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Step 1
Try a methadone rehab center. Many people have been using maintenance methadone for years. One of the best ways to detox off methadone is at a medically supervised treatment center. Most detox centers actually use drugs to detox people off of methadone, but some clinics have a created detox programs that don't involve the use of drugs.
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Step 2
Fast for a day or two. A fast means not eating any food. By fasting, you give your body the opportunity to self-heal and self-cleanse. Not eating food gives your digestive system a rest period. To keep yourself strong, you need to take vitamin and mineral supplements to get the nutrients you would normally receive get from the food you eat. Check with your doctor to make sure that not eating during a methadone detox is safe for you. Fasting is a good way to detox off methadone without using drugs, because most drugs need to be taken on a full stomach.
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Step 3
Use the sauna. If you cannot find or afford a treatment center that doesn't use drugs, you can detox at home. Many clinics use saunas as a way to detoxify the body. Saunas are hot and steamy rooms that cause a person to sweat profusely. This allows many impurities, chemicals and toxins to leave the body through the pores of the skin, which is the largest organ of the body. Stay in a sauna for 15 or 20 minutes at a time, and leave immediately if you start to feel ill. Most health clubs and gyms have saunas.
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Step 4
Drink a lot of liquids each day. This is especially important if you use a sauna, because you need to replace any liquids lost via sweating. Becoming dehydrated brings on a new set of problems. Methadone enters all parts of the body, so to flush out any residue of the drug, you need to drink at least 8 to 12 glasses of water, herbal teas, fruit juices or vegetable juices each day. St. John's Wort is one herb that is known to help with methadone withdrawal symptoms, and is available as a tea.
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Step 5
Exercise your muscles. Methadone, like most toxins, is stored in the fatty tissues of the body. One way to detox is to lose fat. When you exercise with weights or resistance training, the muscles help to burn fat. Eventually, muscle replaces fat. Just doing repetitions of exercises will tone and condition your body without bulking up. The burned off-fat is released in to the system. By drinking water and other liquids, you flush away the fat and the methadone residue.
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Step 6
Eat a healthy diet. When you are not fasting, eat a lot of fruits, vegetables and fiber. The more nutrients you have, the better your body can repair itself and help get the methadone out of your system. Fiber helps with elimination by moving the toxins through the colon and out of the body. Fruits and vegetables have the vitamins and minerals you need to keep your body healthy during the detox program. Methadone is a strong drug to detox from, and you need a good supply of all of the nutrients the body needs to function properly.
