The growing use of methadone as a prescribed pain killer, not as an addiction treatment, has contributed to the alarming increase in methadone overdose deaths in the United States. The number of prescriptions for methadone to manage pain have increased eightfold from 1998 to 2006.The increase in prescriptions for pain relief has made more of the drug available for therapeutic and non-prescribed use, a new report said.
This month the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report "Methadone-Associated Overdose Deaths: Factors Contributing to Increased Deaths and Efforts to Prevent Them" to address the problem of methadone overdose.
Before the late 1990s, methadone was used mostly to treat heroin addiction. The number of deaths attributed to methadone overdose in 1999 was 786. But by 2005, methadone-related overdose deaths had risen to 4,462, according to the report.
Dramatic Increase in Prescriptions
During that time period, use of the drug as a prescribed pain killer increased dramatically. In 1998 there were only 531,000 prescriptions written for methadone as a pain killer, but by 2006, that number had increased to 4.1 million.
"Although information on methadone-associated overdose deaths is limited, available data suggest that methadone’s growing use for pain management has made more of the drug available, thus contributing to the rise in methadone-associated overdose deaths," the GAO report said.
The reason that methadone is dangerous, compared to other opioid pain killers, is because it stays in the system long after its painkilling effects have worn off. Methadone will relieve pain for four to eight hours, but it remains in the system up to 59 hours.
Unsafe Even When Taken as Prescribed
Therefore, if the drug is prescribed for pain every four hours or every eight hours, lethal amounts can build up in the body.
"Methadone has unique pharmacological properties that make it different from other opioids, and as a result, a lack of knowledge about methadone among practitioners and patients has been identified as a factor contributing to these deaths," the GAO report said.
To fight the methadone overdose problem, the GAO suggests a focus on education, safety and monitoring. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is developing a physician clinical support system to educate physicians about using methadone for pain management.
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THE TREATMENT CENTER IN SOUTHERN IN. TREATS THE PEOPLE WITH NO RESPECT AND DOES WHAT THEY WANT! MY HUSBAND WAS THERE TWO YEARS AND A LITTLE BIT MORE AND FELL OFF A ROOF AND BROKE HIS FOOT AND THEY GAVE HIM A CHOICE TO EITHER STOP SEEING HIS DR. OR QUIT THE CLINIC .WELL TO ME THAT IS NOT TREATMENT THAT IS JUST INHUMANE . MY HUSBAND MAY NEVER WALK RIGHT AGAIN ! I AM GETTING A LAWYER!
Add another death to your list. My brother was given a prescription for Methadone this week from a VA doctor for back pain and he was found dead on Friday 7/31/09.
He mixed it with Benadryl because it caused him to itch. And his lunatic girlfriend never checked on him for 7 hours and by then he was gone.
Linda
Linda, I wish to extend my sincere condolences for the loss of your brother. Methadone KILLS. My son died a year ago from prescription methadone for chronic pain.
My best friend died from a methadone overdose. He was prescribed it to wing off a heroin addiction and shortly after taking his prescription, he died.
Methadone deserves tighter regulations. My mother died on 7/25/09. I miss her. It didn’t have to be.
Please visit, http://www.harmd.org for more information on this drug. My condolances to each who have lost a family member to this dangerous drug.
My little brother passed away a year ago on February 22, 2009. He was well accompanied by not one, not two, but three individuals. Two of which were more than capable of calling 911 or even going downstairs to get my mother. Instead they paced back and forth worried they would be thrown in jail for their own drug use. When they finally did decide to call someone, his girlfriend told a police dispatcher that she could not wake her boyfriend up (mind you, she already knew he was dead). My mother found out by the police showing up on her door steps. When they got to him he had only been gone 30 minutes. A life could have been saved that day. A son, brother, uncle, grandson, friend, etc. COULD have been saved. But it was too late. And just another FYI, this was the first time he’d ever taken Methadone. That’s all it takes. Just once.
My son was in chronic pain since he was a little boy. He couldnt hold a job because he never knew when he would be bed ridden for a few days. He went to a new Dr. who just prescribed Methadone (360) pills. 1st script. He was dead 5 days later from overdose. This Dr. did not tell my son the affects of how long it stays in your system. He was told ok to take when you feel the pain. My son was 29 lived alone and was not found for two days. We must inforce the control of this deadly meds. It is death waiting for the unexpected just looking to get rid of the pain.
I have been on this medication for 8 years and I’ve never felt sick from it. It has helped my pain greatly and let me live life on days that I wouldn’t be able to without it. I’d much rather be on this medication than Oxycontin(check the deathrate on that medication) or several other opiates for my pain, because it has less chance for abuse. There are many Methadone clinics around the world and USA and there is a reason for that. I sincerely am sorry for the deaths of your loved ones, but perhaps you should blame their doctor, pharmacist, or other medications they were taking instead of this drug.
While I have no comment specifically on the deaths and don’t know enough about that, I do want to comment specifically on methadone. I was married to a woman for many years and had a good life with her. When she left she went to heroine and toyed with it until addicted and when she got off heroine she chose methadone to use to help her with her withdrawals. Around this time 2.5 years after we divorced, we tried putting our lives back together. I will say without any doubt this is the worst possible choice any addict can make. It was a replacement drug and she lived it as a replacement drug with the clinic telling her over and over she can’t do it any other way. Here it is just a short time later and she said, no more. She would fall asleep while driving, and this was so scary. But the methadone kept her so numb while she didn’t like the feeling she had a poor attitude like what can I do.
Our sex life was nonexistent, she took medication upon medication to cover the side effects of the methadone. One medication to cover the side effects of the methadone and another to cover the side affect of that medication and it just kept on and on. She never had any energy, was always sick, she is now border line diabetic due to sugar cravings and a lack of concern of what she was doing, eating and the problems she was causing. At some point she realized and said enough. So here we are, she had to be hospitalized to get off methadone and later followed in a rehab clinic and still weeks later the withdrawals still linger and the affects still cause so many problems. So for those who say it doesn’t affect you, I know it does and so bad. It is worse by far than getting off heroin. It is a replacement because the clinics don’t want to truly help them detox once and for all and learn to cope with life again. They will replace with that and then suboxone which also is deadly in what it cause. What a mess, and what a messed up society we live in that thinks that helping people out means we must drug them up with something they make legal solely for the purpose of making money. I said enough and will cause waves, but if I could get involved in the politics against methadone and suboxone I would. First hand I see the destruction this causes and the lack of concern from the clinics.