What Are the Disadvantages of Using Methadone?
Question by ashlie d: What are the disadvantages of using methadone?
If one is using it for the treatment of addiction, would it be okay to just stop using methadone after some time?
Best answer:
Answer by dianne q
Methadone can only be prescribed in licensed methadone treatment clinics. This is why patients must constantly have to deal with making trips to a methadone clinic on a daily basis. These clinics are also usually located near or in urban places, thus making it hard for patients in rural areas to obtain methadone daily. The abuse of methadone is also spreading through the Northeast region and has been the cause of some deaths due to cases of overdose.
Methadone use cannot be stopped without the supervision of a doctor. Stopping the use of methadone can cause withdrawal symptoms and this must always be done only with the advice and supervision of a physician.
Answer by kiki
The biggest disadvantage is that so many of the centers that offer it as treatment don’t ever wean the patient off of it. If one is hooked on heroin, using it in a detox center and being on neither upon release is good. I knew womeone who was still on methadone 18 years after starting it. Just stopping it can make the patiend very ill, it is something that needs to be reduced gradually.
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