Methadone Can Kill Even at Therapeutic Levels
Methadone, a drug used primarily for drug addiction withdrawal and chronic pain relief, can cause sudden cardiac death even when it is not overdosed, but is taken at normal therapeutic levels. This warning was issued by Oregon Health and Science University researchers after studying cases of sudden cardiac deaths in Portland, Oregon.
The researchers evaluated all sudden cardiac deaths in the Portland area between 2002 and 2006 where detailed autopsies were performed. One group consisted of 22 deaths in which toxicology reports found 1 mg or less of methadone. They compared these cases with 106 in which no methadone was found.
In the first group, 17 of 22, or 77 percent, had no significant cardiac abnormalities and only five had evidence of coronary artery disease. In the control group, 60 percent had identifiable evidence of cardiac disease or structural abnormalities.
"The unexpectedly high proportion of otherwise unexplained sudden deaths in the therapeutic methadone group points to a significant contribution of this drug toward the occurrence of sudden cardiac death among these patients," said Sumeet Chugh, M.D., lead investigator, in a news release.
Sleep Apnea a Risk Also
More than half of the 22 in the first case group were using the drug for pain control, three for drug addiction, three for recreational use and four for an undetermined reason, the researchers found.
The authors noted that they could not rule out sleep apnea as a cause of deaths for some in the methadone group. Others studies have found that methadone prevention programs have increased sleep architecture abnormalities and a higher prevalence of sleep apnea.
Dr. Chugh suggests using additional safeguards before placing patients on methadone, such as an electrocardiogram and assessment of risk for respiratory suppression.
The study was published in the January 2008 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
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Comments
Using methadone was not good for me I am an recovering heroin addict and got off heroin and put on methadone which was crazy you can’t trade one drug for another drug.Not only did I lie to all my family about how good I was doing most important I was lieing to myself and ended right back in the spoon.Dr.’s should never be able to perscribe this drug to no one.
The majority of persons use methadone properly and as prescribed. Methadone is not trading one drug for another that is a big misunderstanding - methadone has completely different pharmacological properties than does heroin — that is short acting, produces euphoria and has a high potential for abuse. Methadone is long acting, it produces sedation but not euphoria (some people confuse sedation with euphoria but you will not have opium dreams taking methadone that is euphoria) and the potential for abuse is low compared to other psychotropic drugs.
Working a program and re-gaining your life back is a person’s own responsibility. Because Don did not and abused methadone is not the fault of methadone — it was his fault. He had an opportunity and he did not take it.
Methadone is the most effective treatment for opiate addiction. It has been thoroughly evaluated in the U.S. and other countries have also undertaken the same research. All have found that when an adequate dose of methadone is prescribed that patients stop using opiate drugs. This regimen when applied with counseling helps patients begin to regain their lives because they are no longer craving drugs and their health is improved. Patients are then able to receive training and hold jobs to support their families.
The relapse rate for opiate addiction is 70%. This is true whether the treatment is residential, pharmacotherapy or 12 steps. The reason for this is that opiate addiction is a brain disease with strong genetic contributions. And like also chronic diseases it can not be cured but it is treatable. Like persons with other chronic diseases some people can function without medication while others need medication or they will begin to display symptoms of the disease. For example with diabetes some can control it with diet and exercise while other diabetics need medication. The same is true for opiate addiction.
The problem is that many addicts do not understand their disease as Don.
It is recommended that for opiate addiction treatment that any patient with a history of a heart condition have this checked before taking methadone. The prescription for using methadone for pain and opiate addiction is very different and most of the problems have been with pain patients and in addiction treatment patients taking very high doses and other psychotropic medications.
If you are taking methadone please consult with your doctor regarding any issues with heart conditions.
Addendium
There is evdience among opiate addiction patients that methadone is cardio protective.
These studies are not well done and there are problems with the control groups.
I agree that methadone isn’t anything but a replacement drug. The idea is to detox American’s to be Drug Free…not hooked on something else. I understand that it is legal in some cases but so is alcohol and we have so many fatalities every year due to this legal drug. In my belief, you are not in control of your addiciton just becuase you got a script for it. It still controls you. I have been there and I am no longer being controlled by anything. I found this wonderful program called Narconon Arrowhead and it has given me my life back, completely drug free. Check it out. www.stopaddiction.com
StopAddiction
What about ibogaine?
only 1 session can stop opiate addiction.
