Considering Methadone Maintenance Treatment??

considering it because I'm wasting all of my money on opiates and I would like to be able to ...buy other things for once and be more productive. I don't use opiates everyday because I can't afford it , but when I do I do about 125-200mg of morphine, 40-120mg of oxy, or 8mg dilaudid (not as much of that because its such a ripoff) basically i use everytime i have money. the thing is im not even 18 yet (a month away), and ive been using since i was introduced to heroin when i was really young (i dont do heroin now though and I no longer IV anythng). even though i dont take them everyday I'm used to this schedule so much that my bones ache when I don't have anything.
I just have some questions? Would I have to go to NA meetings? Methadone is one of the few opiates/opioid synthetic weird conconctions I've never done before so maybe I'll be one of the lucky people who like it?
I'm prescribed benzos to sleep, would I have to stop those?
Anyone here have any experience with MMT and could tell me what I'd be in for? new to forum , yay :mickey:

 

From my experiences, a lot of people love methadone, I like it too if I got enough of it.

And yes, you will not be able to have any type of benzo in your system or they will not admit you to the program. Benzo's and opiates can be very dangerous. They will piss test you before you see the doctor that will admit you to the program, and if any benzo is in the system then you won't get in.

Careful however with methadone maintenance... I feel that unless your tolerance is ridiculously high, then it may keep you a junkie for life. The half life of methadone is much longer than other opiates, so the withdrawals are much longer and very nasty.

 

dont do it! you are way to young! I have been on MMT for 7 years. Talk about bones aching and my teeth are gone!! If your not shooting dope you can walk away form it.

 

^ X2!!!!!!!!!!

First off i don't think you can get on any clinic if your under 18. So you would have to wait a month for your b-day. I suggest you get a couple 8mg suboxone and detox yourself in that month, you really shouldn't need more than 5 or 6 and it won't take you more than a week. Suboxone is a miracle drug for people who will withdraaw if they don't have opiates in their system. If you can't find them on the street then get them from the clinic you would get the methadone from. Methadone is not for you.

 

to me methadone is synthetic heroin. but it will work while on methadone you will not get high on any opioid . but i took 4-5 10mg and its like heroin. all i did was nod off.

 

So much your bones ache?

From your phrasing, you ain't feelin SHIT for opiate WD's, man up, before you flush your life.

 

you should just go to a clinic and ask for clonidine. its used for opioid withdrawal and when you're done with that treatment you'll just be done. Your bones won't ache anymore, you wont have to worry about blowing your money. You'll still have a psychological addiction more than likely, but you can beat that on your own. If you go and get methadone chances are you will be on it for many, many years.

 

clonidine is actually used to treat high blood pressure but it will help with mild WDs. Suboxone was made to treat opiod withdraw not long term treatment although that is what it is now used for. Personally i have saved myself from horrible WDs(i really don't want to describe it, if you have ever been through it i am sure you can understand) and felt fine 3 days later with 3 8 mg suboxone. Believe me it is a miracle drug for anyone with and opiod dependence. Although subutex was better.

And methadone is only like heroin for like the first 3 days your on it(and even then not really). after that all it does is keep you from getting sick, but then your addicted to something way worse(methadone). No one should ever recommend methadone to anyone for anything.

To the op Qs-
Most clinics make you go to there "in-house" meetings which are usually worse than any NA meeting because 98% of the people there don't want to be sober. And at most of these clinics if you miss 2 or so meetings they will put a hold on your methadone, this means when you go to get your dose on a given day they can deny you until you talk to your counselor, then you will know WD!
Most people who are on methadone like methadone, a better way to word it would be, maybe you will be one of the lucky ones who actually successfully completes a MMT prog.
No you can not take benzos, and it may even be a good idea to stop taking them for awhile until you get your self straightened out, unfortunately alot of people who becoming addicted to opiates to not have a high success rate and are more likely to relapse.

Sorry for ranting but this is a very personal topic because i have seen alot of my best friends lose themselves in all this, including once myself.

But mushrooms and acid saved me!!!

