methadone v.s. oxycotin

[Sharon]

how many oxycotins would I have to take to get the same effect as I get when I take 120 mg. of methadone? I am on a methadone program  but I have a local doctor who is willing to treat me from his office  but,... with oxycotins instead for some reason.I take 120 mg daily of methadone it sure would be nice not to have to go to the program any more. I have been on mthadone for 17 years. thanks any help out there would be appreciated.u can answer here or at ***@****

[to BJF from Oxy Tom]

Why switch from something that has worked for you for so long (17 years)?  



From what I read here and from personal experience, Oxycontin can cause a lot of problems....overuse, addiction, etc......problems that for many have been RESOLVED by switching to methadone.  If you are already on a "program", perhaps you are familiar with these problems firsthand?  Oxycontin could easily awaken the 'dragon' - that would be my fear!



I also understand (correct me please, Dan, if I am wrong) that methadone lasts longer.  



Anyway - if you have to switch, I would start small - maybe 10mg, 3 times per day, and see how it works.  You can always go up, but going down is tough, and once your body becomes tolerant to a given dose, the smaller one not work at all!  



I tried methadone a few years ago, before Oxycontin "grabbed" me and I developed a huge tolerance.  I took 100mg methadone pills each day for about a week.  Then went to 20mg Oxycontin twice a day and got about the same relief.  But I'm no expert by any means....  I can say I wish I never started the Oxycontin!  It ruined my life!

[From Aunt Lindy to Mariah]

How much of the Oxy are you on now?  What were you prescribed it for? (If you dont mind my asking).  Please tell me when you get a chance in what way did it ruin your life?  I too am on Oxy. It really works for me but my knees start knocking when I read a post like yours.  Thanks so much for you time in answering this.  I appreciate it. You say you had a HUGE tolerance.  How high did you go?  I really dont mean to pry.  Just answer whatever you would like.  Like I say it makes me nervous to hear your plight!

Marcie!

[tom to Sharon]

I'm a 30-year opiate addict thinking of getting on the methadone program. You said, "it would be nice not to have to go to the program anymore." Why is that? What's it like to participate in the methadone program? What don't you like about it?

I, too, would rather be treated in a one-to-one confidential setting like a private doctor's office, but can't find anyone providing methadone like that.



The two methadone clinics in my county are, frankly, in skid row-ish settings where I don't even feel safe leaving my car parked. There's got to be a better way.



I'd appeciate anything you can tell me about your experience with the methadone program. Other than the setting in which I have to get the stuff, methadone seems like the ideal maintenance drug for me.



I live in Orange County, So Cal. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Frankinscense]

I have been on the methadone program for six years and my once a week visits are very tolerable. Switch to oxycontin IMO never in a million years. Do you want to awaken a disease that has been in remission for seventeen years? What is it about MMT that is a problem? Do you have enough control on you life to have a large quanity of a powerful narcotic in your possession? The doctor that proposed this idea unless he is a pain/addiction specialist will eventually have to face the DEA . Because regular doctors cannot treat opiate addiction legally. This doctor sounds uninformed. Check out if you want, but you are messing with a proven researched thirty year old program. There is no research treating opiate addiction with oxycontin. I would not attempt this.

Sincerely,

Dan..

[Frankinscense]

Tom a good portion of methadone clinics are in these areas. Without sounding preachy,humble yourself. These areas usually are low crime areas.(around clinics) What about the employees at the clinic who go there daily. I do not think you will have a problem,once you go there and dose. Treat the people in these areas to a blanket,a coat. They are very appreciative of these gestures. Usually these people in these areas are just people that are down in their luck. Maybe it would do some good for your karma Tom. Just kidding. I do not know your belief system and it is not by business. But I personally use this opportunity to help these people.(charity) I mean,I do nothing daily but once or twice a year, I give directly to the homeless and give to the soup kitchens that are in these areas. It's good for the soul.

  Tom make a list of advantages and disadvantages then make your decision. I can only say that this worked for me. Do you want your life back? If you had a another disease that needed treatment, to what extent would you go to get treatment? Would you deprive yourself of treatment if your doctor that had the cure was on the wrong side of the tracks?  Tom,please forgive me if I am coming off the wrong way,but you have to ask yourself these questions. I gotta go. Have you presented these questions to your CAL. chapter of nama(N.A.M.A.)? Do you have a disease? Does this disease need treatment? Are you depriving yourself of the proper treatment for this disease? Ask yourself these questions and decide.

