Anybody out there on methadone for pain management due to herniated disks?

My son has herniated and bulged disks due to automobile accident. He became addicted to narcotic medication that was given to control his pain. Went through detox but doctor wants him to go to methadone clinic to manage his pain. He completed detox 3 weeks ago and has had no narcotic pain pills since, but today started on the methadone program. I am having a hard time understanding this, can anyone give me insight from personal experience?

I took methadone for pain in my hand (I had a flesh eating bacteria in my hand and lost one finger.) They had been giving me large doses of pain meds in the hospital, and I slowly built up a tolerance to them. Methadone is an excellent pain releiver, but it is something to respect also. It is potent and if he already has an addictive personality he should be aware that someone will monitor how much he is taking. If he is going through a clinic, they will only give him what he needs for a set period, to prevent him from abusing it. Remind him not to take it with any other narcotic he may have or sleeping pills and absolutely no alcohol. Evidently he is being given the methadone through a program, because of his previous addiction to the other narcotic meds, and this is a very good idea. The program should only give him small doses and he will not be able to get more than he should be taking. That is probably why his doctor decided to go this route. The methadone program will treat his pain, it is not being used to detox him from the previous narcotics. He needs to also be aware that if he goes to any hospital, he absolutely must tell the doctors and staff that he is on methadone, so they do not give him anything to interfer with his treatment. Good Luck and I hope this helped.

Methadone is way less addicting than other narcotics. It has fewer side affects, and is much easier to go off of than narcotics. The benefits far outweigh the fact that he is starting these. My dad has been taking them for pain for about three years now. He can go days and weeks with no withdrawal symptoms, and he is much more active in his day to day activities than he was when taking the narcotics.

It's called methadone maintenance. They dispense a predetermined dosage everyday. My experience with methadone is that it is not a very good pain killer. I was on the program for 1 1/2 years and finally reduced the dosage over a period of months and went to a pain management clinic.

Detoxing from methadone is far worse than pills or even heroin so I don't recommend it at all.
I would say 85% of the people I saw every day at the clinic were drug abusers. They've been on methodone for 20 years and they don't care what it has done to their liver after all those years. MediCal pays for it so they get a legal boost daily for free and then they sell drugs in the parking lot. It's a very sad life they live. You see a lot of broken humans in those places.

There were a few folks there like me that were dealing with chronic pain but for me it just didn't work as well as being under a good doctors care

I got started on that path from being hit by a drunk driver and fracturing my neck. 2 operations and 2 years of PT later I just accept the fact that I take hydrocodone, oxycotin everyday and will for the rest of my life. I never take more than the dosage and if I do experience too much pain I call the doctor. That's why I have been able to live my life on pain medication without the down side of them

Also anyone that been on methadone will tell you methadone is far more addictive and far harder to kick than oxycotin, heroin, anything

Good luck

Methadone is no place if your son wants to have a normal life. Short term maybe, long term no.

Think about this: if your son ever gets arrested they will come and detox him in 7 days which normally takes months. He will suffer like never before.

Get him help in pain management