My mother is in a bad condition, from methadone withdraws!!?

Question

Hello, my mother was planning on switching from Methadone to Suboxene. The Suboxene clinic doctor was taking away 5 mg of MD a day, and she is normally a 120 mg a day MD patient. Well, this isnt working out, and now the MD clinic wont exept her back supply her with MD because she poses a risk to death. So, what the h**l should I do? I am trying to get MD for my mother, I want her back on the 120MG a day, and then take away less than 5mg a day. Maybe like 1--2 a day for sometime. What should I do? Believe the doctors will eat me alive, all they want is money they dont care about my mothers health, they just want to do whats best for them. Do you have any information?

Answer 1

taking away 5 mg every other day would probably help lessen withdrawal symptoms but no matter how they wean her off of methadone she will have withdrawal symptoms she really does just have to tough it out

im sorry if that sounds harsh but its the truth based on the info provided it sounds like the doctors are doing what should be done

Answer 2

Absolutely NOT! The doctor and the clinic are both doing her injustice! Your mother should not have to suffer like this and you have the right idea. The Suboxone doctor is reducing her way too fast. Methadone withdrawal is serious and has been fatal. The Suboxone doctor isn't going to help her get back on the Methadone because that takes away money from his pocket. The clinic has lied by stating that she poses a risk to death by returning because as long as she is not on Suboxone readmitting her and slowly increasing her back to her stable dose will not pose a risk. I do have a question though. Who was prescribing the Methadone that she was being reduced with? Pain clinic doctors are the only other ones licensed to write for Methadone and the law is very clear that it must be for pain. Otherwise it has to come from the type of clinic your Mom was in. Usually when a patient wants to switch to Suboxone the clinic will handle reducing the patient on their Methadone until they are down to none and then they wait 48hrs before switching to the Suboxone. This should not be a painful process. If it is painful then it is being done wrong. Now, what to do? Right? Well, I am an RN BSN and I am a Methadone Advocate as well as a patient so maybe I can help. First of all you need to contact  "We Speak Methadone"

http://www.readybb.com/nama_wespeakmetha...

You will need to join but it is an easy process. Then send Zenith a message and tell her Kristina told you to ask her for help. She is an expert and can help you with the laws. Another good contact is Carol at Methadone Anonymous. You can call your State Methadone advocate by going to http://www.atwatchdog.org/sma.html

You can also contact the program's accreditor. The approved accrediting agencies are CARF , JCAHO or COA. Washington and Missouri clinics are accredited by an accreditor operated by the States. CARF IS AT..

http://www.carf.org/

JCAHO IS AT..

http://www.jointcommission.org/

AND COA IS AT...

http://www.coanet.org/front3/index.cfm

They do not want to deal with these organizations because the rug can be pulled out from them. However, I know how hard it is to deal with contacting organizations to act quickly when someone you love is in pain. They do try to act quickly because they realize this. So, if there is anything else I can do let me know. There may even be something in the federal or state regs that states specifically that what they are doing is unlawful in which case you would only need to print out a copy and take it to the clinic. If there is another clinic near you switching would be an option. But there is a solution I am sure because this is wrong.Good Luck, Email me if you need to.