Your Friend and Best Wishes,

Dan..

[to BJF from Oxy Tom]

Marcie

It sounds like you are taking the Oxycontin as prescribed and don't have a problem with addiction,  The difference with me is I DO have a problem with addiction, so how the Oxycontin affected me is not an indication of how it will affect you.  



I say it ruined my life, but in reality I ruined my life by abusing it.   I've been taking pain pills for several years to help manage the pain from several accidents.  About 4 years ago I started taking Oxycontin.  Within a year I started developing a tolerance to it, and needed more than my Doctor was willing to prescribe.  (My Doc was giving me 6x80mg per day.)  So I went to a 2nd Doctor and added his medicine to that from my original Doctor.  I now had 9x80mg per day and that was enough for a while.



This past winter the combined medicine was still not taking care of the pain, and again I was refused when I asked for something different or more of the Oxycontin.  I was getting 6x80mg Oxycontin from one Doc, and 3x80 from the other, but "needed" at least 12-15 per day to take away the pain.   I took what I "needed" for pain, and of course ran out of medicine before my refill was due.  Both Doctors refused an early refill.  Here's where I really screwed up - the witjdrawals and pain with no medicine to relieve it were more than I thought I could take, so I wrote my own prescription.  Though I swore to myself I would never do it again, I did.  And soon it became a regular thing.



The problem was, writing my own prescriptions meant I had no limits.  Within a month, I was up over 20 of the 80mg Oxxycontins per day.  



Finally, after going through a bottle of 120 of the 80mg pills in 4 days, I came to my senses.  I called my first Doc and admitted a problem.  I asked for advice.  I was told to go to a Detox center, which I did that same day.  Later that day, the police came to the detox center and arrested me.  



I cannot describe how scared and sick I was at that point.   Fortunately my wife found a good attorney and got me bailed out in less than a day.  I went right back to the Detox unit and stayed for over a week.



When I was discharged I was i terrible pain, still throwing up, shaking - in withdrawal.  But the Detox Doc said this was "as good as I was going to feel for a while".  



That wasnt good enough.  I got home and my 3 kids were SO happy to see me, but I was in so much pain all I could do was cry and lay on the floor in a ball.  My wife took the kids, said she would be back in a few hours, and told me to "get my act together".  I did the only thing I knew would help - took an Oxycontin.  Sure enough, I felt great in about an hour.



I went back to my Docs but by now, neither wanted to have anything to do with me.  I tried several places - Pain Mgmt places, Family Docs, etc. - and not one would treat me with felony charges pending.  Finally found a place that took me, and started therapies and Oxycontin, again...



The one good thing fromthe Detox was m tolerance was back to a manageable level.  4x80mg per day really took care of the pain.  But like before, my tolerance built up, and at present I am taking quite a bit again.  



My injuries are real, and so is my pain.  I've got 6 fractured vertabrae in my center back, 3 in my lower back, have broken my neck, shuolder, arm, wrist, both collar bones, leg, etc. etc. etc. - mostly the result of auto racing accidents.  Also have degererative disk disease and arthritis.  The worst pain is from a few vertabrae that are pushing on my spine and a nerve or nerves areound that.    Til this past year I still raced, and that definately aggrivayted the injuries.



When I say the Oxycontin ruined my life - I did things because of my need for this drug, that I never would have considered otherwise.  



I spent thousands of dollars on it.  Our savings is gone.



I have big time legal problems.  My family, who relies on my income and ability to work (my wife is a full-time Mom), has to worry about the possibility of me being put in jail.  (I have not been semtenced yet, and am PRAYING fr probation.  But that's not guaranteed.)



And once again, I have a big toerance for this drug.  



My advice is, please watch your use of this drug and if you see or feel any signs that it's getting out of control, ask for help right away,  There are people who can take Oxycontin and never have a problem.  I imagine MOST people can take it with no problems.  But anyone with an addcition problem should steer clear of this drug!  Its SO hard to get away from.

[Frankinscense]

Why won't you consider opiate agonist therapies? If anyone one would be a good candidate that would be you,Tom. I just feel your pain and wonder why you will not consider this option. I know of people with chronic pain and addiction problems and get relief through MMT. If you were in a program,wouldn't that help your case? Just wondering> Best of Luck and Wishes!

