Methadone Uses

Question by Mike Jones: Methadone the answer?
My friend Cindys on methadone but she’s through with the syringe and off of heroin.

we’re glad to have her home. She sleeps in vomit now and she sleeps on methadone

BUT
she stopped ripping off her neighbors, stopped taking change from strangers, she stopped looking thin and dirty,stopped shooting needles full of dreams into her arms.

Sounds so much better but it’s just another high.

Best answer:

Answer by suchaprettyface11
I don’t understand what you’re asking, but in my opinion, your friend needs your support. It’s hard to go through what she is going through. Make sure she keeps going to her doctor and doing what they say and she will get better. I’m sure it’s hard on you too. Because you’re going through it with her.

Answer by Sparrow
As someone with firsthand experience with MMT, the first thing I want to clarify is this:
Methadone, when used to treat opiate addiction, and taken in the prescribed, stabilization dose, does NOT impair cognitive ability, motor function, or logic. The very basis of why methadone has been successful in treating opiate addicts is because it works in a time released capacity- rendering it incapable of producing feelings of euphoria or, in laymen’s terms, IT WON’T GET YOU HIGH. So odds are, your friend is not just taking methadone.

Now- someone who has never taken methadone before, who takes a large enough dose, may experience marked drowsiness- but that’s why Methadone Maintenance Clinics (MMT) follow strict regulations that entail starting every new patient/opiate addict off at the very low dose of 20-30mg, regardless of their height, weight, or tolerance level to opiates. From there, each patient is seen by the clinic physician on a weekly basis, and given the small increase of 2 -5 mg once a week, until they are “stabilized”- meaning they’re feeling normal- not in acute physical withdrawal from the sudden lack of opiates in their system. From that point on, there is a blood test called a peak and trough, that measures the serum levels of the methadone in the patient, to ensure their dose is of a therapeutic level, and not so high as to cause drowsiness.

I’m assuming we’re all familiar, but in case not- opiate addiction, unlike other drugs, causes a physical dependence. If an addict suddenly stops using opiates, they become severely ill. Methadone is an opioid agonist- not an opiate, but a synthetic drug that works on the same receptors in the brain that opiates do, and therefor “tricks” the brain into thinking it’s getting opiates.

There is a lot of science behind it- but the long and short of it is that our bodies produce endorphins- natural pain killers- in small amounts, as needed. Opiates- drugs derived from the poppy plant- (heroin, vicodin, Darvon, oxycontin, morphine, dilaudid, etc.)- when taken, cause an influx of these endorphins. When a person takes opiates on a regular basis, the human body, which is extremely adept at conserving it’s natural resources- recognizes that the person is providing them with more than enough synthetic endorphins through opiates- and the body stops producing it’s small amounts. So when an opiate addict suddenly stops using opiates, the body goes into an endorphin-deficiency, causing the person to become very ill.

Until the last decade, addiction was not recognized as a disease. Since then, the medical community has found evidence of “addictive” genes, in the form of THIQ- a chemical produced from opiates & alcohol by certain people thought to contain the addictive gene. Those without the Addictive gene don’t process the opiates or alcohol the same way, and therefore, do not turn any portion of them into THIQ, the way a person with the addictive gene does. THIQ is believed to be part of the reason that an addictive-prone person develops such strong cravings & is unable to stop using, compared to the non-addictive prone. It is a part of the opiates or alcohol that a normal person would eventually have flushed from the system, but in people with a genetic predisposition to addiction, it stays in the nerve centers that regulate cravings. There has also been some suggestion that the genetically addictive prone were born with an endorphin deficieny, & have likely never had the proper amount, which is what drives them to seek that elsewhere.

There has been a lot of propaganda in the press lately about the dangers of Methadone- the bulk of which is directly related to a few celebrity deaths that were caused by the mixing of methadone and alcohol, or methadone & other medications. What is not so well known is that NONE- ZERO- of those cases involved opiate addicts taking methadone in a methadone maintenance program. All of them were the result of a personal physician prescribing methadone for pain, to patients who abused the medication by taking it with other drugs, creating a lethal reaction.

