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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Treatment For Withdrawal Symptoms Due To Stopping Of Methadone

Hello, I am a 35 year old female who has been on Methadone for the past 5 years for pain management. I have only taken 10 mg 3 times per day max and for the last 6 months or so 5mg 3 times per day and am now trying to detox completely. My PCP (the same one who started me on the Methadone 5 years ago) gave me Promethazine for nausea, Clonodine for withdrawal symptoms, Trazodone for sleep, and I haven t had Methadone in 5 days. I am still experiencing withdrawal and the Clonodine makes it impossible for me to go to work but without it I am having chills, restless legs, no appetite, can t sleep, and just feeling like crap. Is there any light at the end of this tunnel? I am close to just taking the back up Methadone so I can feel normal and get back to work (I haven t been able to go since starting this process). I ve called my PCP but she is not in clinic today and her only suggestion was to quit taking the Clonodine. Any other suggestions? Also, I don t want to go on Suboxone and then have to withdrawal from that, I feel that is just like taking the Methadone. Thank you.
Mon, 16 Jan 2017
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Addiction Medicine Specialist,  's  Response
Hi,

Yes, the symptoms are temporary. The withdrawal from a long acting drug lasts longer. The entire list of options are, taking a lower dose of a narcotic (methadone 2.5 mg a day?) and weaning gradually, taking a narcotic and not ever getting off of it, or cold turkey. 5 days is a considerable time of the entire time it would take for withdrawal to peak and start diminishing (7 to 10).

Changing narcotic responsiveness hasn't been looked at. It would likely shorten withdrawal significantly by changing how one felt about withdrawal. This would be taking an oral short acting blocker, going into the worst withdrawal possible and then stopping everything. This is done in some private clinics under the term "rapid detox". It is not well studied and even less regulated.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Matt Wachsman
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Suggest Treatment For Withdrawal Symptoms Due To Stopping Of Methadone

Hi, Yes, the symptoms are temporary. The withdrawal from a long acting drug lasts longer. The entire list of options are, taking a lower dose of a narcotic (methadone 2.5 mg a day?) and weaning gradually, taking a narcotic and not ever getting off of it, or cold turkey. 5 days is a considerable time of the entire time it would take for withdrawal to peak and start diminishing (7 to 10). Changing narcotic responsiveness hasn t been looked at. It would likely shorten withdrawal significantly by changing how one felt about withdrawal. This would be taking an oral short acting blocker, going into the worst withdrawal possible and then stopping everything. This is done in some private clinics under the term rapid detox . It is not well studied and even less regulated. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Matt Wachsman