Zach -
As always, thank you for your thorough response and reassurance! I talked to the neurologist late yesterday afternoon and he will mail me the prescription. Hopefully I'll receive it on Monday because I am running out of codeine.
I'll take 2.5 mg methadone at 5 pm each day for a week, then move up to 5 mg each day for a week, then check in with him to let him know how it's going. He said I can continue with the neurontin at night and then drop that down over time when I feel confident that the methadone is doing the job. He said we can definitely go higher if needed.
I remember reading a post from someone that it can be frustrating while waiting for the dose to increase to a tolerable level. And since it blocks the other opiates, there is nothing you can do to supplement while you are waiting for the increase. Just pray for patience. I guess it is a good time to do this because there will be lots of distractions over the next two weeks.
Refractory RLS- this means that at least one dopamine agonist has failed for a patient?
RE: ferritin: I think I had some minor improvement apparent after a few weeks after the infusion. I guess someone is researching on finding out how to raise ferritin levels in the Brain and spinal fluid? I wonder who that is.
Meds and Ferritin
I don't know if anyone is actively researching that.. But we can hope..
As far as waiting to increase your dose, yeah it can be a pain. But hopefully it will work out for you.. You could probably jump to 5mg after only 2 or 3 days, once you deem it safe and if necessary.
As far as methadone blocking other opiates.. I'm not well versed in specifically how others interact with it. However at such a low dose you can likely still try the codeine. Methadone can only block opiates from acting on you as long as the amount of the competing substance is not strong enough to overcome and break through the methadones blocking action.
It is entirely possible to take methadone and then go get enough heroin or whatever drug to get high. It's just that depending on the dose (and herion addicts in particular have much higher doses than RLS patients) it becomes less efficient and cost prohibitive to do such activities.
I have received hydrocodone and Coedine for teeth extractions while on methadone and my experience has been that I am still at a low enough level that I can feel them a little.. The codeine moreso than the hydrocodone. I pretty much could have taken the whole 15 pill script I had for hydrocodone and not felt much at all, but it would have been a little something.
But this is all largely anecdotal. I think regardless of your dose, some of the molecules from other substances can still make it through and bind along with the methadone. Just not enough for the purposes of abuse.
I know Aiken takes both methadone and hydrocodone. I think he's only on 2.5mgs but I could be wrong. He usually takes some hydrocodone when the methadone isn't enough, or when he'd rather not take the methadone because of side effects. I'm sure he'll come straighten me out if I'm wrong in that though, lol.
As far as waiting to increase your dose, yeah it can be a pain. But hopefully it will work out for you.. You could probably jump to 5mg after only 2 or 3 days, once you deem it safe and if necessary.
As far as methadone blocking other opiates.. I'm not well versed in specifically how others interact with it. However at such a low dose you can likely still try the codeine. Methadone can only block opiates from acting on you as long as the amount of the competing substance is not strong enough to overcome and break through the methadones blocking action.
It is entirely possible to take methadone and then go get enough heroin or whatever drug to get high. It's just that depending on the dose (and herion addicts in particular have much higher doses than RLS patients) it becomes less efficient and cost prohibitive to do such activities.
I have received hydrocodone and Coedine for teeth extractions while on methadone and my experience has been that I am still at a low enough level that I can feel them a little.. The codeine moreso than the hydrocodone. I pretty much could have taken the whole 15 pill script I had for hydrocodone and not felt much at all, but it would have been a little something.
But this is all largely anecdotal. I think regardless of your dose, some of the molecules from other substances can still make it through and bind along with the methadone. Just not enough for the purposes of abuse.
I know Aiken takes both methadone and hydrocodone. I think he's only on 2.5mgs but I could be wrong. He usually takes some hydrocodone when the methadone isn't enough, or when he'd rather not take the methadone because of side effects. I'm sure he'll come straighten me out if I'm wrong in that though, lol.
*wave* And here I am.
I take a quarter of a 5mg methadone tablet (1.25mg) in the mornings. I generally have only spotty and minor RLS during daylight hours, so this handles that, and some discomfort I have from a pinched nerve as well.
In the evenings, I supplement with a norco (10mg hydrocodone, 325 mg acetaminophen) split in half and taken 3-4 hours apart.
I do this because my RLS is strong only in the evenings, and the amount of methadone I need to cover it in the evenings causes me to be sleepy the next day at work, thanks to methadone's rather long half-life. Thus the hydrocodone in the evenings, which is gone by morning.
As far as I can tell, the hydrocodone still works pretty well, possibly to its full extent. Between the small dose and the much-earlier dosing, I think there's just not enough methadone to take up all of the receptors.
The way I understand methadone and suboxone is that they have a higher affinity for the receptors than other opioids and opioid analogues, while producing considerably less of a "high" effect. So, they can both displace a drug already in your system, and also prevent newer ones from settling in. However, if there isn't enough of the blocking drug to cover all receptors, you can still benefit from another.
Mind you, methadone's pretty strong. You may be fine on 2.5mg. Not perfect, but fine. Maybe even perfect. Depends on your system and what you've taken before.
I take a quarter of a 5mg methadone tablet (1.25mg) in the mornings. I generally have only spotty and minor RLS during daylight hours, so this handles that, and some discomfort I have from a pinched nerve as well.
In the evenings, I supplement with a norco (10mg hydrocodone, 325 mg acetaminophen) split in half and taken 3-4 hours apart.
I do this because my RLS is strong only in the evenings, and the amount of methadone I need to cover it in the evenings causes me to be sleepy the next day at work, thanks to methadone's rather long half-life. Thus the hydrocodone in the evenings, which is gone by morning.
As far as I can tell, the hydrocodone still works pretty well, possibly to its full extent. Between the small dose and the much-earlier dosing, I think there's just not enough methadone to take up all of the receptors.
The way I understand methadone and suboxone is that they have a higher affinity for the receptors than other opioids and opioid analogues, while producing considerably less of a "high" effect. So, they can both displace a drug already in your system, and also prevent newer ones from settling in. However, if there isn't enough of the blocking drug to cover all receptors, you can still benefit from another.
Mind you, methadone's pretty strong. You may be fine on 2.5mg. Not perfect, but fine. Maybe even perfect. Depends on your system and what you've taken before.
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.