phenergan as methadone potentiator (Phenergan)

Member Name: DoneZone

Product:	Phenergan
Date:	17/07/03 (710 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: puts you to sleep

Disadvantages: chemically sleepiness, negative longterm effects, kinetic disorders

it has been almost two months now that i have stopped taking
phenergan (promethazine). For six years i took a single 50mg tab in
the evening to intensify the effect of my methadone (100mg/day thru
most of this period.)
It gives a kind of funky chemical nod, superficially opioid but
really just sedation - the holes-in-the-shirtfront sort. I stopped
going out much. Even television got hard - I couldn't remember what
i'd seen well enuff to keep track of a story plot.
This could not fail to be depressing, and the depression sapped my
attention-span too. I started avoiding friends.
While this developed, i was separately worried about the
appearance of akathisia. I couldn't keep still. CONSTANT fidgeting.
I've always been hyper so i didn't notice at first, but people
noticed and mentioned it, which didn't help the intensifying
depression much. I could control it by focusing on being still, but
soon my guard would fade and twitching jerking drumming would return.
I blamed the methadone. Akathisia is frequently iatrogenic, caused
by medication. Only trouble was, not only wasn't methadone not a known
cause, it should be a CURE. Other opioids are effective in treaing
akathisia.
It was my pharmacist who put it together. He'd been after me for
some time to level with my doctor about the promethazine (sounds so
much better than phenergan) which is available without prescription
here. I asked him if he thought methadone could cause akathisia. He
said "No, but phenergan probably can."
The drugs most likely to cause kinetic disorders like akathisia
are the antipsychotic tranquilizers - including chlorpromazine,
thiordazine and the like. These drugs are phenothiazines, part of a
large family of antihistamine drugs with sedative properties.Side
effects are the familiar twitching, drooling, pillrollin
g movements
seen in long-term psychiatric patients.The early extrapyramidal
problems can become a disabling chronic morass of robotic masks, stiff
gait and the like.
...and it appears he was right. Saturday will be my first date in
a very long time. I don't expect earthshaking results but as chairman
mao used to say, 'the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single
step'. Or should that be 'a faint heart never won a fair lady'. No, I
don't think he said that one. I also signed up for the local
figure-drawing group and that gets me out on Tuesday night. I have
noticably more energy and for the first time in years i seem to be
sending a feeling of being attracted to others again.
Folks, if you feel like your methadone isn't
strong enuff, ask for an increase. Don't screw around with
'potentiators'. And... FYI, Gravol and sominex are also members -
worth thinking about if you use either.

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