Methadone Uses

Question by TexanGirl: methadone tapering side effects?
What are the side effects of 131 mg given to someone at the methadone clinic….. I know someone that is receiving 131 mg each day.. and periodically they will come home and completely zone out.. falling asleep on the toilet,eating,ect…. They speak with slurred speech and cannot walk straight,they act as if they are drunk.. Is this normal? And if so why does it not happen all the time? They appear perfectly normal and function properly.As I mentioned they go every single day….I spoke to them about this and they said it is normal,but I am VERY skeptical because this is the same way they acted the day they were arrested with many Hydrocodone and Dilaudid pills on them…

Best answer:

Answer by joshua
Methadone is not a good way to taper off anything it is also a powerful narcotic methadone clinic is just away to get high it is not helping anything . The only way to quit a substance is to quit . Methadone is just heroine in a perscription form . I had a friend that over dosed and died on methadone

Answer by Claire
131mg is a really high dose of methadone. It depends what country you are writing from, but in the UK where I am, it would be considered unusually high these days. However, when methadone is prescribed by a clinic, dosing is always subject to a period of titration ie you start the patient off on a low dose and gradually increase it until they stop feeling withdrawals. There are always some side effects to using methadone and especially at high doses, patients still report an opiate effect. But this should never result in outright intoxication eg falling asleep, slurred speech, acting as if drunk. There are three options that I can think of –

1. Your patient is on a dose of methadone that is much too high – in which case he/ she needs to see his/ her consultant urgently to arrange for his dose to be gradually lowered
2. Your patient is using methadone and also using other drugs on top
3. If your client has liver problems or a history of deep vein thrombosis, there may be physical health problems that are causing the symptoms (this is very rare and I am only mentioning it in case s/he is experiencing other health problems at the moment)

Is your methadone patient experiencing intoxication within a couple of hours of taking his dose? If so, it may be option 1. However, if the intoxication is happening at “random” times and your patient is unmotivated to speak to his/ her prescriber about it, it is highly likely to be option 2. It is not unusual for addicts to use on top of their medication and its usually hard for them to be honest about it if they are. I’m sorry, I get the feeling that this is not going to be good news for you. Get yourself some support if you are struggling to deal with this person’s behaviour, your wellbeing is important too. Best wishes

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