Methadone to Suboxone??? What do you all think about this c

Number of posts : 2 Registration date : 2009-10-28

Hello everyone,

My name is Nate, I have been prescribed methadone for 4 years now. I started off taking vicodin, hydros, oxys, ect for the buzz and quickly got hooked. Then I got arrested on my way to California and was stuck with 6 felonies, which i got very lucky with, Thanks to my parents spending tons of money on my lawyer. So once I got home my doctor prescribed me methadone(the pill form) since there was no methadone clinics close. Which at the time helped me a lot, made me feel much better. But now that I've been on it for so long it is now my addiction. This year I moved to Colorado and I need to find a doc here to prescribe my meds. I really don't want to be on methadone for the rest of my life, but know I can't stop taking it cold turkey. Been there , tried that. Would rather be dead. So I have been considering switching to suboxone?? So if anyone who has been in the same situation who has switched from methadone to suboxone, I would really appreciate ur feedback. TY

Hi Nate
The switch from Methadone to Suboxone is possible. We have had some members of the forum do that switch including myself. My situation was not the usual one in the sense that I was off of Methadone for one month before starting Suboxone.
The normal protocol for switching is to taper yourself down as low as you can on the Methadone, it is recommended that you taper down to 30mg a day or less for one week before starting Suboxone Treatment. It is also recommended that you stop taking Methadone for 24 hours before your first dose of Buprenorphine Monotherapy. But To be perfectly honest with you, from experience I would recommend that you stop taking Methadone for at least 48-72 hours before your induction appointment. You will need to be in mild to moderate withdrawal in order to start treatment and avoid precipitated withdrawal. (spontaneous withdrawal)
Some doctors start Suboxone Treatment with Suboxone and some use Subutex for the first week of treatment then switch you over to Suboxone.
You will need to check with your chosen provider to see which medication he uses for the induction.
I am hoping that some of the members that have actually done the switch will see your post and respond to share their experience with you.
Since switching over from Methadone to Suboxone I can honestly say that I have not had any problems with cravings or thoughts of relapse. I know that for a lot of people that thought weighs in their mind. But as for me, it has been a smooth transition. I hope that I have been of some help to you.
Remember we are here for you. You are not alone here.
Yours in Recovery,
Dee

Methadone to Suboxone??? What do you all think about this c Orange10

Hello Nate,
How are you getting along this gray Thursday morning? I live in Ohio, so we have many days just like this, not quite sure what the weather is going to end up doing... Yet, it is only 7:30am, so I guess that the sun hasn't really come up yet, if it does in fact come out today. How do you like living in Colorado? My hubby loves it out there. I have never really gotten to visit to check it all out. I have gone through their airports, but that looks the same as every other airport in the country. (for the most part) My brother-in-law went to an airplane mechanic school out there in Colorado after high school, where he graduated from & immedately got a job. We have a smaller scale airport nearly 20 minutes from my house, but only about 5-10 minutes from him & my sisters house & that is where he has been working for the past 3 years or so. What do you do for a living? Does your family live close by you? Did you grow up in Colorado?
I know that I have posted to you before & asked you about whether or not you deal with chronic pain issues or if your addiction was just to the "euphoria" that it also brings? If you are not suffering from daily pain, I again encourage you to really give Suboxone a go! Nate, I can promise you that it has most definately saved my life & kept me off the opiates!! Did you check out the sites down below my name (or Dee or Barbara's names- any of the moderators have the links that will direct you to one site for Suboxone & one site for Medical Assisted Treatment that have HONCODE certified information, meaning 100% accurate most up to date information available on these medications.) I really encourage you to take a look at the sites as they are both just an absolute wealth of information on the best maintenance medication for YOU, NATE!!!!
I just wanted to again really just say "HELLO" & that I hope that you are having a great week & that I am still looking forward to getting to know you better. Please share what you are experiencing, as many here have gone through what you are considering doing by switching from Methadone to Suboxone. Learn from their experiece of what or what has NOT worked & take what you need from every person that offers you a suggestion & create your OWN path of recovery that will work for you, Nate! I sure hope that you will keep us updated on how you are doing & if you are having any struggles throughout the change, if that is in fact what you decide to do. Members here will be able to give you suggestions on how to get through certain type of situations or why you would be having such & such a feeling because as I continue to reiterate, we have all been in these same shoes that are leading us on our journey of recovery! Some are further ahead & some are just getting started, but either way, we understand where you are if you let us in & share about the cards that life is holding for you right now. The same cards that you would like to take back control over! Do you know the Serenity Prayer? I hope that you do because I would like to interject it right here, but really believe that if you are already in recovery on Methadone, that you should most likely know it inside out & upside down! (but if for some reason, you have missed it, please, please, please let me know & I will gladly send you a copy!)
Okay, Nate, I am going to close this up for now & I wish you a wonderful day where everything that you touch just goes your way!!! I hope that if you read this that you will take 5 minutes of your time to respond to me & let me hear how you are doing lately & what is really going on with you my friend!
Talk to you soon Nate!?!?!
God Bless & sending you hugs of strength!!
Love,
Beth