Dan..

ps: do not let rumors and myths fuel a fear for these therapies. These are the only therapies that put this disease in remission.

[to BJF from Oxy Tom]

I appreciate your concern, Dan, but I just cannot do the MMT right now.  I really cannot start anything new that I am not 100% sure will work, because if I am lucky, the courts will sentence me to continue treatment as it is now.  



I will consider lots of options after my legal troubles are over, MMT included, but even then, there are a few things that make it unattractive.

1. I travel 2-3 days a week for work, and could not possibly do the visits each day that are required

2. I have pain from multiple injuries and have to deal with that along with the adiction problem.  Solving one but not the other will still leave me unable to take care of my family...



I do appreciate your concern and advice Dan, and I am convinced it is something you believe in and is working for you - but for now, the MMT just won't fit for me.

[Frankinscense]

Tom do you have a handle on your oxycontin intake? Opiate addiction is a disease that if goes untreated will kill you or put you in the pen. You talk of increasing doses to get the same effect. To provide analgesia and a high. Tom, friend I have lost buddies doing the same thing you are doing. Several of my friends/aquaintances are either dead or serving long sentences for failing to get treatment fot this dreadful disease. Everyone has a toxic dose. You cannot continue to raise your dose and not suffer the consequences. Please listen! I have heard these excuses in the past. Now my buddies are dead. One serving 18 years for robbing a pharmacy. He started out forging prescritions. He is the lucky one. My other friends are dead. A failure to recognise the importance of treatment will cause one to suffer the consequences.  Believe me when I say that MMT will handle any addiction and pain control 100 %. I gave you the information and my conscience is clear. Best of Luck to You !

Dan..

ps: forgive me for sounding so urgent,but life has taught ME a lesson.

[tom to Tom]

Tom,

My heart goes out to you and your family tonight …. We will certainly say a prayer for you.



Just what do they have you on for these rx forgery charges? Sounds like you got hold of some blank triplicates and filled them in yourself. Is that right?



Things tend to get more serious when they're Schedule II substances. Are you stuck with a public defender? If you had some resources, it wouldn't be too hard to establish how much one person can end up taking when it comes to personal-use dosages.



I know the prosecutor always starts out charging you with everything and then negotiating a plea bargain.



What proof do they have that you ever actually sold drugs to anyone? Without a sale as part of the bust, I don't see how they can make the dealing charge stick.



I was able to avoid jail by negotiating the following (but I had to get a private lawyer, something I hope you are doing):



3 months in a residential treatment home, which is basically electronic house arrest, that included the ole' 90 meetings in 90 days AA/NA program.[didn't I tell you all this in another thread?] I had to go to work with a beeper, which they called at random times to make sure I was at work or at a meeting. That was the easy part. Paying for everything while working my program was the hard part, though..



If you aren't facing the judge with priors, or any kind of "career criminal" past, I would be really surprised if they give you anything more than what I got. I think various state legislatures are beginning to realize how ridiculous all these mandatory sentencing laws are that take all the discretion away from the judge and basically make the prosecutor god.



We will be thinking about you. Let us know how the sentencing goes. Don't be surprised if it gets postponed again. My sentencing day got moved around for about a year before I actually appeared. Good luck.

[J.B. to Brian and Vicky]

My God, has it gotten that much worse on prescription forgers since I was busted in 1994?  It's like a so called "do gooder" bringing a freezing, dying animal into the house in the dead of winter and then throwing it into the freezer!  What is the sense of that?  I pray that our society and the powers that be, wake up in time!  Just a Christmas wish for all of us.  Take care, we have some big enemies out there!

[RT]

Oxy gives nowhere near the relief of meth and you will be shocked how fast your tolerance grows.There is no ceiling. When the oxy wears off, it wears OFF. the meth definetly lasts longer, even when it wears off, you are not instantly crawling out of your skin. As far as  the seedy area clinics maybe in...you have the same problem as those people. You may pull in with a nice car, dressed all spiffy, but in the big picture friend, you are no different.people fall on hard times. That scummy looking dude eying you up is somebodies son, brother etc.

Don't think because you can get your"fix" which pills from a dr. are also, make you any better.

Oxy is great pain relief but chances are big that you will outgrow what your dr. will give and then my friend, say goodbye to the vcr to yor extra tv, to your spending money.the meth will keep the craving away, the oxys will never be enough. Take this to heart