Methadone Drug Addiction .com

Thanks for all of your advice, but, I'm not the one on methadine treatment. It's my friend and since he's been on it he seems more irritable and testy than he used to.
He doesn't think he's more irritable b/c of it, he doesn't think he's changed at all, other than the usual physical side effects. He says his depression is from his job. He's on maintenence for addiction. He has another friend who's on it, too, and this man is also really irritable. I've been told this man wasn't irritable before he began methadone treatment.

Depression and anger are not normal side effects of Methadone. However, different people react differently to medications. If your friend is using it for pain then he may need to switch to another med. If he is using it for addiction clinics provide counselors and he may need to discuss this with him/her. It may be due to coming off the opiates (although Methadone is an opiate it works as an opiate blocker which is why it works for withdrawal) that is causing the problem. The opiate pain pills tend to numb our emotions and we sort of "wake up" after recovery. Is he aware of the change?

2008-08-11 01:22:08 by sarah d

Crackbabies (on methadone) from their EP: "Five Stages to Play" ------------------------------ --------------- 01 - Alone Lost in ...

yes, it can, any opiod or legal or illegal derivative can have thse affects....
But the alternative (continued illegal drug use, or chronic pain) is often worse than the side effects listed above.

2007-12-15 20:44:38 by mauimoney

which the antidepressants never helped.. I am desperate for any advice for what else i could be doing trying to be successful n get healthy again now that i am on meth, i can function, i am planning to exercise, eat healthy, try to wean off the other meds anti deprssant n anxiety drugs...i also want to quite smking. i would just like to hear others success stories of similar situations. thanks so mcuh!

I quit oxys without methadone 3 years ago.
I had to relocate to be able to do it
I also JUST quit smoking...
some of the hardest things Ive had to do ..
but its all for my son ..
My number one reason to get better and to be healthy!

2010-05-12 00:43:03 by ronnielynn222

I am not an opiate addict or regular user. My brother has been a long time heroin junkie, who now takes methadone as maintenance. I've taken 10mg once a day (a couple seperate occasions, but never regularly so as to become addicted or whatever) and I function NORMALLY. I feel normal and energetic, like I used to before all this depression. Other antidepressants haven't worked.

Registered Nurse here; No I have not, however I learn something new every day. Not saying this is one of them, for I will have to do some research, for medications are constantly being found that treat one thing and is found to be beneficial for another. Somehow I doubt methadone being used for depression, but again will have to research the question.

2007-01-22 16:37:24 by Jacob S

I had been in therapy for two years in a different state and moved here, during my pysch meetings we tried drug after drug after drug.

(I had a mental break down prior to the therapy sessions and was diagnosed with PTSD, acute anxiety disorder, panic attacks, night terrors or panic attacks whilst sleeping and borderline personality disorder)

At the end of treatment I was finally on meds that fit me well. 225 mg effexor xr daily, Xanax 2mg one in morning, 1 in afternoon, 2 at night for the extreme night terrors, and trazadone ( I forget the mg)

Well I became pregnant and was weaned off my medication for the babies safety of course.

After the birth I became extremely more depression and detatched and was placed back on the same medications. Unluckily though we lost our health insurance and could not afford the therapy sessions, nor the meds

I found a Family Practice Dr. who was very kind and since we had moved out of state called my former therapist and followed her previous medications, the problem was, all I could afford was the xanax- So we had to change the anti-depressent which was in the 800$ range(effexor xr 75mgx3) there is no generic, so we went back to cheaper zoloft, which I hate, It takes away my sex drive to the point of noexistence at the dosage I need to be on (150-200mg range) and it really isnt cheap at that dosage either running me about 75-100$.

SO the doc decided to try some older meds which he knew would be much much cheaper and put me on Pamelor (I dont know dosage off the top of my head) but its 3 a day. Im also on Haldol.

So all in alI am on Pamelor, Xanax, and Haldol.

But recently my best friend died and I have taken it very hard and my depression medication is just not cutting it, I havent taken the Haldol in a few months due to muscle spasms, and I have a bad back to begin with.

So being on the poor side I started self-medicating- first with alcohol. I was bad for about 2 weeks, I blacked out approx. 5 times in 2 weeks and went to the hospital once, because i drank a whole 5th of jack alone. (Please be aware I usually dont do things like this and I take my meds as prescribed, I was just EXTREMELY depressed)

Well let me be the first to tell you alcohol does not help, it just makes it hurt worse- cause you wake up feeling ashamed, disgusted with yourself, imbarrassed, worried of how you maintained yourself AND STILL Depressed.

