing this ? i am not sure if the psychiatrist i went to yesterday can prescribe methadone or i would to go to a clinic who probably wont accept me because of my age. but i would be willing to give methadone a shot because i know people who it has worked wonderfully for. anyhelp would be greatly appreciated
Suboxone to methadone ?
Question posted by chris79 on 17 Sep 2009
Last updated on 3 June 2018
83 Answers Page 2
Yes methadone will work. If u go to a clinic theyl start you off at 30 mg then they will go u everyweek as needed for withdrawl symptoms. But my advice to u if u want to quit drugs stay on methadone for about a month then quit any longer than that u will have withdrawl symptons and they r worse than any drug. Or if u like beeing on drugs methadone is the best way to be on drugs and get stuff acomplished in life and not people knowing ur on it. Its the best thing ive ever did now im succesfull and i dont have to worry about where i can score my next fix from ive already got it
I was on methadone for a lifetime, the way it felt. If "being an addict" you can stop at the dose that works for you, never increasing aside from to be able to function, methadone will work for you.
! If you think you might up your dose more than you need you could join the group like me at 155mg/day before they stopped. Then ur screwed. If found the dr usually believes in Suboxone in order to get a special license.
I was on Suboxone trying to quit methadone. It is a god send with money or insurance. Up your dose before you give up. I took 4 a day and stopped without withdrawal after a year. Cravings bad but physically nothing. That's me. Methadone is last resort before dying in my opinion. Good luck
Suboxone has a half life as long as 3 days. Methadone has a half life as long as 7 days. It is these long half lives that make these drugs difficult to quit. They hide in the fatty tissue in the human body and accumulate over time. They accumulate far more than other opiate drugs do. While a heroin addict might suffer 8 days of physical withdrawal while quitting cold-turkey style, a Suboxone user would suffer up to 3 weeks of physical withdrawal, and a Methadone user would suffer up to 2 months of physical withdrawal. No wonder many patients found these drugs that were supposed to help them rid addiction have become more powerful and addictive drugs instead.
I have been on suboxone for years. I take suboxone for pain but I do suggest to stick with the suboxone. If you give it time a dose of suboxone will last A LOT LONGER than a dose of methadone. Stick with the suboxone! You will be glad you did!!!
From my own expierence PLEASE dont swicth to methadone you said you have done herion ok well the withdrawls from methadone are 80% worse& it takes your life you cant go camping on the spare of moment you have to go daily to the methadone clinic it really does suck.And suboxone works good too but it does not have as bad come downs i would stay with suboxone usually with methadone its very hard to get off so u would probably be on it forever but that my opion.I wish you the best of luck.
Chris79, ive been on and off,"mostly on"methadone for about 15years and im only 36 yrs old! methadone is a gift from god for me,but a financial nightmare. i live in new orleans and its about 90.00 a week and that may not be much money for some people but its crippling to me and my family. from what ive heard other states have some programs to help people pay for their medication my state/city could care less about its citizens as far as ive seen in my life time here. with that said, methadone should be the last step before death im sorry to say unless you have tried everything 2 or 3 times ,rehabs, detox units ,NA/AA,cold turkey sitting in jail,and then and only then should you take the methadone option.Being a hardcore dope fiend as long as i have you learn a few thing if your still lucky enough to be alive. methadone is the last word in horrible life long addiction.i have very rarely seen anyone on methadone for anything longer than a month or so ever get off.
the same people that i met when i started the clinic are there now unless their dead or in prison. most of the old timers die living a normal life,most people who could afford to stay on the clinic also are holding jobs and doing well. but its a heartless business and they will drop you like a bad habit if you dont have the money to pay,at least in this state.a psychiatrist is not going to ever write you methadone at least not for any thing more than a couple days but that isnt even very likely.i just want to stress that the withdrawals made me wish i was kicking heroin,months went by and i was still not eating right and every bone in my body hurt after hurricane katrina ,my clinic was destroyed and we got placed somewhere 2 hours from the nearest clinic w/ no car due to the storm. emergency rooms are not aloud to dose people on methadone clinics and have zero respect for you once you tell them your on methadone. its a life long addiction and you need to understand you may never get off of it. i was near death ,running from the police,and destroying my family, it without a doubt saved my life and im a different person now,hard working family man. but i live with addiction and will likely die that way. i can only thank god i found something to work for me. i would give the suboxone i tad bit more time before you go to the methadone. the very few people i know who have detoxed from methadone say the stuff works,but there will be some discomfort. after all you are trying to get off oxys and dope,not weed and little debbie snacks.LOL sorry just a little bad joke. i wish you and your family all the luck in the world and im sure you will find something that works for you. just do yourself a favor and make methadone a last resort. GOD BLESS from the bottom of my heart. ive been there its no fun but you can change it all i promise you! ONE LOVE
I'll just share my experience with you at a methadone clinic. The clinic was awful; the way it was run, they way they treated you, and it seems like they are all similar in the way people dislike them. Getting on methadone was the worse thing that ever happened to me. The clinic taught me how to get on methadone but no one ever told me anything about getting off of it! After becoming addicted methadone I tried to detox three time from the clinic without success and I was following all the rules! I suppose it could have worked if only I would have known to choose a to detox. But like I said, nobody told me or tried to help me in anyway. I was all on my own. My last attempt to detox from the clinic, in a six month period of time, they cheated me out of one month, kicked me out because they didn't like me, while I was on 4mg. It might seem like 4mg is not much but it's enough to send you back to using.
Long story short, I became addicted to opiates all over again just to get off methadone. I've met two other people who did the same thing, switching addictions to get off methadone. Now maybe you will have a different or better experience but if you get addicted to methadone I would suggest you take at least a year to detox, depending on how much time you spend at the methadone clinic and what dose you are on while you are there.
