Hi everyone. I'm Tracy. I was on Oxycontin for about 8 years then switched over to Methadone for the past 15+ yrs, due to lack of ins at the time. I started on 240mg Methadone and 180mg Oxycodone for BT pain. Like others have said, it seemed like a miracle drug. It helped so much with the pain, I didn't crave more in 3 or 4 hrs. I could concentrate on other things besides my next dose, and MOST IMPORTANT, I wasn't running out early every month. Currently, I am not on any oxycodone and have been tapering the Methadone. Today I just cut back from 80mg to 75mg. I know it's still a high dose, but nothing compared to 240mg. It was EXTREMELY easy jumping from 240mg to 160mg. I was taking 80mg, 3x per day. I felt like it was a lot, so I started taking 80mg twice per day and saving the rest. I had the oxycodone to take in between when I needed it. Eventually I didn't really even need much of that. I didn't have any WD symptoms, that I can remember. Then I cut back again, to 70mg in the morning and 60mg at night and stayed there for about 6 years. In May this year I decided to get off the Methadone for good. I am worried about the pain, very worried. But I am so tired of having no energy or motivation anymore. I remember what I was like b4 Methadone and I am not the same person. I don't have pain, and I can work, but after work, life ends. I want to feel like ME again.
It seems like every other 10mg cut back is difficult, and the cuts from the morning dose are harder than the night time dose. I was taking 50mg in the AM and 30 in the PM so today I HAD to cut 5mg from the morning dose. I mean, I suppose I could have cut from the PM dose, but I am trying to even them out as much as possible. Anyway, that's my story. Now to my question. Throughout the years, I have been on different meds. MS contin, MS IR, Oxy IR, Dilaudid (when they couldn't get the Methadone for 1 month) Ultram, Vicodin, Percocet, etc. So my question regarding Ultram. For me, it gave me some energy, like speed, but it did not help with my pain AT ALL. I didn't mention that, I have Interstitial Cystitis (IC). I won't bore you with the details. Anyway, I had a friend who would run out of meds early and use her Ultram to keep her from going through WDs until her next refill. I've tried that, and nope, didn't help AT ALL! I am not knocking anybody's DOC, but if someone could explain it to me, I would really appreciate it, because I can't for the life of me understand why it's a CS. I am a nurse and in my state, it is a CIV narcotic. We have to count them which surprised me when that started. Thanks to everybody for being here and supporting everyone.