Methadone Maintenance Treatment Cuts Mortality Rates

Posted on July 27, 2016 by pgh

For more than 30 years, the treatment of choice for Opiate addiction has been Methadone. Doctors have struggled along the way to find the most effective doses to help patients curtail their opiate cravings without succumbing to higher levels of methadone (it too has dependence-forming substances) than necessary.

Today’s contemporary course of action recommends methadone doses of at least 60 milligrams. However, physicians in treatment centers report a variety of doses that are effective, and many licensed Methadone treatment centers treat patients with doses that start at lower or higher than today’s recommended amount. Even with the range of Methadone doses, it proves to be the most effective treatment for addiction.

Although the use of methadone is associated with some side effects, like any medication, good reasons to give access to treatment of methadone maintenance patients engaged opioids are numerous. Research shows the effectiveness of methadone treatment can reduce:

use of other opioids
the use of other drugs, such as cocaine and heroin
mortality
risk behaviors associated with injection
sexual risk behaviors and HIV/STD transmissions
transmission of other sexual and blood borne pathogens

Moreover, scientists conclude that Methadone maintenance treatment contributes to improvements in:

the addicts physical and mental health
their life in society
quality of life
a smooth pregnancy

Maintenance treatment with methadone is also associated with better treatment retention.

Maintenance treatment with methadone may be advantageous not only for those who receive it, but also for the staff who administer and to the wider community and society as a whole.

For people who engage in opioid maintenance treatment with methadone provides access to a stable supply of legal drugs and classified on the pharmaceutical industry. It relieves the stress of having to constantly supply illicit opioids; constraint that often exposes them to criminal activity and risky sexual practices. Instead of living in a constant cycle of ups and downs due to repeated injections of heroin, for example, their mood and functional status stabilizes. In general, research shows that maintenance treatment with methadone in particular gives the following results:

less time per day spent to consume narcotics
reduction in opioid consumption obtained through illicit means (and maintain this stability as long as they follow their treatment)
reducing the consumption of other substances, such as cocaine, marijuana and alcohol
less time spent in drug trafficking
less time spent in criminal activities
less time spent in prison
mortality rates significantly lower among patients treated with methadone (three times lower) than in untreated patients
hazard reduction injection and behaviors that are related
reducing risk behaviors for HIV transmission and STD
lower risk of HIV infection
potential reduction in the risk of contracting HCV or other pathogens carried by the blood
better physical and mental health
improvement in society
better chance of getting a full-time
better quality of life

For pregnant women who engage in opiod addiction treatment with methadone, combined with adequate prenatal care, there is fewer gynecological complications, and decreased fetal mortality rates. Methadone protects the fetus against violent fluctuations in levels of opioids and frequent withdrawal symptoms common among pregnant women who do not receive treatment for their opioid dependence.

The longer patients maintain their treatment they increase their chances of avoiding crime, and preventing and reduce a relapse.

For staff responsible for implementation, maintenance treatment with methadone is used

provide an important medical and public health
establish partnerships and linkages with other service providers and to provide clients / patients a range of services and supports
to engage with patients in their care, positive therapeutic relationships and effective, and to gain experience with them
to contribute to the educational process and capable of bringing the treatment of opioid consumers to take a fresh look at themselves and their consumption of alcohol and drugs and to make changes in their lives

For the community in general, the potential benefits of maintenance treatment with methadone include:

the decline in criminal activity associated with the drug
the decline in prostitution
reduction in the number of discarded needles

In the whole of society, maintenance treatment with methadone provides:

a decrease in crime
a lower risks to public health

A total of 178 (3%) patients died either on treatment or within a year of their last prescription. The mortality rate among people off addiction treatment was almost twice that of people remaining in treatment. At the conclusion, Methadone treatment had 85 percent and higher chance of reducing overall mortality in opiate users if they were consistently taking the treatment.

It’s important to choose an effective treatment like Methadone for opiate addiction to avoid the yo-yo effect of relapse. All clinical studies show that Methadone maintenance is the best treatment to curb addiction, ease withdrawals and avoid mortality.