So my friend said he had some methadones and told me to try them, I looked on the internet, and found the were used for pain managment, herion or drug withdrawl symptoms but they are doing studies on depresion treatment and methadone - check it out here http://opioids.com/antidepressant/index. html

So I bought some and tried them, at this point I was desperate to feel relief from all my anxiety and depression. He had 30 mg tabs and I broke them in two, took one half in morning one half in afternoon and a whole one before bed. This with my Xanax, well it was an amazing feeling (and I dont mean I got high, I didnt take enough methadone to even feel a difference) I could get up in the morning and actually get out of my pajamas, put on makeup- Make a full breakfast for my kids and husband. Make a full lunch for the kids, Play games outside, and inside, CLEAN MY HOUSE DAILY!! (if you have major depression you know how much an accomplishment this is) Have dinner ready for the old man when he got home, get the kids ready for bed, read bedtime stories, have sex SLEEP. Its like I can live for the first time in 5 years *Tears*

I need your opinions, because I found a new Psyc. and an appt coming up on the 26 and I kinda want to bring it up to her, but I am scared of what she will think of the degree of the drug, but Im also scared if I dont tell her, I will be living in fear and depression for the rest of mylife.

HELP!

I've suffered from narcolepsey for over 30 yrs.. I am chronically fatigued and have zero energy. Doctors say I am depressed... No S@*T !!! I've tried every antidepressant at least twice to no avail, along w/ numerous other heavy duty drugs doctors 'try' me on after meating w/ me after one or two 10-15 min. visits... Lamictal, Abilify, Ativan, Ambien, Zyprexa, Seroqel, Xanax, Lithium - to name a few. I'm SO tired from being tired my whole life that it's making me crazy! Doctors are WAY too quick to put people on these hardcore drugs w/out knowing the underlying problem!
Anyway, the only times in my life that I can remember feeling 'awake,' alert, alive, motivated, energetic, painfree, lust for life... was when I had Vicodin and another time when my mother gave me some of her methadone a few years ago. I accomplished more in one day than I typically do in one month (seriously.) In an average day, if I manage to bathe and get dressed, it's 2 or 3pm by the time I am 'ready!' (ready for what? to go back to bed!) The methadone had the same effect as Vicodin but it lasted much longer. I know Vicodin has acetaminophine in it which causes liver damage if you take too much.
I have non-chalauntly brought this up to a Dr. in the past. The Dr. said if any drug gives you a feeling of euphoria, it's a sure sign to stay away from it because it will become addictive. (??? I took his advice and steared clear of it and have 'lived' a miserable, unproductive, weak, tired life for the past 25 years. I guess that's better than being addicted to a drug that would've made me euphoric!) I was afraid to ever bring it up to a doctor again because they would think I am a 'drug seeker.'
I have since been to dozens of docs, shrinks, counselors, etc. and spent thousands of dollars on other meds and gotten addicted to pills that have horrific side effects then to have to suffer the even more horrific withdrawls... (but doctors think this is OK, yet GOD forbid we tell them opiates make us feel better! That classifys 'us' as drug addicts!)
I got the nerve up to tell a shrink about it a yr. or so ago. He said he's heard opiates sometimes have an alerting or arousing effect on some people and he mentioned an alternate to methadone called suboxone. He didn't really pursue the topic and I never had the guts to bring it back up again@ Since then, I have been prescribed all the above mentioned drugs, plus!
I am now seeing a new shrink and I am trying to muster up how to confront him w/ this same 'treatment.' I decided to do some research to see if opiates (methadone,) has been successful in treating others w/ depression, fatigue, etc...
I don't know why I am so ashamed to want to feel better. I'm nearly 50 yrs. old and I know there is a drug that relieves my symptoms but I'd rather spend the rest of my life tired and miserable than chance letting a doctor label me as a drug addict. Wouldn't anyone want to be addicted to a drug if it gave them a chance to live a better quality life?
Why am I (or you) so 'afraid' ? I know damn well over half the drugs I've been prescribed over the yrs. are ten times more mind altering and addictive than methadone. The withdrawl symptoms from the other meds are excruciating!
I don't know... I'd rather be addicted to methadone than sleep the rest of my life away, I don't have that many 'healthy' yrs. left. I want to be awake for them!
So - how do we confront the docs w/ our solution?

2009-03-12 15:15:30 by Kat