Methadone: A Flicker Of Light In The Dark
Methadone: A Flicker Of Light In The Dark
Methadone: A Flicker Of Light In The Dark
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Methadone: A Flicker Of Light In The Dark

To provide a better understanding of the very important role methadone plays in the treatment of addiction.
 
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balsabones




Male
Number of posts : 4
Location : S.C.
Registration date : 2010-05-13

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PostSubject: HI FROM S.C.   HI FROM S.C. EmptyMon May 17, 2010 5:31 pm

Hi to all! I am not sure if I am in the same situation as most of the people on here but, this is the most info on Methadone I have been able to find. I am in a pain management program. I was a hit by a car while checking my mailbox on June 3rd 2003. I live on a back road and the driver must have been drunk because, they didnt stop. If they did, I dont remember. I remember walking to the mailbox around 7:30pm, (my driveway is 1/8th of a mile), hearing a car coming and stepping back behind the mailbox. The next thing I remember is my St Bernard, licking me in the ditch and it was pitch dark. I blacked out from there and my wife says I woke her up around 11:30, telling her something was wrong with me. She says she got sick because my left arm was hanging by tendons below the elbow and I was walking leaned over to the left, covered in blood and mud. I had emergency surgery for skull fracture, 2 broken verts in my neck, 2 broken verts in my lower back, broke left side of my pelvis, left collar bone, and rebuilt the powdered bone in my left arm. The doc said the impact was so hard, it powdered the bone in my arm. They used bone from the right side of my pelvis, (the 3rd surgery), to put in my arm. So here I am, with 4 discs still fractured in my back and neck, from which I get bone spurs. I ache constantly and am now 44 yrs old. I am currently taking 10mg methadone 2 1/2 times a day, 10mg loracet 1/2 every 4 hours, 10mg riddlin 3 times a day, (because the methadone makes me sleepy and I have a desk job).
Anyway, I have learned more about Methadone in a few days here than in the past 7 years searching the net.
Michael
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D
Admin
D


Female
Number of posts : 484
Age : 65
Location : Vermont
Registration date : 2009-03-05

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PostSubject: Re: HI FROM S.C.   HI FROM S.C. EmptyMon May 17, 2010 7:53 pm

HI FROM S.C. Yello_12



Hello Michael,
It is good to have you here with us. My name is Dee and I am usually not here to often as I work mainly on the Suboxone Forum and Website but I saw your post and wanted to say hello and welcome.
It is always good to hear a good word about the site. The woman that created Medical Assisted Treatment of America Inc. is also a Methadone patient. The reason she created the website in the first place was to help people gather a better understanding of Methadone, addiction and recovery.
Have a forum such as this to go to gives the patients a place to share, vent and learn.
I hope you will stick around and meet the other members.
The moderator of this forum is RuthAnn. She is a gem. Wait until you meet her, you will see what I mean.
If you ever have any questions, please feel free to post. We are here to help you in any way that we can. Once RuthAnn sees that you have posted I am sure that she will stop by for a chat.
Take care,
Dee
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http://www.medicalassistedtreatment.org
lilgirllost
Admin
lilgirllost


Female
Number of posts : 863
Age : 51
Location : live in Louisiana but attend MMT clinic in Tx
Job/hobbies : COUPONING & GEOCACHING are my favorite past times but I also love reading and spending time with my husband and kids
Humor : I don't have a sense of humor.............
Registration date : 2009-05-25

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PostSubject: Re: HI FROM S.C.   HI FROM S.C. EmptyTue May 18, 2010 2:14 am

HI there. I am ruthann, the moderator for the group and I am so glad that you have found us. That is what we are here for and it is nice to know that you have been able to get the info you need from us, and that we seem to have the most pertinent information.

Like Dee told you, the creator of our website is a methadone pain mgt patient and there are many others here who are on methadone for pain mgt. The rest of us are here for opiate addiction but you will find they are all a great group of people who will go out of their way to help you out in any way.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know. If we don't know the answer to something, we will sure find out. If nothing else, it just helps to know that there are others out there who know what you are going through with MMT.

