Fibromyalgia Support Group

Hi, everyone. I am sorry if the answer to my question is somewhere, but I haven't found it through a search. I was just prescribed methadone to deal with my FM and other pain issues on Friday. I have been taking 6 Lortabs per day for almost a year and am still in horrible pain daily (level 7-10). My doctor started me on 1/2 a 5MG tab every 12 hours. I can tell a tiny difference in my level of pain, but I still have to take the Lortabs. I am a bit scared about being prescribed methadone b/c I don't know anything about it except for its connection with heroin addicts. Does anyone else take methadone? How long does it take before you can tell a difference in your pain? Does it need to build up in your system before it helps? Do you take other meds in combination with methadone? Is there anything I should be concerned about with this medicine? Does it cause bad side effects? What about weight gain?

Thanks for your help.

Paige

Hi Paige,

I was on Methadone for a brief while. It did nothing for my pain. It stops the pain by affecting how your brain receives the messages from the body regarding pain. You can go to WebMD and look up any medication or medical condition. It's a great resource!

Wish you the best and I hope I was able to help!

Sincerely,

DustyW

I was taking Methadone for a brief while, it did nothing for my pain. If you ever have questions about a medication or treatment or symptoms the best resource I've found is WebMD.

Hope I helped!

Hi Paige!

I was on morphine, 60mg tid for abt 3 years. It helped the pain somewhat, but left me a zombie. I slowly, slowly, tapered down throughout the years because I, too, was afraid to become addicted. My pain specialist told me that should not be a concern. He said people that have chronic pain DO NOT BECOME ADDICTED!!! He told me to notice if I ever experienced a 'high'. As far as I know, [never gotten 'high' a day in my life] I didn't. I didn't know what 'high' felt like. Never, ever, once, when I was given an opioid or other pain med, did I 'feel good' [as opposed to feel better] or 'high'.

I agree that you should check MedWEB...in fact you could google methadone and visit other sites also. I do this w/every new med I'm given, and w/every new dx I receive.

Best of luck to you, Paige, and keep us posted.

Corri

I just realized I forgot to thank you both for your responses! Thanks so much. I tried the methadone but apparently, it is NOT a medicine you should take while on Effexor. My doctor didn't realize it when he prescribed the medicine to me. I had a horrible reaction. I may try again in the future once I am no longer taking Effexor. Paige

www.drugs.com is also another good website. You can list and save your current medications there, and type in new ones to see any reactions. However, a lot of mine show reactions, but simply because a lot of them cause sleepiness, so you have to carefully read the reactions, know what I mean?

Another good one is www.drugdigest.com you add your list of meds even any suppliments you take and it will tell you any drug interactions or food interactions. Talking to your dr or pharmacist is always the best but that's good to do for yourself too.

The "zombie" feeling you experienced is the high. I understand you not recognozing it because it's a downer not an upper. Downers slow you down, upper string you out.