IBOGAINE doesnt work for everyone it is very expensive and risky and illegal in the US you have to seek underground treatment here. But when IBOGAINE DOES WORK it is nothing short of MIRACULOUS and EVEN THEN the effect doesnt last and you can still become readdicted but if you do the right thing and get help or support and change your lifestyle then the MIRICLE of IBOGAINE will stay with you but it is up to you. And REMEMBER for a lot of people IBOGAINE doenst even WORK at all. But whe IT DOES……………MAN what an experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so its a gamble.
The methadone clinic where I live doesn’t help anyone. It makes about 1 billion dollars a year. A drug addict can go there with drugs in his or her system and the clinic will still give them their dose. The clinic does not monitor or screen its patients. I have had family members and co-workers have have went to this clinic. Nearly all of them are dead or close to it. This clinic is only open in the morning for a short time. People driving by it on their way to work have been hit by addicts coming from the clinic or trying to get to the clinic before it closes. 95 % or the people that go there never improve or have their dosages reduceded. A person going to this clinic can complain of having a little bit or dizziness or fatigue and the clinic will increase their dosage. I can tell you that I have worked and delt with people going to this client. Their life and their work is never stable or functional. It is a very sad thing. A better treatment would be one in which the person could be taken down and then completely off of it all and a good therapist that cares more about helping people instead of keeping them coming back so they can make more money.
I’ve been on methadone for over 20 years, yes that is correct, 20 years. Not only has the methadone giving me a better quality of life I’ve been able to hold a job, get involved in counsoling and achive a higher education. And all of this time because of methadone. It’s time to forget the stero typing of a skinney, unkeep, holowed eyed person waiting in line with prostutes and bank robbers to get there methadone drink. If you would research what you think you know about you would be supprised at the clinites that go there. Like the early morning crowed on there way to work. You’d see construction workers, secratearys, and semi truck drivers like myself. I pay 285.00 a month for my methadone, if I chose a life of crim and was in prison for trying to suppor a herion or oxycotain habit it would cost you the tax payer 55,000.00 per year to house me. You do the math. I did one year in prison for under the influnce of drugs, I’m not allowed to get on a one year waiting list for a state drug program. But do the math. The people you speak of about the heart attackes are the ones who could never afford health care and with no money to get on methadone 285.00 to see a clinic doctor lived in pure hell with a needle in their arm, never eating, catching every sickness known to man for years, untill the day they came up with the money to get on the methadone program are the people that have the heart attacks. A famouse writer who was an addic was asked, “what dose it feel like to have opiate withdraws?” He thought of a minute and lowered his head and said “It felt like being boiled in oil and freezing at the same time”. I myself hurt so bad I could feel the hairs coming out on my arm, they hurt. You jack asses read a book and think you know all there is, Go park in front of a methadone clinic and you wont belive the nice looking people going in.
Wow. What small minded people. I am currently in a methadone clinic and it is saving my life. If it wasn’t for the clinic I would still be out on the streets shooting heroin everyday and stealing from my loved ones and from stores just to keep from getting sick. “Michele” seems to know little about methadone clinic or how they function. She claims that 95% of people never get their life together. Do you know 95% of the people who use the clinic? I doubt it. Some people in Methadone treatment will continue to abuse other drugs, as will people in all kinds of treatments, but for the most part methadone saves lives and takes people from a life of street drugs and crime to a life of being able to live as a normal human being
this whole page is so incorrect methadone is some what dangerous but heroin addicts looking for a fix are much more harmful to themselves and others with out methadone it fills the opioid receptors so the person can function and stay clear of people who use or sell ,things which trigger cravings and avoid places like drug spots or places of prior use. I must say most of the deaths from methadone are caused by the people abusing it and I understand the family and loved ones of the dead wanting to blame methadone but one thing you learn in any rehab or AA and Al ANON is take responsibility don’t blame others or blame the drug you took it bought it and found the dealer. Methadone clinics are one of the greatest things on this planet they serve the poor and rich with equal treatment they take overwhelming precautions (I am sure that there are bad ones but few)I am an Addict and out patient and in patient along with suboxone did not stop my use but taught me what to do when clean after my first dose of methadone I have been clean 2 years the other treatment took 2 years too and I learned what to do to stop and how to stay sober but I did not have sustained sobriety till methadone. All the treatments were worth it they all gave me tools for sobriety but methadone allowed me to be clean and some people say I traded one opioid for another It is but with methadone I can’t get AIDS or get arrested or be shot when getting robbed and methadone is socially acceptable and you are not ostracized (Fair no) and most of all you do not cause your family pain. Methadone may not be a cure but is the best damn weapon to fight long term heroin addiction.