The Harrison Drug Act made it illegal for physicians- general practitioners- to prescribe methadone to patients for opiate addiction. Only MMT clinics, which are strictly regulated, may prescribe it for addiction. MMT clinics require frequent, SUPERVISED, random drug screens (so anyone on methadone for opiate addiction cannot be abusing other meds, or they would be kicked off the program); as well as one on one counseling, group treatments, state required classes, state required physicals and blood tests, as well as anything else the individual’s counselor feels they need. They must complete treatment plans and goals on a monthly basis, demonstrating they are moving forward with employment, housing, etc., and they are not permitted to take many medications, even when prescribed by a physician, if there is any chance of an interaction. For example, benzodiazepines are well known for their ability to interact with methadone in a way that induced euphoria- (i.e., a buzz)- and are a major no-no. The MMT clinic will prescribe another medication that will not interact, if necessary, but using the benzo’s will result in being kicked off the program. A general practioner, on the other hand, can prescribe methadone to whomever he sees fit for pain management, and there are no other regulations.
The removal of cravings is MMT’s biggest benefit, and where other treatments- suboxone, detox, etc- fall short. Suboxone does some good here, but in studies, trials, and other reviews of MMT clients who converted to Suboxone, it is not nearly as effective as Methadone is in taking them away.. While acute physical withdrawal is hell, the chronic, mental withdrawal, and the lingering physical withdrawal symptoms like insomnia, leg cramping and that awful crawling out of your skin feeling. Those can take upwards of a year to dissipate without methadone.

While it’s more or less accepted by medical professionals, the educated, and the open minded that addiction is now a disease, the stigma of it is still perpetuated by the fact that, unlike, say, cancer- this disease of addiction will only become active if the “addict” makes the cardinal sin of using opiates- or alcohol- in the first place. As an a recovering addict who spent a decade addicted to heroin- and who has since been sober almost a decade thanks to MMT- I do agree, I some ways, that it’s a disease, but one we “dug our own grave” in. I don’t blame anyone, or anything- including genetics- for my bad judgment. I abused drugs- I was young, I was stupid, I made a mistake.
But I also don’t know a single person who can say they’ve never made a mistake either. And today, through hard work, thick skin, and a lot of dirt under my nails, I’ve managed to dig my way out of the hole I dug, and I’m a mother, a wife, a business owner, and a valuable member of society.
The bottom line now is that it’s done- the mistake was made, I can’t undo it- but I CAN start over. And for me, starting over meant taking methadone to treat that addiction, just like a diabetic takes insulin. But wait, you say- a diabetic isn’t at fault, right? Well, sometimes they are. In fact, many people with type 2 diabetes have diabetes because they are overweight, didn’t eat right, didn’t take care of themselves. And lung cancer patients who smoked- people with high cholesterol and high blood pressure who usually made some poor dietary choices- and so on and so forth. We don’t treat them the same way though. So what’s the rub?

I also want to stress that I fully support the regulation of methadone- and I firmly believe that the same regulation need to be required for ANY prescription of it. While those very regulations were sometimes the bane of my existence (ten years sober and I was still forced to go to the loo in front of someone for drug tests; a humiliating experience- and a full 2 years before I was there long enough to apply for take homes- meaning I went in 7 days a week, 365 days a year- blizzards, blackouts, etc.) I know that they are the very same regulations that will keep my right to recovery legal. So lax laws, I do not support- nor do I support the latest movement for office based treatment- it requires far too little on our behalf to show we’re making a change in our lives, and falls far too close to just taking a daily dose and not much else.
Not everyone agrees that MMT is a good thing; but I find that the majority of them have not had first hand experience, or have simply been misinformed. There are tremendously ridiculous myths about MMT, and as someone who found her life again through it, I feel it’s an obligation to educate others. I strongly support reform and regulation of policy- the strict adherences iomposed on MMT clinic clients may seem like a pain, but they are what protects us as well- and should be in effect for ANYONE prescribing MMT- not just for opiate addiction.

I don’t expect everyone to agree with me- I simply ask that you take the time to educate yourself on BOTH sides of the story- only then can you make a truly informed position.
If you have any other questions, feel free to email me- i run a website & facebook group that focusses on MMT education.

Some other resources:

* http://www.methadonetoday.org/

*http://www.methadone.org/index.html (NAMA)

*http://www.drugtext.org/library/books/methadone/section4.html (The ONDCP’s Methadone Briefing)

*http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=106559159942&ref=ts
(One of my groups- if you have questions, you can email me here or via this; i’m the group creator)

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