Methadone Addiction: Why it’s so Hard to Quit

Posted on July 27, 2016 by pgh

No drug addiction is easy to treat. Unless you’ve been there yourself, you really can’t understand, but a drug addiction is extremely difficult to get over. This is something that consumes your life, takes over, and you are helpless against it once you have gotten to that point. However, there is something you can do if you are willing to make a change. You have to be willing to work hard and stay dedicated, but you can get off the drugs, get clean and sober, and start living a normal life again.

Methadone is a particularly addictive drug. Also known as Symoron, Dolphine, Amidone and Methadose, Methadone belongs to the opioid family of drugs. This prescription drug is often prescribed to treat the pain and withdrawal symptoms associated with heroin addiction. For a person trying to get off heroin, their doctor may prescribe this drug to help them cope while their body experiences living without the drug in its system. This not only helps make it easier for an addict to cope while they are dealing with intense withdrawal symptoms from stopping, but also can prevent serious medical issues such as heart attack and stroke.

In most cases, an individual is required to go to a public clinic or other center in order to receive their daily or weekly dose of Methadone. This is to prevent misuse of the drug. This drug may be taken anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, or even longer, depending on the doctor’s advisements.

Methadone is the first step to recovery for many addicts. It gives them the chance to get off the drugs without having withdrawal symptoms so extreme that they can barely function. For serious addicts, these withdrawal symptoms can last for months, even longer. For some people, they will feel urges for the rest of their life. It is definitely not easy to overcome a drug addiction, but this is a necessary process for someone hooked on drugs who wants to get clean. Methadone can help you get your life back, so if this is something you’re interested in, you should talk to your doctor to get more details. They will be able to provide you with the necessary information and get you a prescription if you are thought to be a good candidate for the drug.

The detox process is essential for anyone trying to get off heroin. Be prepared for serious withdrawal symptoms, including anything from muscle aches, anxiety and muscle tension to headaches, nausea and agitation. You may feel edgy, moody and miserable, you may notice that you’re sweating or even feel almost feverish. These are all normal, expected symptoms. Physical and emotional symptoms are expected, especially with a drug like heroin. These symptoms are occurring because you are stopping the drugs after heavy and prolonged use, forcing your body to become dependent without the use of the drugs.

Abdominal cramping, diarrhea, dilated pupils, goosebumps, nausea and vomiting are all common withdrawal symptoms of opiate drugs like heroin. If you notice you are starting to feel extremely unwell, experience heart palpitations, or otherwise feel lightheaded or faint, you may want to get in to see your doctor or to the emergency room at your local hospital. A health care professional can examine you and ensure you are not suffering any serious medical conditions.

You may have to take additional medication along with the Methadone, especially if you are experiencing very intense symptoms. You may be placed on long-term maintenance, which means you could be taking Methadone for the long-term or even for the rest of your life, if your doctor feels it is helpful for your recovery. You need to stay in close contact with your doctor to properly monitor your progress. They can ensure there are no potential complications arising as a result of your treatment, such as aspiration or dehydration.

The most important thing is that after you go through treatment, once you have gotten yourself on the right track and aren’t using anymore, that you do whatever it takes to stay off the drugs. The last thing you want is to end up back in the same situation you started, having to start all over from square one. Go through a support group or have regular sessions with a therapist, to have someone there to talk to and support you during this difficult time in your life. It always helps to have someone there who you can feel safe venting to, expressing your feelings and getting support from when you’re not feeling at your strongest.

Millions of people suffer from heroin addiction, and if you are one of those people, at least you know you have options. Methadone is an effective treatment for heroin addicts, offering many advantages to users as a means of treatment.

Methadone Works to Fight Opiate Addiction, Originally Used as Painkiller

Posted on July 27, 2016 by pgh

Methadone is well known these days as a narcotic medicine that is used to treat opiate addiction. A narcotic itself, the drug first came on the scene in the United States back in 1947. German scientists had developed it during World War II as a synthetic pain killer.

