I Am Slowly Getting Off Methadone. Worried About the Withdrawals… Help?
Question by TedDanson: I am slowly getting off Methadone. Worried about the withdrawals… Help?
OK.. I was addicted to the painkiller Oxycontin for a couple years. It is an opiate, (which of course I didn’t know when I started using it) and is basically just as addicting, or maybe even more addicting than Heroin.
I wasn’t a guy who got in accident and was prescribed it or anything. Actually I was a successful drug dealer who had a lot of money to blow on these stupid pain killers which I snorted up my nose. I never wanted to believe I was addicted to this stuff, and actually self detoxed 9 times throughout a 2 year period, always relapsing around the 3 week, 1 month mark, because I couldn’t take the depression and boring-ness of normal drug free life. Eventually I decided to change my life around and stop selling drugs. When I started working a normal job, making normal money there was no way I could financially support my PK addiction. So knowing that self detoxing will only result in re-lapse, I checked into a methadone maintenance program.
Best Idea of my life. I also decided to turn my life around, which I KNOW is the real reason I stopped using drugs. I stopped hanging around my gangster friends, moved away from the town I grew up in to a nice spot in the city by the beach. I went back to college and started my own business, which is a local free newspaper. I only hang around friends that don’t sell/use drugs and I focus all my time on other pleasures in life such as my girl, business, education and recreational activities.
But I’m still on this Methadone. I have been on for 5 months, and sick of it. I don’t need drugs anymore, I have gone back to the part of my great life before drugs and realized this is much better than the last couple years. Now this Methadone is like a ball and chain around my ankle. So a month ago I started reducing my methadone prescription slowly so I can eventually get off it. But I’m scared, I’ve heard horrible stories how Methadone withdrawal is worse than Heroin (which I have never tried) withdrawal. Has anyone ever successfully used methadone to be completely opiate free?
If you ever have, or know someone that does, can you please tell me and give me some hope, because I am so scared of this withdrawal, and sometimes think I would rather die than do it again. I have gone from 75mg’s to 50mg’s so far, going down 5mg’s a week, and so far no problems.
And if you ever wanna talk or have any questions or comments, my email is [email protected]
Best answer:
Answer by john doe
keep yourself occupied
chew alot of gum
find a hobby you really really like
just find something to do that will take up your time and be self-fulfilling
just stay on the move
the moment you stay still and think….that’s when you want to pop another pill
Answer by minx
don’t be afraid mate ….. there’s nothing to fear except fear itself….. the other guy is right …… keep yourself busy ……. and focus on crushing this evil addiction into extinction……the phenomenal power of the mind…try a visualisation exercise …….. close your eyes and imagine you have a large round mirror in your hands and in front of that mirror are the words….. “the thought of the Fear of …….. (insert fear, or guilty thought or self critical thought or even other peoples stressy thoughts here)” …….. the mirror is deflecting the thoughts away so that they can’t affect you…… do it repeatedly and really believe in it …….. and when it works, don’t invalidate it and say “i can’t believe it worked” … but rather say thanks for the courage and small mercys……. it’s simply the phenomenal power of your mind in action ……. if you believe that something can be overpowering and controlling and terrifying then it will be ….. if you truly believe that the same something has no effect on you it truly won’t.
in the last 7 years i’ve recovered completely from being an extraordinarily messy alcoholic, ditched eating processed sugar and other processed foods, ditched a wicked addiction to massive doses of antidepressants, eliminated drinking one or two litres of sodas and pop each day, stopped drinking 10 coffeess daily and reduced it to 2 or 3, addressed all my food intolerances and got my bounce back ……. and the nail in the coffin ……. i stopped smoking a couple of weeks ago …….. so yeah …. i’m not just windbagging it here buddy ….. the power of the human mind is phenomenal if you just believe and give it a fair go ……… YOU CAN DO THIS ….. positive thinking and a stubborn will to succeed mate.
(((huggs)))
and it’s a mind exercise that you can do without anybody knowing …. it even works with your eyes open if you truly believe it will.
why not i say.
you’ve got nought to lose.
peace