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pregnant and wondering about split dosing methadone

Hey yall! Okay I am pregnant and taking 130 mgs of methadone. I have been on this same dose for 2 years. This pregnancy wasnt planned and before I found out I was about to start detoxing but what's done is done and I will have a beautiful lil gift from God in October.  My question is has anyone tried to split dose. I have been having some withdrawal symptoms at night and into the morning recently which ive read is normal for a pregnant women bc of everything going on with your body. So I tried to stand it as long as I could but it got to where I wasnt sleeping very well and I have a wonderful 4 year old lil man who deserves and is use to us having active fun filled days but he wasn't getting that as much bc I was exhausted from a sleepless night of tossing and turning so when I got home from the clinic I just wanted to sleep. I finally said this isn't fair to my son or myself. So, I asked my clinic for an increase and instead of giving me one they have decided to split dose me, 70 mgs in the morning at the clinic then a daily take home of 60mgs. Im just wondering how this will work?  Will I not be in withdrawals pretty quickly everyday from only taking 70 mgs in the morning when I'm use to taking 130mgs?? Would it help to just sip on my daily 60mg take home dose all through out the day? Any advice is really appreciated :) thanks!
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Avatar universal
I'm a guy with no kids, so I don't know anything about pregnancy, except that I know that a lot of pregnant women used to come into the clinic to get on methadone during their pregnancy.  I do know about split dosing because I did it for a couple years before I quit.  It is very, very unlikely that you would go into withdrawals that quickly from only doing half a dose.  Your going to get the other half later so after about 24 hours you body is still going to running on the same amount every day from then on.  I preferred doing half and half actually.  I had more energy and remained more level throughout the day.  I'm definitely NOT a doctor.  This is just my personal experience with splitting the dose.  Good luck to you and congrats.
Helpful - 0
4810126 tn?1503942735
Hi there & congrats on your pregnancy,

As Nursegirl pointed out, Methadone is the maintenance drug of choice for expectant mothers. What you're experiencing is pretty common. The baby is 'consuming' part of your dose. So, that's where the discomfort is coming from. It makes total sense (& is standard in these cases) that your clinic doesn't want to raise you (130mgs is a high enough dose) but would prefer to try split dosing. I wasn't pregnant but was getting ill at night on my dose. They did what they call a 'Peak & trough' on me in order to test the serum level of methadone several hours after dosing & then before I dosed in the morning. (The first being the peak & the second the trough). The numbers indicate if you are rapid metaboliser for Methadone. I was. So, they gave me half my dose in the morning & half to take home. It helped a lot & I felt much steadier.

As long as you're otherwise clean, this should work for you. Believe it or not, 65 mgs. in the morning & 65 mgs @ night is more than enough. (I only mention this because some people on higher doses get caught up in the 'numbers' & don't realize the strength of this drug. In fact, a while back many places wouldn't dose over 100mgs.)

Please do let your OBGYN know about your clinic & dose if you haven't already. Good luck to you & the baby! :))
Helpful - 0
480448 tn?1426948538
Congrats on the pregnancy!

Does your methadone doc know you're pregnant?  Have you seen your OB yet?  THAT needs to be your first priority...getting in to see your OB so he/she can help you remain stabilized.  Pregnancy is NOT the time to withdrawal, that can cause more issues than staying on a steady dose.

Methadone is actually the drug of choice for opiate addicted expectant mothers.  Your doctor would be your go to person.  It's very important that you keep him/her in the loop.

Good luck to you!
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