From a stable dose of methadone, reduce by 5 mg every 5 days until you hit 20mg. Then reduce by 2.5mg every 5 days and then stop. Although adding an alpha-2-adrenergic agonist to a slow taper is not shown to significantly increase success rates, I would nevertheless suggest consider taking 2 0.2mg lofexidine (Britlofex) tablets or 2 0.1 mg clonidine tablets at night when you reduce to 2.5 mg methadone or when you stop, if you are finding yourself in serious distress.
These can be increased (by 2 tablets a day up to 8 tablets in line with details given in the "Fairly quick taper" below). If you do this you can take the tablets at a maximum dose for 7-10 days, and then taper off two at a time.
These can be increased (by 2 tablets a day up to 8 tablets in line with details given in the "Fairly quick taper" below). If you do this you can take the tablets at a maximum dose for 7-10 days, and then taper off two at a time.