My son has been on 70 milligrams of methadone daily for over two years. He
now feels ready to get off the stuff. The Dr. at the clinic where he gets
his daily dose is withdrawing him by cutting back his dose by 5 milligrams
every two weeks. He tells my son there should be no discomfort that way.
It
will take about 6 months to do this and then he should be methadone free.
Has anyone here done it this way and is it true that it's a relatively
pain-free way to do it? Thru therapy etc. my son feels he has conquered
the
demons that drove him to use heroin in the first place so he is not too
worried about relapse from that stand point. He also took the AA teachings
about triggers to heart - people, places and things - and changed his
whole
life - moved thousands of miles away, to another country - where the only
people he knows are family and childhood friends (none addicts) from
having
spent all his summers in this place as a child - there is no heroin there
-
at the clinic he attends for his methadone there is only one other heroin
addict on methadone - the other clients at the clinic are alcoholics and
prescriptive pill addicts - I say that to emphasize that it is difficult
to
find heroin where he now lives - he put himself in this position, in this
place, intentionally to remove all the triggers he had when using before.
He
has been on methadone and heroin free for two years now. He has truly
re-created his life - has a good job now, a nice apt. a lovely girlfriend,
new friends, etc etc - all these things were totally out of his reach
before
when he was using.... I guess the reason I am going into so much detail
here
is because I have been attacked when asking the question about withdrawal
by
some people who do not believe it is possible for a heroin addict to ever
get clean, and feel he needs to stay on methadone the rest of his life. He
does not want to be on it any longer, doesn't feel he needs it, has
created
a good life for himself now and wants to put the heroin/methadone days
behind him. I am just curious and concerned about whether he can really
withdraw with no pain or discomfort? I have heard conflicting ideas about
this, so any info anyone can offer me, especially by anyone who has
experienced this themselves, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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