Alright everyone Greg here from project unbroken. And Today I’m going to be talking about how I was able to get off methadone and really do it with virtually no withdrawal. Now, I was on methadone for six years. And, you know, now I’ve been off it for five years. So, you know, I’ve been totally clean since. I haven’t used anything. I’m very happy. You know, back to healthy, happy, lifestyle.
So I know if you’re watching this, obviously you’re looking into getting off methadone and getting off it wit little to no pain. And I’m going to share with you my story of how I did that. Now, I apologize for the camera I’m using. I’m just using my computer today because there’s some things I want to show you on my screen. I’m outside because it’s a really nice day. It’s a lot of critters and bees flying around, shit, so if anything lands on me and I’m jumping or screeching, don’t mind me alright?
So, just to give you quick background. I did pills for couple of years. Started with the percs, oxys, and all that. Did that for a couple of years. Transitioned into heroin. You know, very similar story I’m sure to many of you. And I used heroin for a few years. I did try using suboxone first before methadone. But I ended up just using it as a crutch. You know, just kind of take my suboxone when I couldn’t use, to avoid withdrawal and that’s all I ended up using, suboxone for. The last step was methadone.
And when I go ton methadone, I was mostly ready to quit but I guess not fully ready. because I did go back to using a couple times. But I would just try it and then I would realize the methadone was such a strong blocker, that I wouldn’t even feel it. So, it was like, I would do it once, then you know, a couple weeks maybe I’ll try again. Then maybe a couple months went by and maybe I tried it one more time. So, it only happened a few times where I tried using methadone and I was like, I’m not even getting high. Why am I even trying this?
So, besides those few times on methadone, I didn’t really use. I stayed clean throughout besides those first few months where I was experimenting trying to get high still. Then I realized it wasn’t working. So, I just stopped it from there. But anyways, what I’m going to do now, is I’m going to bring up my screen because I forgot about a post I made when I was down to one milligram. I made a post on a forum that the forum is called drugs-forums.com. And I want to bring up that post on my screen because it’ll really help you get all the details of how I got off and my progression. because, I list the exact details on this post. And obviously it was five years ago. So, back then it was way fresher in my mind. So, I think going over this post with you will help you even more. And I’ll kind of take you through it and what I’ve been doing since then to improve myself even more.
Alright, so what I’m going to do now, is I’m going to jump to that post, which I made when I was down to one milligram. And by the way, the reason I made this post is because, you know, I wanted to get my story out there and help anyone that was trying to come down, show them how I did it. But also, I was scared as shit because I was down to one milligram and I didn’t know what was going to happen. So, I was looking for anyone with a similar story to see what would happen when they went from one milligram to zero. because, I was scared shitless that I was just going to start withdrawing really bad. Alright? So, let’s jump to that post now and we’ll read through it and I’ll start getting you the details on how I was able to get off this methadone wit virtually no withdrawal, very little pain.
Alright so I go this post on my screen that I made almost five years ago now. You can see, July 2013. Now, shooting this May 2013. So, it’s been almost five years. But I made this post when I was down to one milligram. Okay. As you can see, experiences methadone from 105 milligrams to zero. Slow taper story in question. Alright? Now, what I’m going to do is I’m going to try to put the link to this post in the youtube video. I don’t know if they allow that or not. I’m going to try it. If they don’t allow it, you can just obviously, just pause this video and read it if you want. But what I’m going to do is just go over the major points. I don’t want to bore you or keep repeating things. So, I’m just going to go over the major points and I’ll talk about them when I’m done going through it. Alright?
So, as you see I started taking methadone about six years ago. So, I stayed on 105 up until about two and a half years ago when I found out my son was on the way. Alright, so when I first started, they start you on 30. My clinic started me on 30. I built my way up and I stabilized on 105. Alright? So, for those three and a half years, I was pretty much on 105 the whole time and it was stabilized at that dose. And then I found out my son was on the way and that was pretty much my trigger where I was like fuck this. Like, I’m not staying on this shit. He’s not going to see me taking methadone and going to the methadone clinic and all that. Like, I’m done. Like, my plan is to start coming down. I start making a plan at that point. Alright?
So, the plan was come down one milligram a week and see how I felt. And I did that all the way until I got up to 20 milligrams. Alright? Once I got down to 20 milligrams, I had to go on vacation, and they only let you take a certain amount of … A vacat … Something happened where I had to put a hold on 20. And ended up being a 2 month hold by accident. It was just a miscommunication. I meant to only hold that for like an extra week from what I remember. So, I didn’t do that because I was uncomfortable. As you can see right here, I see no withdrawal symptoms from 105 to 20. I felt totally fine throughout. Like, I didn’t even think of it. You know? It was just coming down. And I knew that I was eventually going to get off it. So, although, I didn’t want to be on it, I was like, you know what? I’m chipping away at it. I feel fine. So, I’m just going to keep moving.