Just feel I should tell you my story,My brother started shooting heroin when he was 14years old.I was twelve and had no idea there was such a thing.He lived to be fifty and have to say much of his life was full of heart ache and never did he get off of methadone,On August 1st 2008 he was found dead in his little trailer by my son who was pretty much his only friend.Paul my son had started taking pills and then thought it would be easier to get on methadone.He had no trouble getting into the clinic all you have to do is claim you are in bad shape and if you have the fee your in.My son thought this would be much better than having to go out in the streets to find much more expences drugs.He was a chef and he had just started messing around with pills it was less than sixs months but after finding his uncle he was dead also on August 3 2008 the one thing both of them said the withdraw off methadone was the worse thing and they both felt the clinic put alot of fear in there mind all most made them feel they had no chance to ever be free of this drug. They also said that it was all about the money for the clinic and not about helping them get clean.
I hear this talk of 1mg of methadone killing people. It really does scare me. I am a medium methadone user. I usually buy mine from a friend, or go to the clinic (Depending on what is cheaper for the week) I take 10mg-20mg daily. It’s better than smoking Hey-Ron isn’t it?? I know a guy in the clinic (A millionaire by the way) Who is on 190mg a day. How come he’s not dead? How come the daily 70mg a day people aren’t dead? I am all paranoid now. I would rather do Heroin. This sucks, why do you people have to ruin everything. The only reason those people who took methdone died…was because they were doing other things. They had drank heavy with it, or something. I dunno. I am all paranoid now, I need some sort of relief. It’s giving me heavy anxiety.
12 steps and god equals recovery !!! The only way it worked for me i could take asprin not to get high or anything legal you could give me . The problem is me always. i needed to get clean I mean clean no methadone no suboxen this time i had to do it the right way. Whatever it will take you to get by do it but remember when you are truly clean no cruthches or chemicals to help you but the 12 steps to guide and show you a new way of life . give yourself a chance live life on lifes terms and ask yourself in 20 years do i want to be relying on methadone or do i want to be rid of all mind altering substances. @ years later im clean and living life and being responsible for my recovery i work at a rehab go to school full time and doing the next right thing give yourself a chance. Remember an opinon is like a ass#### everyones got one so do what works for you more will be revealed
methadone is not a substution for herion.Only the uneducated would say such a naive ststement.For chronic pain you have a choice,either walk around in a zombie like state taking oxycontin,percocets,fentanly patch or some other euphoric type of opiod,or you can live with chronic pain taking methadone ??? And yes methadone can get you high but not nearly as much as the other opiods.
I am a recovering addict with 15 years clean,one day at a time,and three years ago i was involved in a near fatel car accident that almost took my right foot. After rebuilding my ankle with all kinds of nuts,bolts,plates and rods i was able to walk alittle.Put yourself in my place,all my active life in addiction trying to get sronger meds,here i sat with a choice.Take the morphine or oxycotin that i was told i would most likly be on for the rest of my life,or i could take metadone and relieve my pain without out putting my recovery in harms way if i take it as prescribed. Well ,thats what i choose and i have no regrets.Nobody see’s me nodding out, infact unless i tell them nobody even knows i am on it. Thats what i wanted. Methadone gets a bad rap because people hear methadone and thier minds go right to junkie.Whatever road you go down hold Gods hand and let him make the dicisions for you. I am not a Bible thumper, i just have alittle faith.
Greetings to all,
I take methadone for a better quality of life. I’ve been taking methadone since 1989 and must say without it i’d be dead by now.
