Does anyone have any advice or experiences related to methadone withdrawl and recovery?

October 10, 2007 10:52 AM

Does anyone have any advice or experiences related to methadone withdrawl and recovery?

My boyfriend is taking methadone for an opiate addiction. We was prescribed, starting out, (from a clinic) 8 pills a day (which equals 320 g). He is now down to about 2 pills a day (80 g), and wants to go down gradually to zero by the end of the year.
His withdrawl symptoms are horrible, and with a lower dose, his cravings for opiates increase dramatically. He is ok with dealing with the pain associated with withdrawl at his current dose, but I know it's going to get a lot worse with the lowered dose.
I have posted on forums, and read a lot on the subject, but haven't really gotten any good responses. Maybe what I'm looking for is some advice from someone in the medical field. It's no point to ask the counselors at the clinic, because they are an institution which is (in my opinion) there to "control" the addiction (through maintenance programs), rather than actually help the patients get off the drug. There are people there who have been showing up at 5am for 30 years to get their methadone for their maintenance program!!!

I know the next couple of months are going to be really hard for him, and for me, as I am helping through this ordeal. It is a really tough situation, as I have never been addicted to anything (other than cigarettes), and I've never done any drugs that have a high potential of addiction, because it terrifies me. It's really hard to fully understand what he's going through (physically, and mentally).
I've read about something called the "thomas recipe" which names a number of supplements and vitamins which help when going "cold turkey", but I was wondering if anyone can offer up any other good ideas (preferably natural, as I don't think it's a good idea to introduce any more narcotic pharmaceuticals for pain, sleep problems, etc).

I love my boyfriend to death, and I want to see him recover from this painful addiction, and get off this controlling drug! I also want to point out that my boyfriend is not your typical "dope junkie", you wouldn't even know about his addiction, none of my friends do,(which makes it extremely difficult for me to deal with, as I have no one to talk to about this who knows me). He's a GREAT person with big heart, and an unfortunate addiction. He wants to get better, it's just excruciating. Someone please help us!

posted by shannie-bananie to health & fitness (4 comments total)

IANAD but I do work at a part-time meth clinic. While I appreciate he wants to get off meth quickly, a year is, in my experience, not feasible. On the maintenance side, I know people who are on a very low dose, and have been for years...they are successful business people with families, etc...so don't write off the idea of a slower withdrawal.

One possibility is to go from pills to a suspension in orange juice, which is IIRC the preferred method of dispensing in Ontario (where I am). This allows tapering off much more steadily. For example, the only place you BF can go now if from 80g to 40g...that's insane. With a suspension, if it's available in your region, he could go down by 5 or 10mg steps. Look in to that.

Another idea is complementary medicine in general and acupuncture especially. There's an addiction-management acupuncture program at one of the hospitals here in Toronto. I know CBT, hypnotherapy, and massage therapy are also beneficial for chronic pain, though of course as with all complementary therapies, YMMV. Good luck!
posted by sarahkeebs at 12:07 PM on October 10, 2007

Thanks for your response Sarah.
He's actually suffering from heroin addiction, not meth, but Ive heard it is just as bad.
He recieves the medicine usually in pill form (the orange pill mostly, but sometimes the white methadose), but sometimes they mix it in water, so it's not easily sold on the street market (as many people take methadone to get high-which i think is crazy).
Since the beginning of his treatment, (about a year ago), he's only tripped up maybe 6 times, and only when he goes to a lower dose. I read that at higher levels, the methadone cuts the cravings, but at lower dose, the cravings become REALLY intense.
Initially when he decided to go down in his dosage, he was going down 1/8 a pill every 3 days (which is equivalent to 5 mgs). Now he's come up with a system (which I personally think isn't a great idea) where he goes down 2.5 mgs a day. I think it's not realistic to put time rescrictions on this sort of thing, because with making unrealistic goals, comes failure and dissappointment, and in this situation, with failure and dissapointment comes relapse.
But He's made his mind up that he wants to go this route, at least until he reaches 40 mg, and then he'll proceed much slower. We bought a little scale and what we do is mix the liquid M with sherbert (with the water M concentration, the M sinks to the bottom, and to be more evenly measured needs to be mixed with a more solid substance), and then fill the containers for a week with his dosage, dropping 2.5 mg a day. We set it up for an entire week, that way he doesn't have to worry about measuring in the morning, because he's very weak and sick.
Im definetly gonna do reasearch on the therapies you suggested, as i think this would help out A LOT! Ive had several people in my family get hypnotherapy, and it worked for all of them, I'll look into it.
Like you said, there are many people who are successful business people, etc. He owns his own home and has his own business. He is what people call a functioning addict, i guess you could say. There are so many misconceptions when it comes to heroin addicts, and I was guilty of believing most of them (that is, until I met my boyfriend). Not all are junkies, or on the streets, or dirty and theives. The first time I went with him to the clinic, I couldn't belive some of the people who were there. They looked like regular moms, dads, sisters, and brothers you'd run into at a grocery store. There's a huge stigma attached to addiction, with good reason, but not all addicts are bad people.
Thanks so much for your response, i really appreciate it! :)
posted by shannie-bananie at 12:35 PM on October 10, 2007

I know nothing more than what I have read online. I am not a doctor. But perhaps you may want to have a look at Ibogaine.

Good luck to you and your boyfriend.
posted by infinityjinx at 3:20 PM on October 10, 2007

I know one ex-junkie who swears that Ibogaine is what set him right, but it's a pretty intense alternative.

Stepping down 2.5mg a day sounds like an awful lot to me, but my experience with methadone withdrawal is all secondhand. More power to your boyfriend if he can handle such a quick drop. I've been told that kava-kava can help ease withdrawal, but I don't know if you want to substitute substances like that (though it is all natural). On the other hand, a lot of hardcore opiate addicts would find the idea of stepping off of any serious opiate with kava laughable, so ymmv.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 4:12 PM on October 10, 2007