And then time goes quick as you guys know. Alright? So, what happened from 20 is I went down, one milligram a week again until I hit 10 milligrams. Alright? At 10 milligrams, I decide to slow it down. I think I stated getting nervous. I started getting nervous that I was getting so low and I wanted to be extra careful. So, I started doing a milligram every two weeks once I hit 10 milligrams. Alright?
And I say, you know, last week is my first week at one milligram. I got dosed yesterday morning 32 hours ago and I got my six bottles for the week but I’m not taking them. The idea behind that was I wanted to have my one milligram, you know, six of my doses for one milligram in case I started going through really bad withdrawals. That way, I could take them then go back to the clinic and get my next week and, you know, just kind of regroup. So, that was the reason behind that. They were just on hand. Just in case. Like, as a crutch. Alright?
And here I talk about some of the withdrawal symptoms started for me like very minor though. I said ever since about six milligrams or so, I started getting minor withdrawals. The biggest problem has been lack of sleep. I had a little problems around six to four milligram mark. But then, from three milligrams to now, especially now on one milligram, I get very little sleep anywhere from zero to three hours a night. Other symptoms are restless legs at times, usually at night. And I’ll get waves of no energy every once in a while. All in all very manageable.
I think that’s important because, in it, you know, I’m at one milligram, I’m in the depth of coming off it. And I’m still saying it’s very manageable. That’s a really good sign right? It’s easy for me to say it now because I’m five years out of it. But the fact that I was saying back then is a very good sign. And I actually say, I feel like I’m getting away with murder knowing how bad withdrawal can be. I think we can all relate to that right?
So, we all know how bad it can be. You can be shaking on the floor, cold, jumping out of your skin, throwing up, shitting yourself. Obviously, it can be horrible. And I’m like, may I can not sleep and you know, I’m having a little bit of trouble sleeping. Well, a good amount of trouble sleeping, a little bit of restless legs, and a little bit of no energy. Like damn. Like I’m … Like for real? Like, I’m getting away with this? I think that’s what was going through my head and why I made this post because, I was like, man. Can this … Like, is this what’s going to happen when I go to zero? Is this all I’m going to experience? You know?
So, I was like, damn, like I can’t believe I’m … Like, it’s not that bad. Sorry. Told y’all I would jump a little bit if a bee came up on and that bumble bee just ran up on me. I don’t know if they sting or not. Some people say they can sting. Some people say they can’t I don’t know. I still don’t want that thing buzzing near me.
Alright, anyway so. I also say some of the things are really helping me. I started drinking a lot of water. I started working out. I started crossfit. I started crossfit when I was on about, I don’t know five to 10 milligrams, around that range. Eating better and taking vitamins. I really didn’t want to be relying on anything to make me feel normal, and of course my son. You know, those are my reasons, or, you know, the kind of things is was doing. And I hope this will help some people and I say, some other stuff there.
Then I say being that it’s only been 50 hour since my last one milligram dose, I feel just like I would on a day where I take one milligram in the morning. Am I counting my ducks too soon. So, you can see I was pretty worried that like, withdrawal suddenly going to majorly kick in. Alright?
Goddamn. Fucking bee. Get that shit out of here. Alright so, let’s scroll down here. because I make some more personal updates. Alright so now, I’m on day three with no methadone, I feel decent. Again, that’s good that I’m saying that three days off it. It’s been 77 hours exactly. Biggest issue is sleep. Didn’t’ sleep a single minute last night, but I pushed myself this morning. Did a workout. Now I just have no energy.
And you know, the no energy stuff and the, you know, I think I talk about later that I got depressed one day, is probably from the lack of sleep, you know. Probably not as much from the withdrawal as from lack of sleep. So, let’s see. Overall it’s very manageable because I know it will get better each day. Alright. So, I just say that. So, I think I do another update down here. Alright, so it’s now been 13 days since my last dose. I feel great. And then I give a breakdown of how it went day by day.
So, from day to one to five, I felt pretty good, a little bit of bowel issues it looks like. Biggest thing was lack of sleep. Slept maybe 30 minutes to an hour on average every night. So, sleep wasn’t very good those first few days. Day six was my only bad day. I got depressed which is unusual for me and it was just a really down all day. Day seven to day 13, I felt great. Especially with the last couple of days. I started sleeping a little, like three to four hours a night. And the last couple of nights with no sleep aids.
So, what happened was, on day six, I got so tired of not sleeping well, that I tried to get on Seroquel but I took it and it didn’t really help. Then the next day I felt like a zombie so, I think I tried it once. Or twice and I didn’t do it at all anymore. Which I explain here. I think I tried smoking weed one night, that didn’t’ really help me. So, I didn’t do that again. Honestly, the biggest thing for me has been staying busy. You know, working out eating right. That type of stuff. Alright.
So, at day 13 I feel extremely clear headed and great. Only lingering withdrawals is sleeping still low, a little fatigue at times which is probably from not sleeping. And then very mild restless legs. Honestly I’m so happy with how things are going, none of it bothers me. So, there you go. 13 days in I was doing very well. Let me see if I have anymore updates. Lets see.
