Re: Help with methadone question

[Guest guest]

Hi!

I was on methadone (90 mgs/day) for 8 months. Honestly, it was the best pain

relief I've had since getting RSD. It works for many people. My hubby still

takes it (50 mgs/day) for his pudental nerve chronic pain and he does great on

it.

The side effects of drowsiness, nausea and vision problems continued to increase

over the 8 months that I was on it so I decided that there had to be a better

medication for me. It's very individual.

Getting off methadone so I could switch to other pain meds in search of the

right combo for me was a nightmare! Truly!! I went through horrid withdrawal

even though my PM doc gave me hydrocodone to help with the pain while I was

slowly ramping down and then quit. The only way I would ever go back on

methadone is if no other med combo will work to help give me a little quality of

my life back.

I'm on oxycontin, oxycodone and gabapentin now. I also take Valium when the

spasms and cramping are bad. It's better for me than methadone was.

Methadone could be right for you but I would try other things out there before

trying that. What are you taking now?

Carol

<rumble fish wrote:

>I have always had a fear of methadone. my new pain management person wants to

take it. i agreed. but maybe this sounds dumb but i don't want to reach a point

where i'm taking sixty mg up a day.

>Are there not other medications that could be used instead or used with low

dose of methadone?

[Guest guest]

Carol,

Wow! So incredibly sorry you had problems with Methadone,

I've been on

Methadone since the end of August 2007 a few weeks before my first

artificial disc replacement and have been on it since without issues.

I was

on Vicodin prior to and had been on for years and was petrified when my pain

doc, he changed my meds during my first appointment with him, switched me

cold turkey because I was afraid of the withdrawals from the Vicodin, been

there. Done that. Never wanted to go through that again.

Thank goodness,

and my doctor, I had NO withdrawals and was feeling so good I considered

postponing my surgery but then I realized, " hello Andria!!! It's the meds

making you feel good, you still have DDD in your lumbar. Have the surgery.! "

So hate it when I talk to myself but hate it even more when I answer or

argue with myself.

Anyway, I know if I do go off the Methadone I will have

to titrate safely because of the physical need.

July 2009 I had another

artificial disc replacement but this time in my neck and even with that pain

I never had to modify my dosages, or increase, and I continued with my

flexural for the muscle spasms. I have been able to decrease my dosages

from the prescribed 10 mg every 5 hours to 5 mg every 6-8 and flexural 10 mg

at night.

I hope you are able to find something that works, I had gone

through many narcotics with little to no relief over 10 years but once I

changed pain docs, for comp paperwork reasons only, and my new doc

immediately dc'd the vicodin I have had nothing but pain relief.

Andria

[Guest guest]

" rumblefish7194 " wrote:

>

> i have always had a fear of methadone. my new pain management person wants to

take it. i agreed. but maybe this sounds dumb but i don't want to reach a point

where i'm taking sixty mg up a day.

>

Hello rumblefish -

Don't worry about the number of milligrams. It's irrelevant - it's going to be

different for every drug. You might take 10 milligrams of one drug and 60 of

another, but you're getting the same level of pain control depending on the

drug.

For example, I've taken two different kinds of anti-seizure meds over the years

for nerve pain. For one the usual dose is 4000 milligrams a day, for the other

the top dose is 12 milligrams a day. They are both the same type of drug - both

anti-seizure meds - but they are just different drugs. Is one stronger? Sure,

if you compare milligram to milligram. But that's meaningless - all that

matters is the dose that works for that particular drug.

Try the methadone and if it works, don't worry about the number.

If you take ANY drug on a daily basis for any consistent period of time - no

matter how much, and no matter what type (including seizure meds,

antidepressants, nausea meds, as well as narcotics) - you will become physically

tolerant of the drug, which means your body will go into withdrawals if you

suddenly stop taking it. That doesn't mean you're addicted, it just means you

have to titrate slowly down off the drug instead of stopping cold turkey. But

that's going to be true of any drug at any dose that you take on a daily basis

over time.

So don't be scared of methadone. It's a very effective pain reliever that just

happens to have some bad associations because of its off-label use in treating

drug addiction. It was originally intended and still is simply another opiate

pain reliever, just like any other opiate.

Cheryl in AZ

Moderator

[Guest guest]

--- " Carol Mattison " wrote:

>

> > Getting off methadone so I could switch to other pain meds in search of the

right combo for me was a nightmare! Truly!! I went through horrid withdrawal

even though my PM doc gave me hydrocodone to help with the pain while I was

slowly ramping down and then quit.

Carol -

Why oh why did you have to titrate down at all? Your doctor could have just

switched you to an equivalent dose of another similar drug and your body never

would have even known the difference and you never would have had to suffer

through withdrawals at all!

Was there a medical reason they chose to take you completely off one drug,

leaving you with no pain control, rather than switching you over all at once?

Cheryl in AZ

Moderator