Methadone Drug Addiction .com

I have a friend that is addicted to methadone, but buys it off the street. Do clinics consider these applicants? Or do they only accept people addicted to other drugs? (Oxycontin, heroin, cocaine, etc.)

It doesn't matter where they get it. If they are addicted the treatment center will take them. It's the best thing a person can do is to get clean.

2008-09-05 14:23:26 by Trave

Methadone withdrawal "Lets talk about Methadone withdrawal. Methadone withdrawal for the most part looks like opiate withdrawal with a few ...

t? My son went in for pain management and within one week he was dead. On that particular weekend, that hospital had 5 methadone overdoses. He was 23 yrs. young.

I am so sorry for your drastic loss!!

That number seem high, so unless it was a fluke, I think methadone might be particularly too casually accepted, overprescribed and misunderstood by the medical community in your area. It's reputation for years had been as almost a wonder drug, a safe(r) alternative to illegal drugs and drug dependency, and that may be a factor.

Methadone danger, however, has become more high profile lately, mainly, I'm sorry to say, because of some high profile victims, but also because the actual statistics are startling enough be become publicized.

There is undoubtedly some degree of fault all along the line. The drug companies, the FDA, the medical community are understandably concerned with covering their own butts. but often, this is totally at the expense of losing even more human lives needlessly.

In more ways than one, probably the best thing you can do now is to become an activist on this issue. Then, your son's life and senseless death
can become truly meaningful and somebody's blessing. Take care of yourself.

2007-04-17 01:50:05 by Pamela O

What is a typical day like?

It's probably a drug rehab center. It takes a while to detox from methadone. I had to take it for pain for several years, though I was on a relatively small dose compared to what they give them. I would say that it would depend on the dose and how long they have been on it as to how long the detox might take. Methodone withdrawl can be VERY severe. They say that it's much worse than detoxing from heroine, but I couldn't say for certain. I CAN tell you that it causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and makes you feel like crud! It's NOT a fun thing to have to experience. Even on my small dose, the withdrawl was VERY severe.

Cal-el

2006-08-09 16:10:27 by September

Price: $45.00

Does suboxone show up on a methadone clinic drug screen, do they test for it? I am in a methadone treatment center and am considering switching to sub, but I want to try it first and if I don't like it I don't want it to interfere with my methadone treatment. Your weekly fee pays for your lab screens and they say that a sub test costs a lot, so I wouldn't think they would want to pay any extra for anything they didn't have to, because that would only lose them part of the money they get to keep? Please help, I am afraid to try it, because I never know when they are going to screen me?

It is very dangerous to take suboxone with methadone. You will get really sick. They should've told you that at the clinic.

If you want to take suboxone you should only take it when you start getting sick from withdrawing from methadone. Suboxone will NOT show up in a standard urine test. Its not really an opiate. They do have specific tests for suboxone though. Ask your doctor.

I think you should switch to suboxone because it gives you a lot more freedom. I see my friends going to the clinic everyday. Seems like it sucks. I take suboxone and I think it works waaayy better then methadone ever will. You can just go on with your life happy.

2007-06-24 14:14:27 by bricklayers_wife25

Ok, so im doing this case study regarding a minor who escaped a detention center and was brought to a hospital following an automobile accident. He claimed to be suffering from drug withdrawals. He needed blood but refused. The doctor prescribed 40mg of methadone. He was found dead the next morning. Would the doctor be liable for taking the patients word for it?