Number of posts : 2 Registration date : 2009-10-28

To Beth,
Ty so much for writing me back, It has brought strength to me in my recovery. Here's the deal, the real deal!! Laughing

I was put on methadone in Feb 2006 after a really shi**y bust that involved 6 felonies , all drug related and all carrying a hefty sentence of 2 to Life. For a few years before this happen i had been dealing a lot of pills. Had a crazy hook up, who brought me a grocery bag of zanies , and hydros 1 to 2 times a week. So this is where my addiction began. My parents had to fly to Oklahoma to get me out , put there house up as a lean for my bond, and then they dropped 15k on my lawyer. Me and my mother flew to Ok 4 times before this trial was finished and the last time we went down to court I lost it in our rental car and kicked the windshield out of the car while my mom was driving, this was definately not the first horribly terrifying thing I had done to my mom, I have put her through hell the last five years and everyone else close to me. The only reason I'm telling you this is because my mom is awesome and has done so much for me and still treat her like shit. Hell before this happen she had already hidin my samurai sword from me and my guns. I was a gun carrying drug dealer totally delusional from paranoia and addiction. So I got busted on my way to Vegas and San Diego to live. The whole reason I wanted to move to San Diego, humm lets see. I had a crazy idea of crossing the border for pills. Twisted Evil

And I still almost kept going on my vacation after my parents flew down and got me out. But I didn't and road home with my stepdad snorting OXY the whole way home, that the Drug Task Force failed to find. I remember telling the cop who busted me that it was prohbably a good thing, cause i didn't think i was going to live much longer. Anyways when i got home, I begged my mom to go see our doc and get me some methadone . So one morning she came home and threw me a bottle of 100 10's and told me that doc wanted me to take as many as needed to fell better. This was a good thing and a bad thing. There was no clinics n our town so he prescibed them to me. Well now it's been almost 4 years on methadone. I haven't worked for 6 years , pretty much right when i started getting those grocery bags of pills. Before that i use to build and maintain golf courses. I went to Rutgers University and have a degree in horticulture. I have been busted now 3 more times , one of which was here in CO 6 days after I moved here. rendeer

I got a dui and don't even drink . I refused to take a blood test and lost my license. Last year i got busted twice once in IN and once in Miami. I was hooked to heroin last year in Miami and got set up by under covers. And got busted! While I was n jail someone cleaned out my entire apartment. I could go on forever about all of this and am doing so n a movie that i started writing and haven't touched n years. It's called X-LIFE. I am going to finish it !! Now that I am here in Boulder and on probation i need to start getting my meds here. I do not want to go to a methadone clinic , for many reasons. And the suboxone doc I talked to was going to be 6400 for the first 3 months. And three nights a week of counseling. Also I would have to be clean off the methadone for five days , lol. And then go to suboxone or switch to a short acting opiate for a few weeks and then go 48 hrs then go on the subs. I am prescribed 60 mgs of methadone a day but have only been taking like 30 to 40 as of 8 days ago. So I am trying to just ween myself off the methadone , which i have done successfully so far. Last tues i decided to start to taking 5 mgs at a time instead of 10 . Went through that and then started going down until i reached 20 mgs. Last week was rough , but i've had rougher. Seems to be working . I am now at 15 mgs in only a weeks time. Now I have to take the halves and cut them in half with a knife. LOL But it works . So here I am a week later and have gone down over half way. I am lucky here in CO because I have my medical marijuana card and i have been using the edibles for pain and sleep. So I'm trying my best to just ween myself off. Mainly because I don't wanna have to walk to those meeting three nights a week in the winter LMAO

Sincerely Nate

Methadone to Suboxone??? What do you all think about this c Sharin11

Hello Nate,
Should I ask how you are doing today? Methadone to Suboxone??? What do you all think about this c Icon_wink