Alright here we go. Just an update as I’ve got a few messages over the last few months. Still clean over four years later. So, I just did this post a year ago and I remember everything through that. So, there’s my, you know, my come down from how I went from 105 to getting off it with very little pain. You know. Look sleep issues, a little bit of restless legs and fatigue, I’m okay with compared to normal withdrawal. You know. So, what I’m going to do is switch back to my camera and kind of talk about more things of what I think went into getting off it successfully.
Alright, so I know a lot of people don’t want to take two and a half years to get of of methadone. So, I’m going to share with you a few things that I think I probably would have changed if I went through it again or just a few things done, you know, that I’m aware of.
So, the first think is, you know, it took two and a half years, I probably could have done it in a year, you know? Especially at the higher dose. I probably could have came down five milligrams a week for a while. Maybe till I hit 50, 40, 30 range even. You know, so what I would do if I went back is came down five milligrams a week and then kept going until I maybe start feeling a little bit of withdrawal and then I would have stopped and stabilized there for a few weeks. At that point I would of tried to come down two to three milligrams, depending on where I was. And then again stop if I start feel uncomfortable then moved to one milligram a week. So, I think coming down one milligram a week was too slow but in the end, it worked, you know?
And the one thing that it did for me that’s really positive and the one thing that I like about the slow taper, is that it gets you away from the life. You know what I mean? Like, you know, my first few months even being … Even like, my first six months being on methadone, I wasn’t still really around the same type of people. You know? Like, I was still living this same type of lifestyle. And the longer I was on methadone and kind of like away from the drugs, the heroine and, you know, everything else, the more I got used to living without those things in my life.
You know, so, the cool thing about a slow taper is it gives you a time away from that life. So by the time you get to the low dose to you know, where you’re ready to come off, you shouldn’t have those negative influences in your life anymore. Because if you do, you’re most likely still messing around. You know? So, those people should be out of your life by then. And let me tell you something if you still got people around you that are using, and you’re trying to quit, you’re fucked. Alright? It’s not going to work.
I tried it. I tried it over and over. You know, me and Matt, we were best friends for years. He had to separate himself from me, you know, his best friend of 10 years, because we kept pulling each other back in. So, that’s a side note. If you have people around you that are using, you’re fucked. Alright you’re probably not going to quit. Chances are slim to none. You have to get rid of those people no matter who it is or it’s just probably not going to work. So, the good thing again with being on the slow taper, not only do you experience little to no pain, but you start distancing yourself from that life. You know?
So, a good two years I had under my belt being away from that life. So, by the time I came off it, those people were nowhere around me. I had no numbers to call for heroin. I didn’t even know where to get it anymore. You know. Of course I could’ve went to the corner or lot but that’s pretty drastic after, you know, not being around it for two years to go to a corner and pick up. You know what I mean? It’s just a different circumstance of having a connection. I’m sure some of you know what I’m talking about.
Anyways. That’s what I really like about slow tapers. Just getting yourself away from that life. And, you know, by the time you come off, you put in so much fucking work that you’re like, there’s no way I’m turning back now, you know, you set your’ plan in place, you’ve worked at it for years. You’re at the end of the line here. And you got a little of speed bumps there with the little sleep, for me at least, the little sleep and restless legs. Once you get over that, it was like I took off man.
I remember after a couple weeks to a month it was like, I started feeling back to normal. I was like man, I feel great. I remember after a month thinking that. Like, I feel so good. But I just kept feeling better and better. But, the big thing is, you know, I kept working out, I kept trying to eat right, you know, I kept trying to learn about, you know like eating right. You know, nutrition and what I should be eating and shouldn’t be eating. But I constantly kept trying to improve. You know, I started meeting new people and establishing new friendships with positive people, that type of thing. But, you know coming off, really it wasn’t’ that bad.
You know, as you see, I made in my post that I showed you on my screen, a little bit of no sleep and restless legs, fuck it, I’ll go through that any day. You know? And the people who try to just hop off, and I know that you want to get off it now, you just want to be done with it. But, there’s a lot of negative to that. You’re going to go through some serious pain. You haven’t distanced yourself from that life. You haven’t taken a break from it. So, your chances of succeeding really go down. So, there’s a high chance you can go through all that horrible withdrawal and then go right back into that lifestyle. Alright?
So, that’s my story with how I made, you know, how I got off methadone and how I did it with little to no pain. And in my opinion that’s just the best way to do it. Not just to feel comfortable, but for long-term success alright? So, I hope y’all enjoyed this video. Hopefully it helps. Please leave a comment below, let me know if it helped you. You know, anytime we get comments from people telling us that, you know, our content helped them, it makes us want to do more of these. So, you know, let me know that. You know, comment and let me know what else do you want me to shoot on or what else do you want to know anything about. Alright? I’ll talk to y’all soon.
