Methadone Rehabilitation

Question by Michael: i need help on what i should do for my prescription(methadone vs subutex/suboxone)?
2 years ago i broke my l2 in a snowboarding accident. it was horrible! 7 days in the hospital, so much pain that i couldn’t sleep or do anything for months after. i wore a brace for 3 months and finally recovered and went to physical therapy. i’m 24 years old btw just wanted to throw that in there. anyways, i became dependent on pain pills. it started with 5mg oxycodone, then went to 10mg, then 30 mg oxycodone when i would have pain. eventually the pain became less, but i still had to take the oxy because i was dependent both physically and in a way mentally. about a year later i stopped off and on and eventualy was prescribed by my GP 10mg methadone for pain. i took this for about 4-5 months and he eventually told me he couldn’t give me anymore and i had to see a pain management specialist. i followed up and went to the pain management doc, and they suggested physical therapy. this is about a year later. i didn’t like the fact that i had to come in 2-3 times a week for exercises i could easily do at my home on my free time. i was also withdrawing from the methadone. i went to a psychiatrist who specializes in detox and he gave me suboxone. i would feel so crappy on the suboxone. i’ve tried subutex before and i remember it was a bit better. it made me feel better and allowed me to be more lively. anyways, i had a relapse for 1 month so i recently went back to my psyciatrist. he gave me 16 methadone pills. and i did a 4 day methadone detox. i used the methadone for 4 days and then on the 5th day nothing. i did use a little tiny bit of suboxone.

i have an appointment with my doc in a day or 2 and i’m thinking he wants to give me subutex. however, i really like the methadone. it gives me more of a more balanced lifestyle and allows me to be me more wihtout worries of withdrawal and relapse. however, i feel like my doc will disagree with this and wnat me on subutex. is there anyway i could really get him to figure i would need methadone over subutex?

i still do have minor back pain which is annoying, and the methadone masks this pain better than anything i’ve tried in the past. I want to do methadone maintenance with him because i like the methadone better. he believes it’s “harder” stuff and is probably more addictive. however, when i used methadone in the past i didn’t use any oxy or any other opiates! i was 100% clean from street drugs and oxy.

does anybody have any suggestions? it would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Best answer:

Answer by Nurse Jacki
What your post basically says is that you prefer the high from Methadone to the one from Suboxone or Subutex. “Annoying, minor” back pain is no reason to be taking either drug.
I might use your post in my class at the rehab as a classic example of addict mentality and drug seeking behavior.
I’m not going to give you suggestions on how to manipulate your doctor into giving you the drug that you want, but I will suggest that you consider a medical detox to get you actually clean and sober. In no way is being on Methadone or Suboxone considered 100% clean, and you are deluding yourself.
I’m in recovery and work for a substance abuse treatment center.

Answer by ?MDH? Thumbs up!
I completely understand your dilemma. The Methadone gives you “energy” to deal with the events of the day. Without it you feel tired, uncomfortable in your own skin. That’s because you are mentally addicted to the drug. It’s not your fault mind you, it happens to thousands of people all the time. It happened to me. The drug I feel I cannot function properly without is Norco. I also take Tramadol, which is Ultram. They say Tramadol is not a narcotic, but you can certainly become physically and mentally addicted to it as well. Your doctor will know the addiction talking to him, unless he doesn’t care about your well being (which is highly unlikely) he will prescribe you the subutex, or nothing at all. Sorry, but from experience I know how these things go.