The Harrison Drug Act of 1914 made it illegal for a general practitioner or physician to prescribe methadone for opiate addiction, The only physicians who can prescribe it for that purpose are those running a state certified methadone maintenance clinic.
It is legal, however, for a physician to prescribe methadone for chronic pain management. B/c methadone is a time released medication it only needs once daily dosing, and it does not create a tolerance that requires increases in doses for this reason it works well in those with chronic illness, terminal disease,or chemo.
Unfortunately, while MMT clinics prescribing for opiate addiction must follow strict regulations, regular physicians prescribing for pain do ot and thus, we have a myriad of mishaps in which it is improperly prescribed, and leads to medical issues. While methadone itself is a relatively safe drug when taken as prescribed, it's propensity for being time released makes it dangerous in the hands of those who are unaware. Many will assume b/c they feel no buzz they need to take more, or combine it with other meds or alcohol, and this is extremely dangerous (methadone, contrary to popular belief, does NOT impair motor or Cognitive function when taken in therapeutic doses).
The saddest part is, it's not the physicians and the pain management patients who suffer for this kind of malpractice and negligence it's those who have found sobriety with MMT who suffer. We make good scapegoats.
MMT clinics have a number of failsafe's in place to prevent anything like this: clients entering treatment are always started at a dose of 20 to 30mg, TOPS, regardless of their size, or drug use. From there, they are given incredibly small increases (1-5mg) every 1-2 weeks, IF NEEDED until the patient is stabilized. Stabilization is determined first by the patient~ an absence of acute opiate withdrawal symptoms~ and secondly, by a blood test called a peak and trough, which measures the methadone's serum levels in the system, and determines if the dose is adequate, too high, or too low.
In addition, MMT clinics require patients come in 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and be dosed by an RN; only after a lengthy period of total compliance will they begin to earn take homes and even then, those are given in 1-2 day increments. Some states allow more, but those are given only after years of total compliance.
Total compliance includes: frequent, random, supervised drug testing; annual physicals and blood work, monthly counseling and group therapy. In addition, clinic do not allow clients to drink alcohol, or use other meds that can interact with the methadone. ANY med, prescribed or OTC, must first be approved by the physician, or the client will be considered "dirty" and possibly removed from the program.
Methadone is THE most successful opiate abuse treatment. There are however, many other meds that ca be used to treat withdrawal symptoms; and any hospital ER would be far more likely to prescribe those meds before methadone. In fact, most hospitals cannot administer methadone, even for admitted patients, for a period of more than 3 doses, and only then, with a long line of bureaucratic red tape that is supported by an MMT clinic physician's signature.
Odds are, the story you've heard is just that a story. Part of the fundamental propaganda that has made it's way into the MMT mainstream in an attempt to stop it's use for opiate therapy. Fortunately, those who are responsible thus far have demonstrated a modicum of intelligence and taken the time to study the pharmacological ramifications of MMT.
If however, this is a true story, then it's a sad, sorry, rare thing that should be brought to light. The bulk of the deaths you hear about that are related to methadone are 100% the result of uneducated physicians prescribing it; NOT MMT clinics. Drug abusers misuse the drug and that's why it's vital we protect it for those who are seeking sobriety through it.
Of course, to the public, a recovering heroin addict makes a far better culprit than a a physician when you want to point the finger but MMT clients with methadone take homes are hardly likely to sell theirs since it would mean severe withdrawal. Methadone blocks the receptors opiates bind to, so using heroin will not keep them well if they sell their methadone. Its generally those receiving it for pain management from physicians (NOT MMT Clinics) who are the ones selling it on the black market.
Most opiate addicts in recovery with MMT fully support these strict regulations, and strongly believe they should be initiated for ALL prescribing uses of methadone~ because without them, we know we may be the ones who lose.
So, to answer your original question: a physician prescribing it for withdrawal would indeed be negligible, and complicit in not only medically negligent manslaughter, but in violating his rights as a physician. The hospital he worked for would also be liable, as they have several channels that such prescribing must go through, all of which would be well aware that such prescribing is illegal.
A few good resources:

http://www.methadone.org/
(NAMA- National Alliance for Medication Assisted Recovery, THE biggest resource and advocates for MMT and Methadone).

http://www.methadonetoday.org/
(Methadone today is a monthly newsletter and advocacy based organizations well versed in the legalities and the pharmacological implications of methadone)

http://www.drugtext.org/library/articles /drucker01.htm
(A brief dissertation on the origin of opiate based addiction treatment)

http://www.naabt.org/laws.cfm
(The National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment~ while this a site dedicated predominately to the use of suboxone, a newer alternative to MMT, it does have some worth in this particular article, which discusses the Harrison Drug Act I referred to)

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2010-11-01 22:12:27 by David