Methadone Dependency

Drugs authorized to be legally distributed are present for the purpose of providing health benefits to one’s body. Medical professional prescribe drugs to make their patients feel better. These drugs do not however provide only benefits. These drugs can help an addict in the detoxification and withdrawal process but these may also in turn become another substance of abuse in the long run. Drugs like these should be prescribed with close and careful guidance by the physician.

Methadone is a synthetic opioid used as an analgesic to treat patients suffering in severe pain and a maintenance anti-addictive. It is a thoroughly well-tested medication that is safe and efficacious for the treatment of narcotic withdrawal and dependence. Heroin releases an excess of dopamine in the body and causes users to want an opiate continuously occupying the opioid receptor in the brain. Methadone occupies this receptor and is the stabilizing factor that permits addicts on methadone to change their behavior and to discontinue heroin use. Methadone suppresses narcotic withdrawal for about 24 to 36 hours. However, it is only effective in cases of addiction to heroin, morphine, and other opioid drugs. Methadone stops the high from heroin but it does not give the euphoric rush.

Through the test of time, methadone has been successful in reducing crime, death, disease, and drug use. For one, methadone is acknowledge to be the most efficient cure for heroin dependency. It also prevents HIV/AIDS. It may be trivial, but methadone maintenance treatment lessens the occurrence of injecting and needle sharing. Moreover, methadone treatment lessens illegal behavior and almost eliminates heroin use.

Then like any other opioid drugs, extended use of methadone and without appropriate guidance could possibly lead to tolerance and eventually cause drug dependency. When taken under medical prescription and under a physician’s care, research suggest that long-term methadone maintenance treatment use is medically safe.

Deaths occur more frequently at the beginning of treatment in methadone programs; they are usually a cause of abusive doses (i.e. erroneously estimated tolerance) and they are affected by concomitant diseases (hepatitis, pneumonia). Methadone generally entails the whole spectrum of opioid side effects, including the development of tolerance and physical and psychological dependence. Respiratory depressions are dangerous. The released histamines can cause hypotension.

The addiction to the substance methadone happens when the body tolerates the substance thus, asking for higher dosage in the long run. And, once the practice is discontinued, withdrawal can happen. The physical changes brought by the drug are similar to other opiates; suppressed cough reflex, contracted pupils, drowsiness and constipation. Some methadone users feel sick when they first use the drug. A woman using methadone cannot have regular periods but there is still a possibility of conceiving. Methadone is a long-acting opioid; it has an effect for up to 36 hours and can stay in your body for several days.

According to an article by two doctors addressing the question, “is methadone more likely to kill you than heroin?”, stated that methadone is not an innocent substance. One’s methadone maintenance is another’s poison. Actually, it depends mainly on the tolerance of the person. A tolerant person could take in methadone without feeling any ill effects, but not a non-tolerant person. For precaution it is wise to start with low dosage and bit by bit increasing it, if the necessity to use methadone really arise. Also, it was stated in the article that methadone has been used unlawfully in the streets as a substitute for heroinwhich causes more fatal cases than heroin.

The methadone substance is used to correspond to addiction but tolerance can occur which can lead to one’s dependency upon the substance. That’s the danger of this drug. You think it’s safe but you suddenly becoming dependent to it.