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Methadone Withdrawal — Scared with no one else to get answers from?

Anna_a asked:

My dr put me on methadone for pain management about 2 years ago. I started out at 5 mg (total a day) and he eventually got me up to 40 mg (total a day). I had major hip surgery hence the methadone. So eventually, about 10 months ago we started to taper my methadone and things weren’t a ‘walk in the park’ but for the most part things were going smoothly and he was easy to communicate with if I had any problems. All of a sudden my dr is gone; (this past april) I had called the clinic for a refill and was told my dr was no longer practicing at the clinic. I was anxious but to work that day on establishing a new internal medicine dr in the same clinic. The office made me an appt for 30 days later (may) and a day before the appt canceled it. So I tried to reschedule and they decided to schedule me with a different dr this time, which was fine with me. Same thing happened again, the appt was canceled last minute. And… get this… this happened a third time in June. So this whole time my medicine wasn’t being tapered… I was at a constant 4 ml. I had to go to the hospital’s Patient Advocacy office to finally get an appt that wouldn’t be canceled last minute. So now I’m with a dr that has sped up my taper to an incredibly uncomfortable speed. More than twice the speed of the plan w/ my previous dr whom left his practice.

So… my question: The day I picked up the my current prescription I told the receptionist that I need to talk to her, my dr, as soon as possible because I was so anxious and fearful about the current taper my dr wanted me at. So now it’s 2 weeks later, she called me once and I wasn’t at my phone so I’m waiting for another call. (I tried for a 2nd time today) And at this point I just want to see if I can handle the withdrawal myself. I feel like she invalidates how I tell her I’m feeling. When I tell her about my withdrawal symptoms, I feel like she doesn’t believe me. So last Fri (17th Oct) I went from 4 ml a day (I had been on 4 ml a day for about 17 days.) That day I realized that she probably wasn’t going to call me back in any timely manner; I felt like I was backed up into a corner. So the next day, Saturday the 18th I went to 2 ml a day, Sunday I went to 1 ml a day (half AM, half PM) and I’ve been on that dose since Sunday… so 2 and a half days. But tonights ‘the big night’… tonight is my last dose and it will be exactly .4-.5 ml. What I;m trying desperately to figure out is how bad my withdrawals will be or if they will be bad at all. The last time I went through withdrawals was a long time ago and I was at 10 mg, so I know for a fact that the withdrawals won’t be nearly as bad as they were then. But I know this won’t be a walk in the park by any means, I just want to be prepared and have some sense of control over what I’m going to be feeling like for the next 2 weeks or however long they last. What’s even worse is my mom is leaving in 2 days for a Napa Valley vacation and will be gone for 2 weeks so I’m going to be all by myself and I can honestly say I’m scared shi*less.

Does anyone out there know what I’m going to be going through, symptoms-wise, in the next week or 2 weeks?? Any help, information, suggestions, or piece of mind is greatly appreciated… I have absolutely no one else to talk to about this. Thanks!

rapid detox

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Written by Admin on December 8th, 2008 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Injuries.

2 comments

Read the comments left by other users below, or:

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com Mr. Sunshine
#1. December 10th, 2008, at 3:15 PM.

Opiate withdrawl is uncomfortable but not life threatening usually.

You will feel irritable, shaky, may have stomach cramps, diarrhea, etc.

It should get better in a week and completely gone in a week.

Good luck.

Get your own gravatar by visiting gravatar.com chas
#2. January 23rd, 2009, at 5:00 AM.

How did you’re withdrawels go? I’m reading your account now in Jan 2009 but i’m thinking you must have gone thru some some hell at that taper speed.. It usually takes months to go from 4ml to 0mls tapering 0.2ml at a time all the way down to zero….so if you werent able to completely get off it dont give up.. just go much slower…0.2ml at a time down to just drops.

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