About Heath Woods Expertise I am a High School teacher/coach (34) in recovery, who used 1400 mg. of Oxycontin and 12 mg. of Xanax DAILY!(addict for 16 years) I can help you in your 1st step in the process of "how to get help"...BEFORE you hit rock bottom. I will tell you of the process with a "medical detox" facility which you MUST go through if addicted to opiates, then the rehab facility, and finally to living your new life in the real world again!
Experience I have first hand knowledge of addiction. For 18 years I went through the process of graduating from alcohol, to marijuana, to LSD, to cocaine, to crank, to ectasy, to GHB & katomin, to opiates.. starting of with Lortab & Vicodin and ending with Oxycontin. I also have first hand knowledge in the recovery process. I have gone through the medically assisted detox, to the rehab facility, and so far experienced 3 years of sobriety with the help of AA.
Organizations AA and NA (alcoholics anonymous & narcotics anonymous)
Education/Credentials B.S. of Science
Graduate Degree in adolescent psychology
Question My girlfriend has been on 10 mg of Methadone for four months as a result of a misguided effort to quit her previous "recreational" opiate addiction which was in the form of miscellaneous black market pills that she realized was starting to become a costly habit that was interfering with her life. She was lucky that she realized it before things got too serious but unfortunate in the "medical advice" she got to trade one addiction for another. Now she realizes that Methadone is not much better, gets her drowsy and spacey, (even though her doctor administering the Meth Clinic says it is not supposed to) and she has been missing her period since she started. What was presented to her as a solution is becoming a problem. She is a full time student in good standing dedicated to her studies in nursing and would like to kick this for good. She thinks she can do this at home, while her girlfriend and I take turns watching over her and helping her, over a period of a week. She feels that given the short duration of her addiction and the low dosage it would not be too drastic, although she also is aware of the whole spectrum of the withdrawal syndrome and says she is prepared to it because thanks to her training as a student nurse she will understand what is happening to her and accordingly react more rationally. She then thinks it would take her a month or so to recover psychologically. Her girlfriend and I have accepted to deal with it when she choses to go forward with her plan on winter break (at that point she will have had 6 months of Methadone, but she will also try to taper it down as much as she can by then). So at this point the question is how realistic is self detox from 10 mg, or possibly a smaller dose of Methadone, are there any risks associated with it, what can be done to alleviate the withdrawal and any further advice. Thanks.
Answer Hey Yogi, thanks for writing, give me an autograph later!
The good news is that she CAN detox on her own (not in facility). She will need a little help from the doc, but if the doc is trying to help her already the he/she should play ball.
The 1 longterm BAD problem i see in this situation: NURSE !! she IS going to be around, incharge of, and delivering NARCOTICS 24/7 !! when i went to detox & rehab, the most common professsions there were pharmacist and nurse. I realize that she can't up and change her career plans; When this thing is winding down YOU and your friend are going to have to pound it in her head 24/7 a get her to accept a lifelong challenge.
Anyway, back to the "self detox", of course, my 1st advise to your friend would be to check into a "medically supervised" detox. There are "professionals" there that can help her tremendously, what i mean by "pro" is that EVERYBODY that counsils her normally have been thru the exact same process and didn't learn it from a book.
please realize that YOU !! and your friend ARE GOING TO DO THE "HARDEST" PART of this whole process, no bullsh**!!
OK, You go with her to the doctor that is treating her, tell them that you have talked to numberous addicts, including myself, That ALL AGREE on one type of medicine regimen for detox off of OPIATES! Keep in mind opiates ARE the hardest things to come off of!!
REQUEST: LIBRIUM 25mg
CATAPRES .1mg
the Librium, which ya'll should know, is a very mild "benzo", it will help her with the DT's, shakes, etc. YES, it is a narcotic, but a very weak one, and a hell of a lot less than Methadone!, BUT...she is not going to take it longer than 14 days, with doses tapered, she WILL NOT be trading out addictions like she currently is! I knew more people in rehab that were addicted to BOTH oxycontin AND methadone, all its good for, a bandade!
the Catapres is actually classified as blood pressure medicine. This is the one med that SAVED ME !! 1st of all, I and she have screwed up valves in our hearts from taking opiates, so it helps your heart in that manner...the MAIN reason for taking it , is that it will KNOCK HER ASS OUT for about 3 days, which is the hardest part of "physical" withdrawals! the doc should know how to "pyramid" her doses and taper off over a 14 day period...start with 9-12 pills a day of librium. start off giving the catapres 3-4 times speced out over the 1st 3 days, then 1 in am and 1 in pm for about 10 days, then 1 a day until she "feels" fine with blood pressure!
She CAN do this, the longer she remains on the dope, the harder it will be to get off. and she had BETTER get MENTALLY TOUGH PRETTY DAMN QUICK!!! DO NOT baby her after the 1st 5 days, the first 5 days she will be feeling something i can NOT explain!
I hope i answered some of your Q's, please, if you have any thing else you need help with, feel free to write!
