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Since we have had to disable links to discourage spammers, I have reprinted this article here so you won't have to cut and paste the url. Thank you!-Fitz
A Few Words About Methadone
Posted Today at 03:12 PM by tfitz1017
Methadone can be a real life changing therapy for chronic pain sufferers but there are a few things you should know. If you are a regular user of opiates and switch to methadone, you need to relearn how to use this drug as your old habits may get you killed. You can’t simply pop another pill when you feel the need and, now this is where it gets tough, you can’t simply take another drug that might interact with it like Xanax or Valium. You need to have a thorough talk with your doctor about what you can take, how much of it you can take, and when you can take it. Here’s the kicker: If you are using drugs “recreationally” or just occasionally at a higher dosage than your label tells you, methadone might not be a good drug therapy for you. Take a long honest look at your drug usage patterns before you commit to pain therapy using methadone.
Regular users of opiate painkillers are often transferred to long term therapy using methadone. The reasons for this are varied, but the drugs long lasting effects and slow removal from the system is a big plus for pain sufferers. This same mechanism of slow metabolization however also adds to this drugs danger. A patient may not feel relief at first, continue to take more as they might safely do with an opiate, but unlike an opiate the effects of the methadone can increase very suddenly putting the patient at risk for respiratory failure and death. The respiratory depressant effects of methadone can be present when no other tell- tale effects of the drug are felt, even long after the initial dose, adding to this danger. Many doctors will also prescribe an opiate like hydrocodone (Vicodin) for breakthrough pain, so the patient is not tempted to increase their methadone usage as their pain increases.
Even following directions to the letter, accidents can and have happened which have caused death in medically compliant patients.
Withdrawal from methadone, unlike actual opium derivatives, can be of much longer duration than with opiates and occasionally fatal.
Methadone is a useful drug but far, far from perfect. It is not my purpose to discourage use of this drug in people whom it has helped but in this, as with all drugs therapies we undertake, it is always best to enter into it with both eyes open and as much information as possible.
-Fitz
Last edited by tfitz1017; 02-28-2009 at 08:39 AM..
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