Incidentally, I'm on suboxone now due to my addiction to opiates, including using methadone again. Good luck!
methadone is bad news I know at least 20 people that have been on it for 25 years or longer most end up dying. The main things that happen you age terrible your skin becomes very wrinkled , your bones get thin and break easily, teeth fall out you have to take 6 pills or more a day, and if you have problems you wil find out if you take them with Klonopin ,you have a junkie high just like heroin, as you start increasing that mix you will definately overdose and die in the middle of the night your breathing will get shallow from the meth and Klonopin and you will nod out not realizing you will die like the guy who acted as the joker , thats what he did and accidently killled himself, if you want to change your life go on the subs tell your doc whats going on in less than a year youll will be drug free good luck, and if you believe in the lord the more you prayer for help the more your recovery will work.
youyou Wow what a mess you are telling us.Methadone is a great tool in opiate addiction.Without it there would be more crime,muggings,B&Es,OD's and so much more.There are alot of addicts that cannot afford this overpriced suboxone.I have been on methadone many years and what you describe is so not real.A junkie high like heroin,youyou WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN TAKING??? you have to take care of yourself,just like any normal person.The people you talk about can be anybody that just don't care.Stop the sterotyping. youyou
Whatever you do, be careful!!! Methadone withdrawals can last for 6 months and are worse than other opiates. I would stick to the suboxone. I am on suboxone after being an oxycontin addict for 5 years and although I know methadone works better, I stick to the subs. I'm terrified of getting hooked, because what will you use to get off the methadone? Good luck and congratulations for getting this far.
Kate
this is maybe not the best answer but what will work for one person because of the many differences in our systems what does well for one won't always do the work for another, you mentioned the possibility of a problem changing to methadone due to your age possibly the answer is discuss this continuing to give you ongoing withdrawls and see if the doctor can make an adjustment in your dose that may be what it will take rather than changing medications best wishes
I am gonna agree with most people. DONT SWITCH to methadone!! This is the most addicting medication invented in 20th century! What you are having now is you are withdrawing, and at the same time dont feel too sick. Thats the way it works. It makes you feel better, but at the same time getting off the addiction. People who are on low dose of methadone, switch to saboxone, so that its easier to get off. NOT the other way around!! If you are on that low dose be HAPPY! And if you feel sick but not really that bad, is the best dose for you!! Keep lowering, listen to your body and in no time youll be off!!
Chris i'm 35 and have been an opiate addict since i was 17yrs old. However the only thing to keep me alive,out of jail,and enabled me to return respect that was lost from family as well as myself is methadone. However it is most certainly the last step before death or long prison terms."Which is a likely outcome for heroin,OxyContin,and morphine addicts". Methadone should be your very last option it is the monster of all addictions and as far as im concerned after a year or so there may be no return from the clinic,its been 12 years for me. But with that warning,it has been a blessing for me and wouldnt be here to care for my family or see my kids grow up without it. Suboxone is a drug i as well as many of the patients at my clinic have tried with very few success stories. the largest burden in my life is the cost of my methadone,"although much cheaper by far than my drug habit was", but none the less its about 90$ weekly.
The Suboxone was about the same and not as effective in my opinion. with someone who is just truly trying to cut all ties with the drug life , and have tried and failed at other attemps the clinic may just be the best thing thats ever happened to you. Just be prepared to have a job to pay for the service because once your on,your on! and the withdrawal is unlike anything you've experienced before. It saved my life and im a big supporter but it is only as a last option. Ill finish by saying Suboxone has lots of draw backs and not much in the way of results from my experience. I know its worked for many but just not me. the few people i do know who do okay with the Suboxone are ex-addicts whom have been free from illegal drugs for many years and have been in NA,AA, or parole and arent aloud to take methadone. Good Luck, i hope my humble opinion has helped some. Thanks for reading!
I was on methadone for what endend up being 8 yrs and I'm only 30. I wasted my life in that clinic and I didn't get any better. I am on suboxone now and it's hard to get adjusted when your use to being high on heroin, but I beg of you to run from methadone. In my opinion, it makes a bad problem worse and then it took me a month of horrific w/ds and I still didn't feel normal after two months without any methadone so I went to suboxone. Don't do the methadone dude. I think it's a bad idea! Good Luck.
Methodone wud be the WRONG way to go. I had to come off methodone (withdrawels are horrid)to Sabox. I wud ask your Dr. to up yr dose of Sabox.
I started out at 16mg a day!! Good luck
my boyfriend was a herion addict for years and years he went on methadone to avoid herion withdrawl . he was on methadone for a little over 2yrs his highest dose was about 130mg.. he would nod off and sweat alot.. he said there is still a euphoric feeling on methadone... he tried to slowly detox off of it.. he got down to 80mg and was there for a long time.. he always talked about hating the methadone. he started losing teeth .. which i found out later was because of the methadone also He gained weight and would not be able to sleep at night. He then lost his job and couldnt pay his methadone clinic bill. and they started detoxing him 5mg a day.. he ended up using herion again because the clinic only cares about their money not actually helping people. he is now finally on suboxone and he is happy. you see suboxone has opiate blocker so you dont get high. if you want to be clean and sober and not dependent on anything try to get off the suboxone and stay clean.
if you chose methadone you will be trapped forever. it is way more painful to detox off of. all suboxone is doing is helping you deal with withdrawl.. its not a solution to choose to stay on anything. good luck to you.
Related topics
oxycontin, suboxone, opiate dependence, opiate withdrawal, heroin, methadone, addiction
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