I hope to see you around the forum and if I can be of any assistance, please don't hesitate to let me know.
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balsabones




Male
Number of posts : 4
Location : S.C.
Registration date : 2010-05-13

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PostSubject: Re: HI FROM S.C.   HI FROM S.C. EmptyTue May 18, 2010 9:15 am

Thank You, Dee & Ruthann. I have searched everywhere for Methadone info and up until now all I came up with was, It will do this to you or, it will do that. Most of all I have learned that most people dont know what they are talking about! Most of the ones giving out advice, have never seen a pill! I have been told that the long term effects are devistating, That now that I take it I will be on it the rest of my life. Your F&A is the first thing I read and dispelled alot if not all of what I had read on the net.
Thanks again for the warm reception!
Michael
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lilgirllost
Admin
lilgirllost


Female
Number of posts : 863
Age : 51
Location : live in Louisiana but attend MMT clinic in Tx
Job/hobbies : COUPONING & GEOCACHING are my favorite past times but I also love reading and spending time with my husband and kids
Humor : I don't have a sense of humor.............
Registration date : 2009-05-25

HI FROM S.C. Empty
PostSubject: Re: HI FROM S.C.   HI FROM S.C. EmptyTue May 18, 2010 11:39 am

You are absolutely right in that most people who are posting the info have never had any experience at all with methadone. Most of them are going on misconstrued opinions that they have come up with after reading inaccurate info or from just plain prejudice because of the idea they have of what a methadone pt "should" look like. With prescription pain pill addiction, the face of the opiate addict has changed drastically. No longer is it the poor, impoverished, undeducated homeless prostitute who is strung out on heroin. Now it is the average person from middle to upper class and can be anyone from your pastor to your doctor to your policeman or friend. But people don't see that, they still go by the unrealistic views of before.

That is one of the reasons the owner of the site created the website and the forums. (we also have a suboxone forum for pts on suboxone) To try and get the word out and give ACCURATE information about MMT and to give the MMT pts a place to go where they don't have to be ashamed or feel judged and can get the support they need that they aren't getting anywhere else. Sometimes that "non support" comes from those closest to us! For example, my mother doesn't understand addiction OR MMT. She feels I should be off of it by now and doesn't understand why I am still on it. She was upset with me for being on it during my second pregnancy (even after I tried to tell her that I was abusing pain pills during my first pregnancy) and she and I have an unspoken agreement to just not talk about it anymore. My husband would like for me to eventually get off MMT, but he is the one who has had to watch first hand and suffer the most from my opiate addiction. He sees the drastic difference MMT has caused in me versus traditional treatment and he said he will support me if I stay on it for the rest of my life. Again, he would like for me to eventually get off, but he agrees with me that if it means MMT or going back to what I was before...........well, that's a no brainer there. So he is my biggest supporter and as long as he supports me, I can do this.

I'm getting a little off topic here, but in some ways my MMT and addiction issues has helped him in his job. He is in law enforcement and now when he comes across someone who is on MMT or is fighting with opiate addiction, he can understand and relate a little better than other law enforcement people do. Unfortunately in a job where they usually DO see the worst of society, it is easy to operate under the preconceived ideas that most ppl have about MMT. He also tries to educate other law enforcement people about MMT and dispell some of the myths and give them accurate info about MMT and MMT pts. AND he also has a little more compassion and understanding where a struggling addict comes from and doesn't automatically look down his nose at them like he may have before he had first hand experience with addiction.

ANYWAY, sorry for getting off topic. It's just that methadone has changed my life for the better in so many ways and if I can take something negative like my opiate addiction and turn it into a positive by sharing my story with others and educating those who need to know it the most about MMT, then I feel like my struggles to sobriety weren't all in vain and it also helps me want to stay sober.

You take care now and I hope to see you around the forum!
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balsabones




Male
Number of posts : 4
Location : S.C.
Registration date : 2010-05-13

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PostSubject: Re: HI FROM S.C.   HI FROM S.C. EmptyThu May 20, 2010 5:45 pm

You are absolutley right about the stereotypes! My mother knows how much pain I was in after all the reconstructive surgeries. When it was all sid and done, I wasnt addicted to anything. My doc weaned me off during physical thearapy and by the time I was as good as I was going to get, I wasnt taking anything for pain. My wife first noticed that I didnt want to do anything anymore, and I didnt! I went to my family doc and he would give me 10/650 lorcet, 18 at a time, once a month. Just taking 1/2 twice a day made the pain a little better. After about 6 months, he up and told me he couldnt write me anymore scripts. I told him that I hurt all the time and I really had no life laying on the couch or in bed all the time. He suggested pain management. I have going there now for about 4 years. My mom says that even though I take the methadone and codine as prescribed, I am considered an addict. I am probably addicted to both after 4 years, but I ride bikes and walk and travel with my wife. My pain mngmnt doc says I am a model patient because one day he asked if I needed an increase in methadone. I told not at this time because I understand the meaning of pain management. I am always going to hurt and ache. The pills wont stop that, nothing will totally stop it. I take enough to make the pain tolerable. He sees people all the time wanting more and more, thinking that the pain will go away. It wont! thats why its called a pain management program, and not a pain ending program. I have been question at a check point about my concealed pistol because I had a methadone bottle with my name on it in the car. The officer told me that I was not allowed to carry while, "under the influence of narcotics". Luckily he gave my weapon to my wife to put in the glovebox and made her drive home, (following us), and leaving us with the words, "your lucky I didnt take you in for DUI".
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lilgirllost
Admin
lilgirllost


