[bama57]

Hi,
I've been a chronic pain patient for a few years now.
My Dr. is a very nice, compassionate man. I know I'm very lucky.
Anyway, I have a hard time with pain meds affecting my stomach.
My Dr. had me on everything that he could think of.
The last thing he tried me on was 15 mgs of Oxycodone IR 3x a day.
Waaay too nauseating, but I tried to stay on it for awhile.
So...i finally decided to take his advice and make the leap to Methadone.
He's been trying to get me to try it for a long time now, but I was afraid of the stigma. He prescribed 10mg twice a day. Well I went into withdrawal the morning of the second day! I guess because of all the pain meds I was used to taking & this was a low dose of Methadone???
I took it upon myself (as my Dr. was out of the office) to take an additional pill. Well it worked. I called my Dr today & told him what was going on & what I did & he didn't want me to take 10mg 3 times a day at first, but them said OK. My question is: for someone who is opiate tolerant, is 10 mg of Methadone twice a day really an OK dose? I seem to be just fine on 10 mgs 3 times a day, but not 10mg TWICE a day. Oh...I'm not on ANYTHING for breakthrough pain.
Any thoughts or advice???
Thanks, I really appreciate it!
Bama

[Cats Meow]

That's a low dose, many take 100's of mg's. My advice, GET OFF IT! Now before it's too late, it should always be the last line for pain mgmt, after you run the entire gamut. It's stupid to go to methadone from only 15 mgs of oxy. I could give you a dozen reasons not to take it, but I don't feel like getting all fired up right now. Do yourself a favor and read up on it, if you plan on staying on it, plan on it for life, and say goodbye to your teeth.

[purpledog]

i agree entirely with catsmeow. i did methadone on a program for 10 years, and got the worst habit of my entire using life. i got off a few years ago, lots of terrible withdrawls, and i crept back into it, getting an expensive street habit. just know, if you think you are hooked on pills, methadone will grab you even harder. i know pal, and i hope you do some research. also its usually taken once a day coz of the long half life, some people need it, but make sure you know what you are getting in to.
30mg might not be much now, but it will only creep up and its helluva hard to get off. i am on subs now, 7 weeks in, after another couple of years on methadone.
i thought i would never get off, and lots of methadone people think the same.
good luck whatever you do

[bev49]

Ok, I have to play devil's advocate and disagree with both of you. First of all, methadone does not rot your teeth. It causes dry mouth which leads to tooth decay but if you keep hydrated and use good dental hygiene your teeth will be fine. Seconndly, this person cannot tolerate even low dose oxy or other pain meds without extreme nausea. She is using the meth for pain, not at a clinic to get off heroin or opiates and not to get high. She seems to have legitimate pain. I don't know if there aren't alot of things she can try first, and I agree meth is a last resort kind of drug, but it isn't the devil . It's helped alot of people get off hard drugs and lead successful lives. It's helped many pepole with chronic severe pain. There's a difference from taking meth illegally at a higher dose than you should to get high and/or shooting it. Some people really truly need it and if used under a doctor's care, it can work.

[Cats Meow]

I don't totally disagree with you Bev, Methadone has its place, but it should only be last line.
Hydration usually isn't enough, there's nothing like good old saliva continuously washing over the teeth with its enzymes to prevent decay.
We simply don't have enough information to say the OP is making the right choice, and for one thing her doctor is too pro methadone, which is very curious. I don't believe the OP has tried all the other opioid analgesics, nor do we know her CP Hx. Something just doesn't seem right.
Cats

[bama57]

thanks to everyone for taking time to reply.
i guess i have to agree with Bev.
I'm 51 and will be a chronic pain patient for the rest of my life.
my Dr. tried almost everything to help me. I say ALMOST everything...some things I said NO to like Dilaudid, (tried it once after surgery & hated it!) more surgery ect.
He even had me on the Fentanyl patch for a few months. TALK ABOUT WITHDRAWAL! I had to go off it because it did not agree with me at all.
i went cold turkey off it all by myself. I wanted to go CT, my Dr wanted me in the hospital, but I'm out of work.
i really don't know what else to try. my Dr is not a "Methadone Pusher", he's trying it as a last resort.
We've made an exit plan if it doesn't help, although since I've posted the first post, I seem to have stabilized on 10mg 3x a day.
no adverse reaction. Thanks for all the great advice.
Believe me...I did not rush into this Methadone treatment lightly.

[Cats Meow]

As long as you know what you're getting into, so that's fine, it's a great drug for very long term CP and its cheap. One word of advice, watch the sweets, methadone makes you crave them, you could find yourself gaining 50lbs or more, take lots of calcium too, there's research that says it contributes to bone loss.
Good luck.

[bev49]

Cat, in general I agree with you totally. Being on methadone for over 3 decades, I would be the first to say its a last resort drug and you gotta be in it for the long haul. I wasn't sure of her situation either and was just playing devils advocate but now that she's reposted I guess she knows what she's doing. If you're gonna be on meds for life, methadone is probably the best thing. I don't know much about hte fentanyl patch but have heard its the strongest pain med there is and the hardest to get off. I did gain some weight over the years on methadone, and I did lose 4 back teeth so you have a point.

[purpledog]

heya bev, ya wee devil ay, anyway i do know i needed methadone and it probably saved my life, but it also was the start of a whole new tier of addiction i hadn't known previously.
and i ate chocolate ice cream all the time, and drink coke. im a horrendous sweet tooth, and i just counted, i only got 14 teeth left in my mouth.
i know its not just the methadone that did that, but it sure helped.
and i gained a loooooot of weight, that sucked big time. im hoping to lose some now im on subs, and doing a whole lot more with my life.
i just wanted to make sure bama knew what she was getting into., ok bama, and its good to have lots of different opinions and filter the stuff you need and let the other stuff pass if it not relevant to you.
i wish you all the luck pal, you would think in this day and age we could suss pain out without giving people habits as well.
30mg not a huge dose, but you will notice if you miss a day thats for sure.
just my experience i talk about coz im only an expert on me, and even then sometimes im not so sure

also because of methadones half life, it probably took a few days for the levels to settle so that sounds good you dont have to go any higher.
what was the exit plan, im curious.

best of luck to you bama, i really mean that.

kiwi
purpledog

[bama57]

Hi Purpledog,
Thanks for the kind words.
Sorry it took me so long to answer your question. To be honest, I didn't
really see it in your post until I reread it just a minute ago.
I've been pretty busy.
The exit plan my Dr.& I have come up with is possibly a pain pump. I guess "exit plan" should be the plan we have for coming off the Methadone if it doesn't work for me. He knows I'll probally just bite the bullet & go CT like I did with the Fentanyl. I'm very lucky. My husband has a good job & I'm not working & I can just shut myself up in the house & go for it. Not the easiest thing to do, but it's what I'll do.
Another thing I could do is have MORE surgery. But I've had my share & was warned that the back surgery that my Ortho wants to do next could make my situation worse, so no surgery if at all possible.
Oh, so far the Methadone has kinda killed my appetite. I'm lucky there.
As far as my teeth go, I promise to really take care of them.
I have also heard Methdone can cause excess sweating. So far....lucky again.
Maybe, just maybe, Methadone will work for me. Goodness knows I need something to go my way as far as my health goes! I know a lot of folks on this board are in the same shape as me & I wish ALL of you good luck!!
Bama