Posted by MB on July 18, 2001, at 11:38:23
In reply to Re: Ultram withdrawal! » MB, posted by Elizabeth on July 18, 2001, at 8:44:28
> > My drugs were codeine and morphine derivatives (drugs with slightly different, yet similar, mechanisms of action).
>
> Ultram is an opioid agonist, too -- just a very weak one.
>
> > If you take the methadone route, I would advise you to not choose the *maintenence* program (where they keep you on it for a long time).
>
> That might actually be the best thing (especially if Bijou isn't in the US, although I think that Ultram is strictly a US brand name). I'm not sure if they would admit someone to a MMT program who's dependent on Ultram, though, when there are so many people who need the service because of heroin addiction who aren't getting it.
>
> > It may sound rosey
>
> It's not, as you say. But most people I've met who are on MMT are happy with it, even in the US where it's very restrictive (as you also say).I sure wasn't happy with it, but then my situation was weird. They started me on 20mg every day...after the third day it was supposed to keep me "well" until the next dose (I don't know why it was supposed to take three days, the nurse said something about "building up in the body," but I never completely understood). Anyway, I'd get deathly sick (withdrawal) every night, and each day until my next dose. They kept increasing the dose, saying that larger doses would take longer to clear, which makes sense, I guess. They eventually got me up to 210 mg/day, but I was still getting sick at night. The larger doses didn't keep me "well" for longer periods, they just boosted my dependence so when I *did* get sick that night (and all next day until my next dose) the sickness got progressively worse. By the time I was at 210mg/day, I needed someone to help me walk into the clinic. I don't know why I was metabolizing it so fast, but they said it happens with some people. I tried everything. I even started eating a box of OTC Tagamet before each dose because it was supposed to inhibit the enzyme that metabolized methadone. It was a nightmare. My pdoc thought that if I could get dosed twice a day, it would keep my blood levels high enough to block withdrawal, but they were only open a few hours a day, and they wouldn't let me take the other half of my dose home because they thought i'd sell it!!! I mean, I was dying every night from withdrawals, why would I f***ing sell my dose??? I finally had to be hospitalized where it was legal for my pdoc to prescribe methadone, then he prescribed a "split dose" and I was off of it and back on heroin in a couple weeks. What a relief!!! And I must say that nobody in the clinic was glad to be chained to that clinic that treated people like animals. Maybe other clinics are different, but my whole experience to this day makes me enraged. So, sorry for the rant. Peace :-)
> > Choose the detox program (a program where they taper you down relatively comfortably over a two week period).
>
> I'm not even sure that they would be willing to admit an Ultram-dependent person to a methadone detox program; they might just try to force "drug free" detox (which can be ugly, although I think with Ultram it wouldn't be so bad -- I still want to know how much Bijou has been taking).
>
> Also, "detoxing" wouldn't solve the problem that Bijou has getting by without Ultram.
>
> > There's also a blood pressure medicine called Clonadine that helps alleviate withdrawal symptoms, and it is not addictive (as far as I know).
>
> It's also not very effective, unfortunately.
>
> -elizabeth
poster:MB
thread:70206
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010714/msgs/70637.html