methadone wakes me up.

woodsie357 · Post by **woodsie357** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:45 pm

I'm in my second week of methadone, and up to 5.0mg. I was taking it at 7:00pm so that it's into my system by 10:00pm bedtime.

All the previous opiates I've been on in the past gave me a stimulated effect I'd call it "bug eyed awake"

My legs still bother me on methadone but its on the back of my mind and not the front of my mind. So I would say I'm getting some benefit. I know methadone stays in your system longer and was wondering if I took it in the morning that the "bug eyed awake" would be gone by bedtime but that my RLS would still be in the back of my mind and more tolerable. I'm also not sure if this will change once I get on the next rank of dosage.

I feel like I may be one of the unusual people that's not sedated by opiates. It's really made my treatment a challenge.

Neco · Post by **Neco** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:38 pm

Many of us have found switching our doses around to the morning, to be a vast improvement in the management of our symptoms and other sleep problems like insomnia.

I used to religiously take any medication only at night time, however I have had more and more problems with opiate-induced insomnia over the years no matter what med it is. Every since I decided to take my medication in the morning, anywhere from between 5am to 12pm I have had virtually no sleep problems except what seems to be genuine insomnia that pops up from time to time.

I generally sleep through the night too, even if I wake up to use the bathroom or eat, I can still go back to sleep pretty easily, unless I've been napping that day.

So you may find taking it in the morning will help you a lot. And if it still has that wakeup effect, taking it in the morning would be a benefit if you are not a morning person.

SquirmingSusan · Post by **SquirmingSusan** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:52 pm

You can try it. I know that wouldn't work for me, because methadone only covers my symptoms for a few hours, so if I took it in the morning, I'd have symptoms in the evening.

Maria · Post by **Maria** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:52 pm

I was wondering about this, too in my fourth week of methadone. I’ve learned that I need to take 10 mg. all at once, not split.

My symptoms are blessedly gone at night. I don’t start kicking until about 6 a.m., and I’m sleeping pretty well (except for waking up to unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth and drink a couple of gallons of water every night.) But so drowsy in the daytime!

I was thinking of gradually moving my 10mg of methadone up one hour each day and tracking my sleep and symptoms to see how early I can take it and still not have symptoms at night. Right now I’m at 6:00 and doing fine with that. So tonight I thought I’d go for 5 p.m. and see what happens there for a couple of days.

Have any of you all tried this approach?

Woodsie – your ‘bug-eyed awake’ is what I got with Mirapex without Ambien or Lunesta. I know just what you mean. One hates to be ungrateful for symptom free “rest” – but sleep -- sleep is what we want more of --- just not in the day time!

Maria

woodsie357 · Post by **woodsie357** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:54 pm

a'men Maria!

Spiticus · Post by **Spiticus** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:57 am

I know this exact feeling. It's getting better for me but I've also been taking mine earlier in the afternoon. It felt incredibly strange after switching from loritab to methadone, as I never had insomnia with loritab. But it's doing much better now.

woodsie357 · Post by **woodsie357** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:59 am

Oh yeah I remember you mentioning this in a different post, I didn't put the two together. I'm glad your getting some relief