At first, the powerful medicine was prescribed to ease post surgical pain and that of cancer patients. Three years after American physicians first put it to use, they realized its benefits for people trying to kick heroin and morphine addictions. Methadone helps counteract what can be very severe withdrawal symptoms from the other drugs.

Methadone is a synthetic medicine which is created in laboratories. Heroin and morphine are both made from opium poppies. Their pain-killing abilities last approximately two to four hours, while methadone’s effects in the body continue for 24 hours.

Opiates are highly addictive and produce intense reactions. Humans actually make their own chemicals in the body that are similar to opiates. These are called endorphins, which many people know of as positive after effects of exercise; some people become addicted to exercise because of the endorphins created in the body.

Endorphins reside in the brain and block signals of pain as well as creating euphoria or feelings of well-being. Opiates are like endorphins in where they reside in the brain; they fit into duplicate receptors. They are much more intense than endorphins, however, and users report feeling a rush of warmth and happy, relaxed feelings followed by a kind of numbness.

For someone suffering from physical or emotional pain, it is no wonder that opiates are so alluring. The first dose is usually very intense, and many people will continue using the drug to reproduce the first high. Addicts grow tolerant to the drug and must use higher dosages to reach that state of euphoria.

Addicts also learn that the succeeding highs do not last as long as the ones experienced early on. The addict ends up needing to take the drug more often. This is one of the reasons that addiction is so crippling; soon, an addict will need to find sources for greater quantities of the drug and find them more often.

When someone addicted to an opiate misses a dose or tries to quit without help, he or she will experience withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal can be extremely harsh to the body and mind. The unpleasantness of withdrawal may include symptoms such as upset stomach and diarrhea.

Muscle and joint pain along with depression and anxiety can also accompany withdrawal. These symptoms and a host of others may start showing up within just a few hours after the addict’s last dose. Fear of withdrawal keeps many addicts from leaving their drugs behind.

Addiction is not just an emotional response of course. Physical need for the drug is real. The body has grown accustomed to it, and can no longer function in the same ways without it.

With guidance, and the aid of medicines such as methadone, the addict can leave behind the street drug and go on to a healthier life. Methadone can relieve the discomfort of withdrawal from opiates. Methadone does not provide the same high as heroin, for example, but it is working within the brain in the same way.

Methadone not only keeps opiate addicts from going into withdrawal, it also works to block the effects of other opiates. In the case of an addict who relapses while undergoing methadone treatment, he or she will not be able to feel the euphoric effects of the other drug. Methadone does not cure opiate addiction, but it can be extremely helpful.

It can keep addicts from going into withdrawal so they can stay away from dangerous street drugs such as heroin. Methadone provides the help needed so addicts can start redirecting their lives toward recovery. Methadone is addictive itself, so it needs to be taken under medical supervision.

Methadone comes in both pills and liquids. It can be administered at a drug treatment clinic or treatment center, or a physician can write a prescription so the patient can take the dose at home. Counselling is a recommended companion to medical intervention so that the addict can discover the life issues that have led to drug use.

Although methadone is a godsend for many addicts, it too has it problems. It is sometimes traded on the streets for illegal opiates so the addict can continue using the earlier drug. Another danger of methadone is the possibility of overdose especially when methadone is taken along with alcohol or other drugs.

Addicts taking methadone may be tempted to take opiates at the same time. This is extremely dangerous and can lead to seizures, coma and death. Methadone, when taken correctly, is a wonderful tool to help eradicate drug addiction.

Methadone Ranks Highest Successful Regimen

Posted on July 27, 2016 by pgh

Opiate addiction is a complex disorder and many people hold differing views about treatment. A controversial, yet effective drug treatment for teenagers is Methadone. Doctors rarely select Methadone to treat teenage drug addiction, yet it remains one the most effective drugs on the market today.

Today, opiates are a leading drug of choice among school-aged kids. Twenty-five percent of eighth graders have tried illegal drugs. For twelve graders, those statistics become more alarming. These statistics alert us to the epidemic of adolescent drug use and addiction.

