Is Methadone Hard To Get Off Of?

To Whom it May Concern,
Unequivocally, yes. Methadone is hard to get off of. I am a long time opiate addict, who is currently in a suboxone treatment program. I was in a methadone program for several years at a relatively high dose, which at highest, reached 135 mg a day. Due to the fact that I didn't experience the euphoric high associated with my drug of choice, heroin, I falsely believed that coming off of methadone would be easy. Well, it wasn't. In fact, it was harder. I was sick for quite some time. For close to a month I had acute withdrawal symptoms.
I am not a doctor or a pharmacologist, so I don't know the facts concerning chemical half-lives, etc., however, I do know that methadone stays in your system longer and the withdrawal symptoms are identical, if not amplified by this drug. This does not, by any means, say that I think there are no legitimate therapeutic benefits from using methadone as a way to ween off of heroin, or as a pain reliever, however, know the risks before going in.
Tapering off of methadone slowly seems to be the status quo when wanting to come off of the drug. The clinic I was involved with took me down three milligrams a week. As you can see, at a peak of 135 milligrams, this is a very protracted process. However, once when I tried to do it cold turkey the withdrawal was so awful that I ended up halting the process and then discovered suboxone treatment.
I do not know if you are in a legitimate clinical program or buying it off of the streets, but you can expect the same withdrawal, perhaps worse, than if you were kicking smack. I hope the best for you and definitely consider suboxone treatment, if in fact, you are using methadone as an alternative to heroin.