This wonderful medication allowed me to get my life back and not rob or steal from my family and friends. I now own my own business and employ several people. i thank God everyday for methadone treatment…Bruce
I have to agree with the comments made about uneducated persons commenting on methadone as if it were a devil drug! It’s not, I’ve gone from eating 30-40 Hydros a day and spending many days in detox and sick praying for someone to call back with pills of any kind! I was introduced to methadone through the girl that sold me her hydros! I went to the clinic for a few weeks and then my family doctor took over the presciption for me. I believe that those of you who automatically assume that a methadone user is a junkie or an ex heroin user need to sit back and shut up! I have never even seen herion much less wanted to try it! I have a very rare degenerative nerve disease that causes severe chronic pain, for 3 years I was on hydros and increasingly ate more and more everyday as my tolerance increased….. if it weren’t for methadone….I’d likely be dead from liver or kidney failure by now! And surprise, surprise…I am on 140 MGs a day and I’ve never experienced heart palpatations, chest pain, or fell asleep at the dinner table! Open your eyes all….there has never been a needle in my arm and I live day by day with a happy future because of a safe, highly researched pill called methadone!
thanks to everyone for the comments…methadone is controversial but right now my daughter seems happier, calmer, and a bit more hopeful than she had been after years of addictions to oxy, vicodin and others for back pain. She suffers from depression, anxiety, panic attacks…mostly from being in pain. My worry is, she seems to sleep all the time and still doesn’t get help for the back issues so that someday she will be able to work and care for herself. Will she gain confidence after a time? She’s only been on methadone for a month. How long does it take to stabilize…and how does it affect the mental diagnosis? She hasn’t told the therapist that she’s doing this. She hasn’t seen him since she started this…no car. She is 27 and makes her own decisions but I don’t think she has an advocate to help…I want her to come back to CA, but she won’t.
It does take a while for methodone to build in your system and to start really relieving pain. But it happens!! I have been on Methadone for 3 years. I was buying vicodin, percocets, just about anything that I could find, of the street. Because I had taken all of my Dr.s prescription in just a few days. I have chronic back and leg pain from a car accident. Methadone has been a life saver for me. I only take between 20-40 MGs a day, and it does wonders. I really have trouble understanding how a person can take up into the hundreds mgs. But people are different, and some have more pain than others. (Believe me I am not judging!!!) I have heard horror stories about methadone withdrawal. A friend of mine (on 200mgs a day or more bought off the street, not monitered), described it as feeling as if someone was pulling his rib cage apart. I suppose that’s what happens when you self medicate. As for me, I’m doing great, no craving other drugs and pain under control. I thank the LORD above for Methadone. It saved my life.
I think that many have not completely read what I typed. I said I have had family members and co-workers who have gone to this particular methodone clinic. Last time I left a comment, I stated MOST OF THEM ARE DEAD OR CLOSE TO IT. Since then two more are dead. I do know about this clinic. About 8 years ago I help drive a family member there. Yes that person is dead.Eight years ago I didn’t know anything about the clinics or methodone. I thought that carrying this person the the clinic was better than the getting drugs off the street and I couldn’t understand at that time why other family members were refusing to drive this person. I saw and met some of the people going to this clinic.Most of them thought they had it made because they could do this and it would not be illegal. They would also take Zanax with the methodone, they said that Zanax doesn’t show up on urine tests. Apparently it doesn’t because they still got their dose. As I’m sure you know mixing medicine is dangerous (especially zanax and methodone. This clinic does not monitor its patients well. Just by complaining they have more flu like symptoms they can get a higher dose. Taking methodone did not deter any of them from going out and finding more whether it be from a doctor or a drug addict. It is a terrible cycle. I’m glad and proud of everyone who can get off of drugs and have a normal life. 95% of the people that go to this clinic still take other drugs on top of the dose from the methodone clinic and their life is not normal. Just last year 3 doctors were called out for prescribing too many pills to patients at one time and prescribing methodone with zanax or other painkillers. Several people had died in a months time because of it. Did anything happen to these doctors. NO! They still have their license and are doing business as usual. It just upsets me to see people I know and care about to dwindle away and die before they should for any reason. Since most of them on methodone do not take it properly(or at least here they don’t), then its not helping. I myself quit drinking years ago, cold turkey I might add. I know its not in any way fun. I did it with my Bible and constant prayer. Maybe everyone can’t do it that way, but there is a better way than methodone. God always provides a way for each and every individual and it want have side effects (physical or mental).
I had been taking Methadone for chronic pain for several years. No reaction with my other medications. About 2 months ago I was assigned a new doctor who thinks Methadone is DANGEROUS and “weened” me off it. No withdrawal. I don’t smoke nor do I drink alcohol. Now I can’t do anything except sit. She gave me new medications - they work - a bit. I can hardly use my hands, it’s difficult for me to walk more than a few yards, I have had to give up my Lay Speaker
“career” (Google Lay Speaker - it’s a Methodist thing). I am 72 years old. I don’t plan to beocme an addict, I just want rid of the chronic BAD pain.