Why Kids Abuse Drugs

Many kids use drugs for the same general reasons adults use drugs; to feel happy, stimulated or relaxed; to ease stress and frustration, tension, disappointment or anger. Drug use is primarily to take their minds off any troubles.

Most parents are more familiar with heroin opiates, not fully realizing brand name painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin, are narcotic opiate drugs, prescribed for treating pain. Kids are more likely to find these opiate drugs right in their home medicine cabinet. The availability of opiates becomes more obvious at schools, where students sell individual pills during the school day.

Treating Teenage Drug Addiction

Drug treatment for adolescents is not that simple. Kids hate the very thought of drug treatment. Listening to boring lectures and having counselors dig deep into the past. Sitting in circles with strangers and forced to place feelings on display. The idea that the school system, court system and parents gang up on them, and force them to get help makes adolescents rebel.

The most effective treatment tends to be Methadone. The program often conflicts with school schedules; however, the bottom line is Methadone treatment is effective with few teens experiencing a relapse.

Very few drug addiction programs offer Methadone treatment to adolescent substance abusers; however, with the number of teen drug users steadily increasing, the question becomes which treatment effectively and quickly stops drug abuse.

Why Methadone Treatment

Methadone is a synthetic product, similar in chemical composition to opiates. Historically, doctors prescribed methadone to patients who were in extreme pain and those in drug addiction programs. Because of the close similarities, Methadone works quickly.

Methadone will greatly prevent the worst of the physical effects of withdrawal. While it may seem counterintuitive to give a drug in order to stop drug addiction, Methadone treatment has the highest success rate of all addiction treatment plans.

Once the patient stabilizes, and their tolerance levels are established, doctors reduce the methadone dosage, thereby weaning the patient.

Behavioral Signs and Symptoms of Opiate Use

Parents often remark they never knew their kids experimented with drugs and few know the marked signs and symptoms. Knowing what to look out for and recognizing the problems can render a faster solution. Here are some behavioral signs and symptoms to alert parents of possible drug use.

Uncharacteristic mood swings and aggressive behavior
Truancy and lateness for school or work
Deterioration in personal hygiene and dress
Covering up suspicious behavior by lying, being vague, etc
Unusual conflicts with authority figures
Sudden change of habits, loss of purpose in life and lack of motivation
Excessive borrowing of money
Stealing from family, friends, school
Selling personal property, with little to show for it
Deterioration in performance
Poor appetite and weight loss
Bouts of depression and shyness
Spending large periods of time away from home
Excessive sleeping

Many of these signs may simply be normal signs of adolescence or could be due to some other cause that has nothing to do with drug use. In order to verify your suspicions of possible drug use, it is necessary to back up observations with physical evidence.

Non-Methadone Programs Fall Short

Many of today’s teen drug addiction treatment programs are developed on the premise that the individual is ready to eliminate their substance abuse. These programs frequently function under the assumption that the individual has determined that a drug-free lifestyle is much better for them, however, in reality, someone in authority has made this decision, such as a parent, a probation officer or the juvenile system.

You’ll find, teenagers often refuse to start a drug treatment program. For those willing to try, there is a high rate of relapse. The bottom line is that coercion doesn’t work. Very few teens see the benefit of taking part in drug treatment.

In the last decade, the court system has referred more teenage addicts to drug treatment than any other source. Drug use and criminal behavior have a common link, and courts respond accordingly with drug treatment programs. While the courts, and schools, and parent interventions all provide positive fortification, juveniles are deceptive and most will fail drug treatment, particularly when addiction programs do not include Methadone.

More than 50 percent of teenage students have tried opiates that number is growing at an alarming rate. With such high numbers, parents must choose the best drug addiction programs that have a lasting effect – Methadone treatment tops the list.

Methadone Fights Addiction, Helps in Other Ways Too

Posted on July 27, 2016 by pgh

The powerful drug methadone not only helps those addicted to heroin and morphine leave their drug abuse behind, it also has additional health benefits. Recent studies show that methadone helps reduce the risk of HIV transmission among drug users. The British Medical Journal reported that people who inject drugs (PWID) benefit from treatment with methadone in more ways than one.

