Methadone Addiction & Abuse
It is difficult to gauge the extent of methadone abuse in the United States because most data sources that quantify drug abuse combine methadone with other narcotics. This lack of statistical information renders it impossible to describe a typical methadone abuser. Information provided by the Treatment Episode Data Set does reveal that the number of individuals who were treated for abuse of "other opiates" (a category that includes methadone) increased dramatically from 28,235 in 2000 to 36,265 in 2001. These individuals were predominantly Caucasian; they were nearly evenly split between males and females and represented various age groups.
Methadone abuse among high school students is a concern. Nearly 1 percent of high school seniors in the United States abused the drug at least once in their lifetime, according to the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Survey.
Methadone Risks
Individuals who abuse methadone risk becoming tolerant of and physically dependent on the drug. When these individuals stop using the drug they may experience withdrawal symptoms including muscle tremors, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps.
Overdosing on methadone poses an additional risk. In some instances, individuals who abuse other narcotics (such as heroin or OxyContin) turn to methadone because of its increasing availability. Methadone, however, does not produce the euphoric rush associated with those other drugs; thus, these users often consume dangerously large quantities of methadone in a vain attempt to attain the desired effect.
Methadone overdoses are associated with severe respiratory depression, decreases in heart rate and blood pressure, coma, and death. The Drug Abuse Warning Network reports that methadone was involved in 10,725 emergency department visits in 2001--a 37 percent increase from the previous year.
Abusing methadone is illegal. Methadone is a Schedule II substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule II drugs, which include cocaine and methamphetamine, have a high potential for abuse. Abuse of these drugs may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.
Methadone Detox
Typically, the patient is medically detoxified before any treatment approach is begun. Although detoxification in itself is not a treatment for methadone addiction, it can help relieve withdrawal symptoms while the patient adjusts to being drug free. Once the patient completes methadone detox, the treatment provider must then work with the patient to determine which course of treatment would best suit the needs of the patient.
There are a number of effective options to treat addiction
to methadone and to help manage the sometime severe withdrawal
syndrome that accompanies sudden cessation of drug use.
Methadone Taper Down Therapy
The most common method of methadone detox is "taper down therapy." Methadone doses are reduced incrementally until the patient is weaned off the drug. Unfortunately, patients still experience the debilitating withdrawal syndrome and often relapse into opiate drug use within the first year of detoxification.
Withdrawal from methadone can take up to a month or even longer, whereas withdrawal from heroin takes seven to ten days.
The effects of methadone last longer than those of morphine-based drugs.
Many former heroin users have claimed that the horrors of heroin withdrawal were far less painful and difficult than withdrawal from methadone.
Rapid Detox
Rapid detox is the most recent entry into the field
of opiate detoxification. It treats opiate dependency at the
receptor level, blocking opioid receptors and precipitating the
withdrawal syndrome, while controlling it. This is achieved through
use of medications, including anesthetic agents that allow withdrawal
to occur, while the patient is unconscious.
Rapid detox should only be performed in an
intensive care unit of an acute hospital. Procedures that require
anesthesia and intubation should be performed in a safe and well-monitored
environment.
Get Help Now
If you would like to learn more about methadone detox
treatments, please fill out our confidential
online form or visit our methadone forums.
Source: National Drug Intelligence Center
Methadone Fast Facts
September 2003
|
