Methadone is NOT a lifesaver people!!

[Sweetness91]

I get so infuriated when I read a post by someone who is talking about trying to get off methadone and in comes a commenter who sings it's praises and acts like its holy water. Those are the ones who have obviously not had it affect their body negatively yet, or affect their life I a negative way. So let me tell you what you can expect, should you decide that methadone is going to save your life.....

When I was put on methadone 8 years ago, I too, thought it was a "wonder drug"....I didn't have to take much to be pain free, of course I knew nothing about a drugs half-life at that time either. (No wonder it worked so well at first...half-life of methadone, up to 60 hrs...half-life of Vicodin, approx. 4-5 hrs..) So I started out at 20 mgs a day and did fine...for about 3 months. Then it was increased. And again it only helped a few months and had to be increased...again and again.

During the time I was on it, I had chronic bronchitis, and pneumonia at least once a year (at the ripe old age of 32) and landed in the hospital for days with the pneumonia. I also suffered from double hernias, because I didn't realize how far I was pushing my body, so had surgery to repair those. Then a few years ago, became very ill with stomach issues. Ended up having exploratory surgery to find that I had a collapsed lung, peritonitis and that my appendix had ruptured. All for methadone. Great huh?? The surgeon told me that my colon was bigger than a softball, and normal size should be about the size of a tennis ball...another great effect of the opiate. He also told me if I stayed on the course I was on, that I would NOT live to 60. That absolutely scared the hell out of me...but yet I stayed on it another 3 years because I was afraid of living w/o it and afraid of the withdrawal. But let me say, the exploratory surgery recovery was far worse than I'm experiencing now.

Now lets talk about how it affects you mentally....at first, nothing can touch you...oh yeah, because it "saved your life"....but soon....very soon...it grabs ahold of all your emotions and feelings and hides them away to where YOU can't even find them. Then you start leaving the house less and less. But that's ok, still got the methadone right? THEN, you don't leave the house at all...unless you absolutely have to! You stay up all night and sleep til noon or later every day, then when you do roll yourself out of bed, you plop your a$$ in front of the tv all day, because surely the house will clean itself...but even if it doesn't, who cares??  Then your family starts to wonder what's happened to the person they once knew...and they start begging you to bring that person back...but once again, who cares?

And THEN, that moment of clarity...that moment when you realize how different things are than they were before the methadone...and how different they COULD be...that moment when you realize just how jealous you are of ppl who get out and live their lives to the fullest.  And you know it's just within reach....but ohhhh the terrible withdrawals you would have to go thru to be like them.

I'm here to tell you, it's not as terrible as it sounds. Sure, everyone gets on here and moans n groans about the w/d's, but this is like our bit€hfest page...it makes some feel better to just SAY how bad they feel, but it really is like a bad case of the flu, an extended flu, but the flu! You sat in front of the tv all day while you were on methadone, why not sit there while you're getting off it and recover?

I know I tend to ramble, and write books, lol, but it really does irritate me when someone tries to push methadone here...this is for ppl wanting to get OFF the crap. It is not ok to sing praises of a "wonderful drug" to someone who is stating they want off drugs!!  Sorry ppl...just had to vent!

[VICourageous]

HI ALL I too went from hydro/oxy to methedone the hydro/oxy w/d was short the methedone went in stages for months and months. I will not get into why and how I felt because you all been there. I was so angry and did the blame thing on the doctors I wanted this medication off the market. I was going to write a book about the drug pushers in the white jackets. but now I am in the AA/NA NEW WORLD NEW LIFE no blame anywhere. Yes it can be used in a good way short term. However when I was in meetings with alot of people coming off of herion they all told me they would shoot themselfs if they had to come off of methedone they said herion is more natural and does leave quicker. We just open up a new NA meeting for people using subox or methedone to taper from other drugs. remeber I went cold trukey and went threw hell too. I would not take anything because I wanted my brain transmitter to fire up again and WOW they really get going and it is great to be clear headed right you all.
God Bless us All Oh yea I heard they made methedone for the soldiers becase they were running short of morphine.
vvicidaho

[Sweetness91]

Weaver, your insight always amazes me! I hope when I'm clean as long as you, that I have the same knowledge and power to help make someone else feel the same way you make me feel! You are an awesome supporter and I wouldn't be where where I am today without your knowledge & advice and the knowledge and advice of SO MANY others here.

And I DO want ppl to know they have a choice, and to stand up and say "hey, do I really need this?" Yes, I was over-using my prescription when I first got on meds, I went from Vicodin, to Percocet, to Oxycontin(which I couldn't handle), and back to Percocet...by that time I was taking probably 100mg a day or better, which for me is ALOT...so methadone did help me for awhile. I shouldn't have titled the post this way...if I could figure out how to change or delete it, I would! Mobile MedHelp is so different than the full site. Grrr.

[Sweetness91]

You're not kidding Bkitty! I don't think I've offended anyone so far with my posts, but I sure did this time. And like I said, I sure didn't mean to. The reason I titled it the way I did was I had just read a post by someone else who was asking for advice on how to detox from methadone, and someone commented that they should basically stay on it because its a wonderful drug. That may be true for some, but not all. And yes, it did help me in the beginning, but I feel it has done more harm than good in my case. Probably because I didn't know anything about it. I remember when he told me he was going to prescribe it and I was stunned, I told him I had never heard anything good about it, because at that time, it was still widely used for heroin users, and not so much for pain management. But he told me how much better it would work and yada yada yada. So I did it and here I am 8 years later...Causing a ruckus! I'm so sorry folks :(

[Bkitty]

PS: there is someone that just posted I think she could use some advice ;) Her name is amber. Im not too knowledgeable of methadone. See we all need people like you and methadone4me here ;))

[weaver71]

Well sweetness, whoever reads this post in consideration of methadone gets both sides of the story now. I've finally been clean long enough my emotions are stable and unaffected by others' opinions. I know I've flipped my lid here and elsewhere. I think it's good to go through this sort of conversation and walk away clean, we're learning coping skills. I know I had to really think about what I believed while reading and responding to this post. I lost it a few times when trying to learn about suboxone, and so did a lot of other people. They saved my life, but there are no cure all or absolute demons. We are the demons, the drugs are just there.

GROUP HUG!!! Now isn't that better.

[Bkitty]

Sometimes it gets heated on this forum! It happens all the time esp when we are all at different levels of sobriety and emotions are running high. I remember once I yelled (well put the cap lock on) at a member advertising rapid detox! I just ,,I don't know. I didn't like it. But I had to pull back and just sort it out in my head. Some members come and go all the time cuz of this. Some members say like it is and don't coddle or sugar coat things. That's what makes this a great forum. Take what you need and leave the rest,,someone elso may need it. (((((((hugs))))))