Forums › Drugs › Heroin & Opium › What is Methadone?
Methadone
Hardly a drug normally associated with the party scene, methadone deserves a mention because there’s just so bloody much of it about now. Methadone is an opioid, a synthetic opiate. Like the better-know opiates, morphine and diamorphine (heroin), methadone is a powerful analgesic, or painkiller. Although methadone is still occasionally used for pain relief, it’s far more common to find it being used to ‘treat’ people who are physically dependent on heroin. In the UK, the number of people using heroin has been steadily increasing. Methadone use has also been increasing.
Treatment, as in making you better?
Well, not exactly, no. Just stay with the idea for a moment that ‘drug addiction’ is more than a pharmacological problem. It’s not just about the chemical, the drug. The drug does tend to play a pretty significant part, and yet it’s never the whole story. Someone taking methadone instead of heroin can definitely let go of their dependent heroin habit. The methadone stopos the ‘withdrawal syndrome’. If I’m heroin dependent, and I’m withdrawing, and I take methadone…it stops. The methadone will get rid of cramps, and nausea, and vomiting, and diarrhea, and all the other nasties that make a heroin habit unpleasant. If I keep on taking it, I don’t get ill. If I stop taking it, I get…errrr…well…an opioid withdrawal syndrome.
Treatment, as in getting you hooked?
Well, you don’t have to put it quite like that. It’s true that regular, dependent methadone use does of course fit neatly into the ‘addiction’ model described in our ‘reducing the risks’ pages. And methadone dependence has some benefits over heroin dependence, for some people. If you’re living in the UK and can get methadone on the NHS it won’t cost you all the money you can raise each day just to stay on top of the habit. Even if you pay for a private consultation and ‘script it’ll be a lot cheaper than the brown. Methadone is available as a liquid – linctus or methadone mixture – which is swallowed, meaning you don’t need to inject. Some people of course do inject, and injectable ampoules are sometimes prescribed. Tablets are also available. Like many other medicines some of these prescribed drugs are diverted and become available illegally.
Treatment, as in getting stoned?
The guidelines for prescribing methadone indicate that enough should be given to prevent physical withdrawal symptoms – when you are prescribed methadone it is not supposed to give you a buzz, or make you feel stoned, or however else you describe it.
The physical effects of methadone are similar to other opiates (like heroin); suppressed cough reflex, contracted pupils and drowsiness. Regular use will cause constipation. Some methadone users feel sick when they first use the drug. If you are a woman using methadone you may not have regular periods – but you are still able to conceive.
Methadone is a long-acting opioid; it has an effect for up to 36 hours and can remain in your body for several days.
In terms of ‘treating’ an opioid withdrawal syndrome the medication is very attractive to many prescribers – it last a long time, is stable in liquid form and is cheap to produce.
Most treatment services that offer prescribing will want to manage a ‘reducing’ dose of methadone. The idea behind a reducing script is that you stabilise the ‘patient’, then gradually reduce the dose until they aren’t using methadone anymore.
This style of ‘community detox’ doesn’t work for everybody. The people for whom it works least well are the people who ‘top-up’ their ever-decreasing medication with either illegally-bought methadone, or heroin.
Some people see little point in drawing it all out, and find it easier to reduce or just stop using heroin without ever taking methadone. Methadone’s primary benefit to the user is that it manages physical opiate dependence legitimately. In the UK, it’s very difficult to find anyone who will prescribe heroin, or morphine, to treat opiate dependence.
Treatment, as in safe?
Not as such. For several years now, methadone has been the cause of more accidental poisonings (overdoses) in the UK than heroin. It’s really worth reading that last sentence again…
Methadone is a very potent drug, and individual doses vary for each person. What’s prescribed for my friend could kill me, easily. If you are using methadone that you have bought illegally be aware that you could overdose on an amount that would seem ‘normal‘ to somebody else – especially if you are not using opiates regularly, and have a low ‘tolerance’ (it doesn’t take very much to affect you). Differences in tolerance are caused by how often you use a drug. If you are using methadone regularly – prescribed or not – taking a higher dose than normal, or using other depressant drugs (like alcohol, heroin, tranquillisers or sleeping tablets) at the same time could cause you to overdose. If you do lose consciousness and vomit you may well choke.
If you become drowsy you should not try to drive or operate machinery – you could easily have an accident.
Methadone is very dangerous for children. An ordinary daily dose for an opioid-dependent adult is likely to kill a child. If you store methadone at home it should be kept where children are not able to get to it – in a high cupboard, not by your bed or in the fridge. If a child does swallow methadone they should be taken to the Accident and Emergency Department at your local hospital immediately – let the doctors know what has been taken, and if possible at what time and what quantity.
Treatment, as in legal, right?
Sometimes. Methadone is controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a Class A, Schedule 2 drug.
Other Class A drugs include heroin and cocaine.
They have there uses, like when you have done loads of psys and shit and wan’t to relax and maybe nod off for a bit. Perfect to to whack up a ten bag lol i mean smoke a tens
i actually prefer to use them as a p0ly stimulant at a rave, keeps me awake fatigueless all night. heroin is healthier than amphetamines in that use for sure.