 

Danger my man, u are young and u unfortunitly have found a lifetime addiction. The only way to win and overcome this is not methadone, it is seeking a higher power within yourself and really wanting more out of life then a quick attitude adjustment. Find yourself and something that makes u happy and u can beat this addiction. Otherwise u can look forward to jails, institutions, and death...

 

lol....

If you're on methadone, you're admitting you're FUCKED. It's not luck, people who want methadone want the easy way out, and generally don't have the balls to do what beating their addiction takes. Like this guy. He doesn't have a SERIOUS opiate addiction, so instead of going cold turkey and never touching the shit again, he decides he wants to be methadones bitch and spend his life going through periods of withdrawl between binges, and eventually OD in a gutter without anyone who cares.

 

oh the only thing i know about clonidine is that i work for a pharmacy that supplies a local detox center with their drugs, and we prescribe a shitload of clonidine for both alcohol and opiate withdrawal. If its just for mild withdrawal then it should still work for the OP, it doesn't sound like he has a hardcore addiction. I'm a big believer in starting with the mildest, least addictive treatment first. Although it sounds to me like the OP doesn't have a desire to quit so much as a desire to find a legal, less costly high.

 

100% true
I was saying you will be lucky to actually successfully complete MMT, I.E. have them taper your dose until you are weened off methadone and then never get addicted to opiates again. I wonder what the chances of that actually happening are.
Methadone is a bloody band-aid.

 

Go watch that documentary from HBO Methadonia, then come back and tell us if u want to be on methadone, ur tradeing one evil for another bro, good luck and god bless

 

I have been a patient of a Methadone clinic. I urge everyone to stay far far away from Methadone and especially the Methadone clinics. I was on Methadone for over a year. I got up to 65 mgs. It was harder to ween myself off of Methadone than the rest of the opiates. I'm on Suboxone now, but I wouldn't recommend that either. Like Meliai said the best route is the least addictive route possible. Those people that work in Methadone clinics don't get a fuck about you. From my experience and what I've seen, their game is complacency. It's very easy to become complacent when you can walk in a door every morning and get your high. It's easy to become complacent when you can walk through a door every morning and tell them you need to have your dose upped because of this reason and that reason and they ok it. If I hadn't walked in one day and said this is enough, it's time to go down... they would have let me stay on it for the rest of my life without one word of encouragement to lower my dose. If you piss dirty for marijuana or any drug they take away your take homes and treat you like a child. And trust me, if you ever want to ween down on Methadone, your gonna need pot or xanax or something because you won't be able to sleep, you will be in excrutiating pain, and you'll be extremely depressed. The reason I am on Suboxone now is because I couldn't take the Methadone withdrawals. After I left the clinic I ended up back on opiates and in worse shape than I was when I walked through those doors. I thought Suboxone was my only choice and now I'm regretting that too, but I will admit that it's easier on my body than Methadone. But what happens when you are flat broke one day and there's no one to loan you money for your daily Methadone dose? Take everyone's advice and stay the fuck away from everything that has to do with Methadone.

And walk away from opiates while you can.

 

I personally think that you would be much better going on suboxone than methadone. The wd's from suboxone are far less intense than methadone.

 

my good friend did the methadone to get off the heroin

he was pretty sure they wanted him to stay with the program forever, if you cure everyone you lose your job right?

bad dope [not that cheap either], constant testing, humiliation - it depressed him so much that he killed himself

just sayin' . . .

 

btw, when my turn came, it was a couple of weeks of stepped-down vicodin, with clonidine, and chloral hydrate [knockout drops to sleep]

i can't say i felt great when the two weeks ended, but i felt good, and have not gone back [15 years]

 

Ah, mcweb speeks the truth. Finding a higher power is the only way to truly arrest your addiction. It wont be cured and you will still have thoughts but you will have a fighting chance. I guarantee methadone will take you to extremes you never thought you would do. Degredation and demoralization. Anything youve ever believed in will be thrown in the gutter and stomped on. In other words I suggest you dont do it and seek help

 

How are your mental cravings though - wa bluska?

The only thing that I don't like about NA is when you sort of have to speak to the rest of the group. I hate talking in large groups.

 

from one fantasy to another . . .