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From what I remember when I was a counselor in the medical field they started new patients on a smaller dose than needed but each week or month they increased the amount needed. This might not be how it is done nowaday's but I agree that you probably need a higher dose. (IMO) I had several clients that told me the exact thing you are posting now. Hopefully you can wait it out for a few weeks until you and your social worker agree on an amount that will work for you. Good luck,I think that was a wise move to go on methadone.                                    I am not a doctor nor am I in the medical field. All posts by me are for discussion purposes only

Tell them what symptoms you are having on your current dosage.  Let them decide to increase your dosage, or if you are not suffering too badly, they may recommend that you tough it out a few days longer.  Sleep can be a separate issue and may be addressd with medications like seroquel or elavil or trazadone.  Because of the long half life of methadone, nearly everyone is started at a low dosage and increased at an interval of no more than 3-7 days. 

darrell, if u want to get into a methadone clinic, obviously first you hafta find them in your area.  Im in Mass. and there are a number of them in and around boston and even NH.  So im sure you can find one in your area, usually near the more urban areas, like not in a cornfield somewhere.  So i dont know if u have done that or not.   if not then do a search online for them, or go to a local hospital or detox facility and ask if they know of any clinics.   I know the detox I was in up here for opiates, had a clinic in the same building.  So after u find a clinic, actually I would find atleast 2 or 3 that u could get to every a.m. that increases your chances of gettin in.  Now u sound like u really wanna quit.  thats the biggest thing, u MUST want to quit otherwise it wont work.  Now u said you have used for 8 years so it sounds like u are ready, i did it after over 10 years, so we both had some time under our belt to get sick and tired.

Next you hafta call the clinics and they usually put you on a waiting list, so do this now, coz it can take a while to get in, like a month or 2, but you could get lucky and find one that has openings right away.  Then they will tell you to call them once a week or so just to check the list and see where u are at, and this lets them know you still want to get in, so make sure you call them!  Once they tell u that u are in, it wll still take a week or 2 before u are actually gonna get your first dose.  They will make an appointment for u to come in and do an intake, they will prob do a phone intake first, where they just ask u a ton of questions.  then when u go there for the intake they will ask you more questions about your drug use history etc.  Some of the questions get kinda personal but dont worry its all very confidential.  Then (this is what my clinic did next)  they will make another appt for u to come in for a physical, which mine wasnt even really a physical, i just pretty much talked to the clinic Doc, and he checks your breathing etc.  For this part you MUST be in some state of withdrawal, like mine, they said dont use 18 hours before your appt.  So I wasnt really sick, just starting to get sick, and they will know if u have used or not so dont!!  But dont worry coz this is the day u get dosed for the first time.  After u see the doc he will tell u what he is gonna start u on- mine started me off on 30mgs and went up 10mg every day after for like 4 or 5 days. 

So thats how u get in, atleast in Mass.  your clinics out there might be different.  some are really strict with their rules, I lucked out and got one that really isnt.   Most clinics wont allow you to be on benzos, even with a script, mine u can.  COST:  if u pay outof pocket, well mine was 325 for the intake, which i found is cheap around here, then its 105 a week for dosing.  But if u have state health ins.,  like here we have MassHealth which is ins. for low income people, so u must have someting like this out there, and if u have that they should cover it.  I know masshealth covers clinics out here, but your state could be different.  But in a long nutshell thats it.  So get on it if u really are gonna do it!  Any questions let me know or send me a message.   

Hey no prob answering your question,  but i hear ya about the medicaid, like i was tellin you about the Masshealth here (same thing)  u r right they wont give it to a single guy , u do have to be a female with 10 kids, or over 65 or under 11, its all messed up like that here too.  I got denied for it because they said i make too much on workmans comp, (im out coz i hurt my neck at work and have degenerative disc disease/ herniated discs) well my wcomp pay is about to get cut, so they better give it to me this time, otherwise i wont be able to afford the clinic.  Well good luck bro hope u get in soon.

Here in Alabama all you have to do is walk into a methadone clinic, take a drug test and fail it (the ONLY time you WANT to test positive for opiates) and then they start you on the program. You pay $12 a day for your dose (they start you out at 30mg), and you MUST come everyday or you will be kicked out of the program. You also must come in the morning before 10am. Once you have been in the program for 30 days they start to give you your weekend doses to take with you on Fridays, but until then you have to come into the clinic 7 days a week. It's tedious, and gets expensive ($12 x 7 days a week gets up there), but it's pretty easy to start. It's getting there everyday that is hard to do.