To me, opiods and other painkillers are just tools. The way I look at it is if your not in any pain then whats the point in taking them? If you are in pain you can use them as a tool to feel better.
most opiods don’t do shit to me. however, theres no getting around the fact that oxy 80’s feel f*cking good. :p
if heroin is anything like that then I can totally see how some people could get hooked.
Heroin is ten times better. Don’t do it. I went from oxys to dope and have been hooked for eight years now. Makes you feel good for the first ten minutes… Then slowly but surely destroys your entire life. Been clean for two weeks now.. Thank god for suboxone. And who the fuck doesn’t know wtf methadone is? Idiots i tell you
It also helps reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms caused by opiate use. Methadone works on parts of the brain and spinal cord to block the “high” caused by using .
Until a few months ago I was on 90ml a day through abusing heavily painkillers. You can only really get any sort of effect after about 7-10 days of abstinence from it but the reason people are prescribed it is to help ease the withdrawals, not to keep you fucked without having to pay for real drugs. It was developed by the same people who developed pethidine but after WW2 the allies just took anything they could/wanted and so the patent was removed from the company as some sort of spoils of war.
@MANDY 16900 wrote:
HEY GIRL, I FEEL YOUR PAIN. I’M ON METHADONE AND I CAN PERSONALLY TELL YOU ITS THE HARDEST OPIAT TO COME OFF OF. IT CAN TAKE UP 2 A YEAR TO GET BACK TO NORMAL. I WAS OFF IT FOR A MONTH AND I WAS STILL SO DOPE SICK AND COULDN’T TAKE IT AND ENDED UP GOING BACK. HOW LONG AGO DID HE QUIT? MY BEST ADVICE TO YOU IS TO GIVE HIM HIS SPACE ESPECIALLY IF HE’S WITHDRAWING REALLY BAD, BUT STILL LET HIM KNOW THAT YOU’RE THERE FOR HIM. THIS IS SURELY A VERY ROUGH TIME FOR HIM AND YOURSELF. I FEEL 4-U HANG IN THERE AND GOOD LUCK TO YOUR MAN
I’M GETTING FREAKED OUT i JUST HAD A 2 WEEK RELAPSE AFTER GETTING OF 140 FOR A YEAR
You aren’t the 1st and you won’t be the last mate, sorry to hear you relapsed though 🙂
@Tryptameanie 566109 wrote:
Until a few months ago I was on 90ml a day through abusing heavily painkillers. You can only really get any sort of effect after about 7-10 days of abstinence from it but the reason people are prescribed it is to help ease the withdrawals, not to keep you fucked without having to pay for real drugs. It was developed by the same people who developed pethidine but after WW2 the allies just took anything they could/wanted and so the patent was removed from the company as some sort of spoils of war.
To me methadone stands out alone as the hardest and most frustrating. For me xanax was right there. You never recover I had over a year I have a couple days after 2 weeks dirty
It’s not bothered me one bit since I came off it. Came off it after a serious experience on MXP, that night changed me.
I am under methadone since 1991 and i won’t never get off this shit. I took it for years so if i had no cash for heroine, i was never turkey.
In switzerland when they first introduce it, the patient had to be clean each time he saw the doctor , if he had taken heroine, they stopped the methadone. But around 1990, the swiss governement writte a note to the doctors that it was no more an obligation to stay clean, cuz it was lowering very much the little criminality as stealing handbags from old grand mothers in the street for example and it worked, THE CRIMINALITY DROPPED DOWN; BUT, this medicament is real shit cuz the addiction is much more heavy than heroin, once you are addicted to it takes years to get off it.
i would adwise people to use methadone only if they are sure they won’t take heroine again, and beginning with very little doses (it should not make you nose dive), beginning with 30 mg (best 15mg in the morning and 15 in the evening) and each day 2mg down, (so 1mg less in the evening and 1 in the morning down until 10 mg and then (5 morning, 4 evening), and continuing until 0.
Here in switzerland they give really too high doses. my is 137,5 mg per day and they give me for 2 weeks, but i came down easely to 50 mg now, and the rest i sell or offer. But better never begin heroin, either not falling in methadone addiction like i am.
Methadone is evil. It’s IMO the worst drug out there. I know people claims that it helps them, but in what way I wonder. For some ppl it helps, by keeping them on opiates, and keeps them from getting sick. For others it keeps their addiction legal. But, the trade off in the end… I never had experienced such horrific addiction as with methadone. It was so hard to come off of. The trade off… The drug itself deteriorates the user. I saw 20 year old girls in line at the clinic with few teeth left. I stayed awake for about 5 hours in the day when I was on methadone. It drains you.
I have to wonder if the government isn’t keeping it around, just because of how run down and deteriorated it makes these junkies look–kind of like tagging them for who they are. Marking them…
I’d rather be on heroin. I honestly think it’s a better drug. Maybe not safer as far as over-doses go, but definitely the better drug for you. It doesn’t alter your physical appearance even a tenth as much as methadone does.
I know it helps a few people out there. but the trade off I feel is horrific.
Thanks for taking the time to read,
Japalm
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Forums › Drugs › Heroin & Opium › What is Methadone?