tapering off methadone

[19842010]

My husband has been on methadone since sept 2010 and we want to start tapering off. hes worried (and I am too) about relapse. I was thinking tapering off 5 mg a MONTH which I think is ridiculously low but hes worried about withdrawal. What are your thoughts about tapering? What has worked? and will 5mg be ok? Our Dr is NO help as he is practically just a legal drug dealer... great... The clinic was too expensive. Thanks :) Oh and this is my first post here. Are there any other therapies like AA we could go to together?

[19842010]

hes on 70mg/day we had to cut to 65/day because he has to see the dr every 30 days to get the rx but this time its 31 so right now hes on 60/day and seems to be doing ok. He said he feels ****** but doesnt seem to be acting like hes withdrawaling... if that makes sense. So were thinking 5 mg every 2 weeks... thats his saying

[gnarly_1]

HI ....5mg a month is what a lot of clinics do....it ageist medhelps rules to post taper sceduals in the forum it really depend on what dose he is at that might be to much if hes at a low dose
we need more info like what his dose is to really give you an honest answer just know coming off methadone is a ruff ride no mater how you do it and a slow taper is the best please reply back b/4 you start and will try and help .........Gnarly  

[dominosarah]

Coming off methadone can be pretty brutal but doable.  There really is no way around it but there are things you can do to ease the symptoms.  Check out the health pages on the bottom right hand side of this page.....The amino acids and Thomas recipe are listed.  Others who have come off methadone will see this and will be able to help you out.  I would recommend checking into some sort of recovery care.  NA/AA would be a good start for you both.  Keep posting as we are here to support you~~~sara

[kaboy1]

I'm in day 5 of going cold turkey off of 60mg a day of methadone. If he's taking that small of a dose just quit and ride it out. It won't kill him. I've gone through withdrawls several times on much higher doses. If it gets bad get on clonidine and the Thomas recipe (health pages upper right of this page) It ***** but it's inevitable. There's no easy way off. Good luck.