It does substitute for opiate injections and helps reduce cravings for more dangerous drugs since it mimics opiates’ stimulus to the brain without providing as powerful a high as street drugs such as heroin. At the same time, its use can supplant injections and thus reduce the risks of transmitting HIV by contaminated needles. Methadone as a substitute for opiates improves the health of those taking it.

The researchers concluded that drug-related deaths decreased when drug users were prescribed methadone. It has become hugely popular and reliable as a treatment of choice for chronic drug abusers and addicts. The reduction of HIV transmission is a bonus not originally considered when methadone first came into widespread use.

Incidence of HIV in drug injectors who live in countries where opiate substitution therapy is illegal showed to be measurably higher than in those who reside in countries where methadone and other substitutes can be prescribed. Worldwide statistics show that approximately 5-10 percent of HIV infections come about because of injection of drugs. AIDS is also higher in parts of the world where drug substitution treatment is highly restricted.

Health care professionals most often prescribe methadone or buprenorphine as substitutes for illegal opiates such as heroin and morphine. The substitutes are generally given in treatment centers, clinics, and physicians’ offices. They affect similar parts of the brain and help ease the addict off the street drug without the harsh symptoms of drug withdrawal.

The recent research on methadone’s effectiveness in helping to curb the spread of HIV and AIDS resulted from a collaboration of scientists from several different countries. Researchers from the U.S., Australia, Italy and Canada reviewed available literature, then pooled their analyses. They studied work from their own countries as well as from the Netherlands, Austria, Puerto Rico, Thailand and China.

The work focused on the connection between opiate substitution therapy and HIV transmission. Researchers selected nine studies that concentrated mostly on male injection drug users between the ages of 26 and 39. Among the study group, there were 819 HIV infection transmissions. The study covered a time period of 23,608 total person years of study.

Analysis showed that opiate substitutes such as methadone were linked to a 54 percent decrease in HIV infection risk among drug users used to injecting their fixes. Since the data came from nations around the world, there was some variation in the individual studies. This disallowed an exact result.

Nonetheless, the study was strong enough to show a clear-cut link between methadone use substituted for opiate injection and a reduction in HIV. Medical workers around the world were given another solid reason for recommending methadone treatment to injection drug users as a way to kick the habit and get healthier.

The research seemed to suggest that longer-term use of methadone results in an even lower risk of HIV transmission among former needle drug users. Commentators on the research have spoken out strongly in favor of opiate substitution therapies as a way to curb the growing number of HIV infections spread by needle users. This seems to be the case in all parts of the world.

Other research has suggested that methadone may have benefits in treatment resistant forms of cancer. There will be years of further study ahead, but preliminary studies show that methadone can fight leukemia cells. The professional journal Cancer Research published the report that provided a little hope to patients with cancer that is no longer responding to radiation and chemotherapy.

One of the study’s authors commented that methadone was shown to kill sensitive leukemia cells. It was also shown to break through cancer treatment resistance that has built up in cancer cells. It seemed to go after the cancer without damaging healthy cells untouched by cancer.

Researchers are reluctant to give false hope to people with cancer. They stress that this report is preliminary. Yet it does offer hope for the possibly near future.

Proponents of methadone are naturally pleased that the opiate substitute may have wider applications in the field of medicine well beyond its prime use as a helper in the fight against drug addiction.

In recent years methadone has come under attack for its possibly harmful side effects in those who take it for extended periods. As with almost every drug or medicine, problems show up after the using population has grown large enough that trends can be observed. Nonetheless, methadone remains an important and helpful medicine in today’s world.

Intranasal Buprenorphine Alone and in Combination with Naloxone: Abuse Liability and Reinforcing Efficacy in Physically Dependent Opioid Abusers

Posted on March 13, 2016 by pgh

(Source: Drug and Alcohol Dependence)