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Question: Methadone withdrawal -- scared with no one else to get answers/help from.?
(Posted by: Anna_a on 2008-10-21 14:23:19)
My dr put me on methadone for pain management about 2 years ago. I started out at 5 mg (total a day) and he eventually got me up to 40 mg (total a day). I had major hip surgery hence the methadone. So eventually, about 10 months ago we started to taper my methadone and things weren't a 'walk in the park' but for the most part things were going smoothly and he was easy to communicate with if I had any problems. All of a sudden my dr is gone; (this past april) I had called the clinic for a refill and was told my dr was no longer practicing at the clinic. I was anxious but to work that day on establishing a new internal medicine dr in the same clinic. The office made me an appt for 30 days later (may) and a day before the appt canceled it. So I tried to reschedule and they decided to schedule me with a different dr this time, which was fine with me. Same thing happened again, the appt was canceled last minute. And... get this... this happened a third time in June. So this whole time my medicine wasn't being tapered... I was at a constant 4 ml. I had to go to the hospital's Patient Advocacy office to finally get an appt that wouldn't be canceled last minute. So now I'm with a dr that has sped up my taper to an incredibly uncomfortable speed. More than twice the speed of the plan w/ my previous dr whom left his practice. So... my question: The day I picked up the my current prescription I told the receptionist that I need to talk to her, my dr, as soon as possible because I was so anxious and fearful about the current taper my dr wanted me at. So now it's 2 weeks later, she called me once and I wasn't at my phone so I'm waiting for another call. (I tried for a 2nd time today) And at this point I just want to see if I can handle the withdrawal myself. I feel like she invalidates how I tell her I'm feeling. When I tell her about my withdrawal symptoms, I feel like she doesn't believe me. So last Fri (17th Oct) I went from 4 ml a day (I had been on 4 ml a day for about 17 days.) That day I realized that she probably wasn't going to call me back in any timely manner; I felt like I was backed up into a corner. So the next day, Saturday the 18th I went to 2 ml a day, Sunday I went to 1 ml a day (half AM, half PM) and I've been on that dose since Sunday... so 2 and a half days. But tonights 'the big night'... tonight is my last dose and it will be exactly .4- .5 ml. What I;m trying desperately to figure out is how bad my withdrawals will be or if they will be bad at all. The last time I went through withdrawals was a long time ago and I was at 10 mg, so I know for a fact that the withdrawals won't be nearly as bad as they were then. But I know this won't be a walk in the park by any means, I just want to be prepared and have some sense of control over what I'm going to be feeling like for the next 2 weeks or however long they last. What's even worse is my mom is leaving in 2 days for a Napa Valley vacation and will be gone for 2 weeks so I'm going to be all by myself and I can honestly say I'm scared shi*less. Does anyone out there know what I'm going to be going through, symptoms- wise, in the next week or 2 weeks?? Any help, information, suggestions, or piece of mind is greatly appreciated... I have absolutely no one else to talk to about this. Thanks! |