I really want to thank you for sharing your situation & what is going on with you these days. I have to mention something right off the bat though & please do not be offended, but as our site is overseen by our sponsers, etc. we have to refrain from profanity on the main posting board. It does offend some people. It is also mentioned in the forum's rules. It does not bother me, as I have the mouth of a sailor, but not here where everyone can read it. Cool? If you need to let it all out like that, you are more than welcome to PM (Private Message) to me, which is one of the buttons up at the top of the page all the way towards the right side. My user name is bfye. I am also going to PM to you so that it will pop up to show you where it is located & I will also include my email address, as I understand being charged with some hefty felonies of my own. Have you ever served prison time for any of these charges? Unfortunately, I did have to spend 7 months locked up, but we can discuss that at greater lengths later on.
So, I am trying to see if I understand your plan correctly & that is to wean yourself off of the Methadone on your own & not use any type of maintenance medication for your opiate addiction? Is that correct? Do you feel strong enough to handle that? Is that the only Suboxone provider in your entire area that makes you come in three times weekly, aside from the cost? And then, if so, why are you this eager to go off of the Methadone which helped you remain off the opiates to begin with? Unless if you are addicted to the Methadone? (abusing them, I should say, because anyone who takes them everyday for any length of time will become dependant on them, as you know, I'm sure) Aren't you scared of falling back into the opiate scene? Which seems to be the common thread of your legal troubles. If you can wean yourself down as you have been on your own, are you able to stay at a prescribed dosage? Then you can use the marijuana to help calm you & to sleep better. I just feel like I am missing a piece of the picture here. Are you unable to get the Methadone any longer? What has changed that has made you decide that you want to wean off of it? I am being blunt & honest Nate, but I AM an opiate addict. I used oxycontins & lots of them. I do NOT trust myself to go off of Suboxone or to even start weaning yet & I have been on them for 20 months. I am too scared of falling backwards. I don't trust myself or my brain has healed yet. I am asking you, how do you know that your ready to go off of everything? AND stay off? I am not saying that you are not ready, but when I read your above post, I have to say that I have concerns of relapse for you just weaning yourself off of Methadone, on your own, that you have been on for several years, how do you know how your body will react? What if you need a medication to counteract some of the serious withdrawals? You mentioned Zanax & stopping those cold turkey can kill a person. I am currently weaning down off of Valium, under a doctors order, who is my Suboxone provider, so I have to go off of them, but even while weaning, he has put me on a blood pressure medication so that it will not suddenly spike up & I stroke out or seizures. Some of these pills can be very dangerous. He is barely concerned about my Suboxone & opaite addiction, he knows we have that under control. He is scared about the medication that I actually started taking because of my last Suboxone provider, who thought I needed something like this to calm me down & I do, but this new doctor doesn't agree with it being benzos. I believe that he is probably right. I just hope that we can possibly find something that is NOT addictive, but can calm me down. But what I was getting at before I got way side tracked was, what if you need to be under a doctors care? Why not go to short acting narcotics for a few weeks & get yourself into a Suboxne provider somewhere? Or ask him about remaining on a dosage of Methadone or where to be able to go? Or do you feel SURE that you are ready that you can be off of everything & be okay again? I am asking these same questions to myself. But I already know the answer to the opiates & I will also go off of the benzos as well. I will remain on Suboxone, Zoloft(depression), Topamax(Epilepsy). Do you need to be on any type of medications Nate? I hope that you not think of me as a nag, but as a blunt friend in recovery saying, go get yourself a doctor & tell him whats going on & what's the best plan for you. Unless you know in your heart that you are ready to go off & stay off everything. I hope that you are not offended by me, but feel my concern for you. You are obviously quite bright having graduated from Rutgers & that could still lead to you to many places. If your journey is just beginning, but you already have your education, the "letters" beside your name, what an advantage! I envy that you hold your degree as that is what I desire more than anything. And I congratulate you! Felonies can be expunged right? As you go, you may find out that you actually like helping people just like yourself who are struggling just like you are or have and you can use that education of yours to get into a place to be paid helping others. Or as you go, different doors will begin to open for you. I just hear you & the potential that is right there & I want to know what you are going to do next Nate! Let me know. I really appreciate getting to talk with you. I wonder when I will be ready? Will I ever be ready? I hope that you can talk openly with me as well.
]Your Friend in recovery!
Love,
Beth Methadone to Suboxone??? What do you all think about this c Herz

Methadone to Suboxone??? What do you all think about this c Herz

Hey Nate,
What's up? Did I offend you or what? If so, I certainly didn't mean to, yet I haven't heard a word back since I replied to your post. I hope that I did not say anything that may have come across wrong & that you may have read what I wasn't saying right. I don't know, but I would like to hear how your doing. Are you still cutting your Methadone down into pieces or have you decided to remain on it? I wish that you could get to that Suboxone Provider & get onto that because it is such a miracle medication that I really believe that if you want to get well that Suboxone makes it possible to do so. I hope to hear how you are doing & sorry if I did somehow offend you Nate. You just have soo much going for you & ALREADY having your degree from Rutgers- well, I just want you to find happiness & you already have such a great advantage that you need to grab hold of it & run! Your obviously bright, with all of your ideas & plans, you need to be getting paid & earning a retirement with benefits with that ambition that you have. Make your Mom proud- it sure seems as if she has done quite a bit for you. But more than anything, make you proud of yourself Nate. Methadone to Suboxone??? What do you all think about this c Suspect

Methadone to Suboxone??? What do you all think about this c Suspect

Hope to hear from you soon!
Love,
Beth Methadone to Suboxone??? What do you all think about this c Herz

Number of posts : 5 Age : 62 Registration date : 2009-12-07

Hi Nate, Personally I like Suboxone so much better. I was on Methadone and it made me sick. I love Suboxone! You should try it and let me know how much you love it. Take care, Debbie

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