Expert: Jurriaan Plesman, Nutritional Psychotherapist - 12/22/2009

Question
I have been on methadone for the past ten years after unsuccessfully attempting to get off of Oxycontin (2 years of use following an accident).  I am fully healed now from the accident.

The methadone never fully agreed with my system.  6 weeks ago I had tapered down to 40 mg of methadone per day for some months.  At that point I stopped with the methadone but started taking morphine sulfate (240 mg per day; The prescribed 120 mg has not been adequate to keep me out of detox symptoms).

I am doing well, so far, with the exception of horrible night time leg cramps and a gut that feels painful and bloated throughout the night. I plan to taper off of the morphine in the near future. (perhaps 2-3 months from now.) I 'm not sure about the timing.  

I did this 'switch' hoping that this would allow me to function while the methadone worked itself out of my system.  I believe that the taper, off of the morphine will be more successful than my attempts to fully taper off of the methadone.

Please, can you offer me any helpful ideas, I have not been able to find anything on such a protocol; have I just gone from the frying pan to the fire or is there some logic to this move?

Thanks in advance

Answer
HI james,

It seems to me that you have been caught up in the addiction to pain-killers. This is probably because you may have an addictive personality, that is triggered by an underlying hypoglycemic condition. If you want to treat your addiction, you will have to treat the hypoglycemia that underpins most addictions. This can be done by reading articles at our web site and also reading my book mentioned underneath.

Please read:

What is Hypoglycemia at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/what_is_hypo.html
The Serotonin Connection at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/serotonin_connection.html
Depression is a Nutritional Disorder at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/depression_disorder.html
Depression: a Disease of Energy Production at:
http://curezone.com/upload/PDF/Articles/jurplesman/depression_energy3.pdf
Silent Diseases and Mood Disorders at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/silentdiseases.html
Management of Chronic Pain at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/pain_management.html

and ask for a referral to a Nutritional Doctor, Clinical Nutritionist or a Nutritional Psychologist, if self-help therapy fails.

_______________________________________________
Jurriaan Plesman, Nutritional Psychotherapist
Hon. Editor of
The Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia.
www.hypoglycemia.asn.au
Author of "Getting off the Hook"
Freely available at Google Book Search
Skype: jurplesman