Ada I agree with rogue, if you dont really have to, dont go off the meds.

As you know I went cold turkey Jan 2nd 2007, a date that is burned into my memory. It was a life changing event. There are only a few dates that you never forget, getting married, quiting drinking, and going cold turkey. I wish I could say I remember my kids birthdays, but 6 of them and RSD has made that rather difficult lol.

Anyways.....there is not a day that goes by that I know I would be better off on the meds then the way I live now. At least with pain meds I would feel like getting out, taking showers, visiting family and friends, and have some rather good days every so often.

I thought that once my body got used to not havng them I would kinda get back to a kinda normal existance. NOT!
There are more days of higher pain, and depression is far worse too. One thing you should know when stopping the pain meds like methadone. The pain will be worse for a month or so, but it will gradually lessen until it finally gets to its lowest it will get.

You see your body is so used to relying on the methadone, and not having to do any pain fighting on its own, that you will feel the whole amount of pain. It takes a month or so for your body to regain the ability to fight pain again. Think of it like muscle use, when muscles are not used for an extended time they get weak and dont work to good at all. The muscles have atrophyed.

This what happened in your brain, the pain fighting mechanism has atrophyed so to speak. Once off the pain meds it will come back, but will be a slow process like muscles coming back.

I know 5mg of methadone doesnt sound like a lot, and it isnt. But taking the dose a few times a day makes it say 15mg, or however many times you dose. My best friend just lost her insurance a month ago, and is going to the methadone clinic now for her doses. She was taking 20mg a day.

They only lower her dose about 2 to 3mg every 3 to 4 days because her body needs to adjust to the lower dose. Once she gets down to 3 to 5mg a day they say she is ready to stop, but will still go through a time of feeling like she has the flu. It is inevitable, and cannot be avoided in most cases.

All that aside, believe me, I would go back to the meds if I could. Since being off them made me realize why I even started taking them in the first place. There is a good reason for them..........it is called quality of life, and mine isnt to great since coming off the pain meds.

I hope this helps, and I will be prayin for ya

Love ya much!