Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT)
 

Hello all,

I've a friend whom I've recently become very close to, and I have learned he's on methadone replacement for heroin addiction. He's on a very high dose (220 mg per day), and gets a weekly supply from the clinic. Recently he started a new job working in his field which is actually pretty close to working in a field (outdoors in the heat and humidity here in Houston) and either because of the stress of a new job, working and sweating outdoors, or for whatever reason, he's burning through his medicine too quickly. He actually got sick at my house last night.:eek:

Does anyone here have any personal experience with MMT? Is it possible to chalk this up to stress, additional demands on his body from sweating in the outdoors all day, etc.? The clinic would not give him any more meds yesterday and they want him to instead come in in the morning (Monday morning) and I will be there with him. I just really want to know if the theory he's giving me about why he's going through his medicine so fast is plausible or if it's a bunch of horse hockey.:confused:

Frequently smack withdrawal,even with meth produces anxiety/panic symptoms,in which case xanax,tranzine,valium,klonapin or other benzodiazepates are indicated.
These,however,can produce their own side effects,lethargy,photo-sensitivity and general weakness.

It is difficult to determine a point like this,it may simply be the effects of the high dose of meth he is taking.

Is he taking any other meds?

Taking other meds? Not that I am aware of. I hope not anyway. I'm having to keep a close eye on my own medicine cabinet and have even started hiding some of my painkillers as to not tempt him. Not that I don't want to trust him, but i guess i don't.

I'm thinking that maybe since he knows I've got lots of goodies that he thinks he might be able to 'get by on' that maybe he went through his other so fast. He took his last dose last night and won't get anything else till in the morning. Last night was not even a full dose.

With 220mg I'tll be about a year before his system makes any sort of recovery,notwithstanding the occasional Codeine,Perc,tranquiliser and any other drug he can glom.....Believe me,it's what they do.

He hooked up with N.A.or any counseling/support group?

No he considers 12-steppers to be Nazis. Like me, he's athiest so doing the 12-step thing without a higher power is kinda difficult anyway. He's been on MMT for at least 4 years, but has messed up in one way or another a couple of times and had priveleges revoked before. I'm sure after tomorrow the visits to the clinic will be at least three times a week instead of once per week for the next 90 days, if he can somehow manage to get his dosage back on track and keep it that way.

I was kinda hoping this would be a romance for the ages but I don't know if I can handle this kind of baggage.

Take some advice from one who knows...Flee for the hills!
Straight,Gay,BI...It doesn't matter.Take it from one who knows,addictive personalities with their"baggage"will be a continual millstone around your neck.

Their chief purpose is self-preservation,which is simply a diplomatic way of saying they will lie,cheat,steal and use any means at their command to feed their addiction and it's rare it happens otherwise,love DOES NOT cure all,it makes one blind to reality.
Be there as a friend,that's all well and good but don't you dare get emotionally involved with damaged goods,you deserve the best that life offers,not some restoration project.

Sorry for the bluntness,but I can see where this is headed.

Yeah you sure can see it, headed there like a damn freight train...

What you've written is what my inner 'fat girl' has been telling me almost since this started. If I am to run for the hills though I have to stay away, no friendship or anything.

Thanks.:)

A little dose of self-preservation will go a long way.Best of luck.

I have delt with this as well, I won't go into details online but Carleton nailed it 100%. Run for the hills, don't get involved, they will drag you down.

I know this sounds bad, but its nice when its just a friend that you can get away from. When its someone much closer its freaken hell.

And you cannot fix them, love cannot fix them, money cannot fix them, groups cannot fix them, they have to fix themselves. Some can, some can't.

Sounds like this guy needs to go to rehab for at least 28 days, then a sober-house.

If he rejects the 12-step program because of the "god thing", then he hasn't the slightest notion of what it's all about, not even an inkling...

X2 plus what The Swede said.

I don't think they need a 12 step dance if they are really serious. I have seen alcoholics and druggies quit and get clean when they wanted without the 12 step dance.

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His Will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

How is that not a "god thing"?

And I was hoping Briana Banks, Tera Patrick and the wife could all get together and be a romance for the ages thing but that ain't happening either.

Here's the deal, it IS NOT getting any better. Addicts are addicts. There is NO cure. The best they can hope for is to stay away from the source of addiction. There is ALWAYS the chance of relapse and then you'd have the mess to pick up. Now if my wife became an addict tomorrow, that might be different. We have been together since 84 so that buys her some of my patience. OTOH, if it were a girl I was seeing, I'd run. It's one thing to fix my car that I bought 10 years ago but it is another when I buy a brand new car and it breaks down or is broken down. Life is difficult enough. Why start from behind? Addicts aren't worth it.

It ISN'T even a restoration project. Restoration comes from the word restore.

to bring back to a former, original, or normal condition

Those are the closest I can come to it from dictionary.com that make sense to this case. Problem is that no matter what you do, you will NOT be able to bring it to a former condition. All this is getting him a ticking time bomb. When will it go off? Who knows. There is no such a thing as a cure for an addict. All you can do is avoid the stuff.

Thanks all.

Sounds like maybe the only person for an addict is an addict, right? Sucks for them.

I knew him 19 years ago, when i was 24 and he was 18, then re-aquainted through MySpace at the beginning of May. He's not a completely unknown quantity to me. I know that the addiction has messed him up; he's not quite the same as before.

I don't know what I'm going to do or how, but I can come up with an exit stategy when needed.