Female
Number of posts : 863
Age : 51
Location : live in Louisiana but attend MMT clinic in Tx
Job/hobbies : COUPONING & GEOCACHING are my favorite past times but I also love reading and spending time with my husband and kids
Humor : I don't have a sense of humor.............
Registration date : 2009-05-25

HI FROM S.C. Empty
PostSubject: Re: HI FROM S.C.   HI FROM S.C. EmptyThu May 20, 2010 7:57 pm

FIRST let me say, there is a difference in being addicted to a substance, and being dependent on a substance. As MMT pts, we are DEPENDENT on our medication and it is no different than someone who is dependent on blood pressure medication or insulin. An addiction to a substance comes with destructive behavior such as taking more meds than we are suppose to because we are trying to mask unpleasant feelings, then we run out of meds and end up stealing them or forging scripts or buying them off the streets. Addiction mean we care more about getting the high from the drugs than we do about anything else.

As MMT pts, we are not getting high, we are not abusing other medications or the methadone and we are not participating in those destructive behaviors that are so detremental to our lives, our realationships and ourselves.

SO, I wouldn't say you are ADDICTED after being on the meds for 4 years, but you are certainly dependent on the meds to function and to live without pain.

It is a shame that so many in law enforcement think that way about methadone. Just because you have taken your dose does NOT make you incapable of driving, operating heavy machinery and/or handling a gun. If you are incapable of doing those things because you are "out of it" or sleepy then you need to consider decreasing your dose. We shouldn't be constantly sleepy or impared while taking our daily dose of methadone.

Like I said, that is one "good" thing that has come from my addiction experience and MMT is that it has given my husband the knowledge he needs to understand MMT and to try and teach others in law enforcement about MMT.

For example, my husband recently went to a Narcotic and Drug Abuse training session and they had a law enforcment "METHADONE EXPERT" come to speak to the class........this guy had NO idea what he was talking about and was spouting off all kinds of inaccurate information! And this was their EXPERT! My husband was trying to ask questions and say things to let ppl know this was inaccurate info, but because of the agency my husband works for, he could lose his security clearance AND his position if they knew that his SPOUSE was on MMT. HOW discriminating is THAT??? It's not HIM that is taking it, but me and he could still suffer from that fact! So he couldn't come right out and say why he knew this guy was wrong without hurting himself but he was so aggrivated that this guy with his biased, predjudiced and inaccurate info was the EXPERT for the whole agency!

Anyhow, I am ramling again so I will quit. But the main thing is I wanted to let you know that just because you are dependent on a medication DOES NOT make you addicted to it. So don't look at yourself as an addict. You are dependent on your medication just like anyone else with any other health problem that requires medication to control it.
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floydfx05

floydfx05


Female
Number of posts : 71
Age : 65
Location : LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA
Humor : PEACE
Registration date : 2010-04-29

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PostSubject: Re: HI FROM S.C.   HI FROM S.C. EmptySun May 23, 2010 5:43 pm

you are so right about the law enforcement not being knowledgeable about methadone, why is that? they should have to take classes in methadone so they know. All they think is that your a drug addict.
methadone is a medication, just like lipitor, (example)
Alot of doctors are the same, not all, cause there is caring doctors that work at the clinics.
I would think they would want to know.
DP
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balsabones




Male
Number of posts : 4
Location : S.C.
Registration date : 2010-05-13

HI FROM S.C. Empty
PostSubject: Re: HI FROM S.C.   HI FROM S.C. EmptyMon May 24, 2010 4:26 pm

floydfx05 wrote:
you are so right about the law enforcement not being knowledgeable about methadone, why is that? they should have to take classes in methadone so they know. All they think is that your a drug addict.
methadone is a medication, just like lipitor, (example)
Alot of doctors are the same, not all, cause there is caring doctors that work at the clinics.
I would think they would want to know.
DP

My wife still believes one day the Law will arrest me for DUI!
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