Heroin and Methadone Addiction
Health
| August 20, 2006
| Tim
"Dalrymple", a British prison physician, on heroin:
Perhaps I can best describe what I think most people believe about opiate addiction, particularly heroin addiction. They think that a person, somehow or other, by accident, stumbles across heroin, and is reluctantly persuaded to take some. He likes it, takes another dose, and then, hey presto, he's addicted. If he stops taking it, he has the most terrible withdrawal reaction, so he has no choice but to continue. Unfortunately, heroin is not free and he needs money to pay for it. Incapable because of his addiction of work, he is driven to crime. He cannot stop himself, but fortunately professional help is at hand which, if he accepts it, will stop him from taking more drugs - but otherwise he will continue.
At every point, this narrative is mistaken and obviously so.... Unlike withdrawal from barbiturates or alcohol, it is not dangerous. There is abundant evidence that a large component of the problem is anxiety, which in turn has been brought about by the uncritical mental absorption of the myth. This myth has been perpetuated in many books and films. In addition, addicts frequently lie about their symptoms in order to obtain drugs from doctors.
At its very worst, withdrawal is like flu, but usually is much less severe than that. We used to withdraw addicts in my hospital, making it clear that we would prescribe for them only when we, the doctors, saw the need, and we would not be influenced at all by anything the addict said concerning his symptoms. After two or three days, the addicts always said, 'Is that all there is to it?' They never suffered severely.
I can't prove it yet, but I'm also beginning to suspect that methadone (read, please), which is perscribed to 'help' with heroin addiction, may be far more deadly and addictive -- the proverbial cure worse than the disease.
This anonymous doctor, citing no studies, assures us methadone is not worse than heroin:
Another reason addicts think methadone is worse than heroin is that it is widely believed that detox from methadone is worse than from heroin. This too is false. Methadone detox is, however, different from heroin. Qualitatively, the two are similar: sweats, chills, insomnia, vomiting, diarrhea, and depression. Methadone withdrawal is less violent--less intense--than heroin withdrawal. Just the same, methadone withdrawal lasts longer.
But this UK doctor says otherwise:
A LEADING northeast-based expert on drug addiction has added his voice to those who are calling for the NHS methadone programme to be dropped.
Dr Hugh Hepburn, who described methadone as a "chemical straitjacket", says more addiction clinics are needed in Scotland if the problem is to be tackled properly.
"The methadone programme plainly does not work and does no good for the addict, " Hepburn said yesterday. "The 12-step method of dealing with addiction is becoming of greater interest to the government. It doesn't include methadone which, I believe, is the last resort, not the first." ....
"We have patients who come to us to get off methadone because they have been on it for years. They are much more difficult to detox than heroin users. It is far worse than heroin. It is a nasty drug and probably causes more deaths than heroin.
As does this addict:
Brenda is a methadone patient at Allied. She describes her experience detoxing, "The sickness from methadone detox is ten times worse than heroin. It starts with night sweats, eyes watering, insomnia, flu like symptoms and then muscular cramps, vomiting, no control over your bowels then increasing into seizures, your skin feels like it's trying to crawl away, the pain runs from deep inside your bones, through guts, muscle and out your hair. Cravings are incredibly strong. Suicide crosses your mind more than once." Methadone abstinence detox lasts up to six weeks and can be fatal.
I've read a number of arguments on this one (many more than I'm citing here) and the general impression that I'm drawing is that the pro-methadone people use the less straightforward, honest arguments. The usual argument is: "Well, yes, methadone is hard to get off, but so is heroin. Methadone just takes longer" -- which sounds to me like an admission disguised as a disproof.
The best argument is that methadone addicts can still remain addicts while leading relatively more stable lives. But what guarantees the addction is "transferred", not simply added on top of the existing one? And what ensures will use methadone this as an absolute last resort approach, as the good doctor above demands, rather than a "magic cure", first approach, which doesn't address the underlying problem of addiction -- which apparently prevails today?
We look back on history, and see doctors perscribing leaches, bloodletting, and poultices, and laugh at the ignorance of those times. But we seem equally blind to it when it stands before us, still.
I have been on Methadone for 6years after trying many other things this was my last resort. I now live a "normal" life work 2 jobs have money saved own a car have a baby & a fiance. Maybe methadone isnt for everybody but Im so thankful for it it saved my life who knows were I would be dead? in jail? or infected with HIV. I have a healthy beautiful baby. I have kicked a methadone habit b4 & YES IT IS WAY WORSE & LONGER THAN HERION HERION TAKES 3 TO 4 MAYBE EVEN A WEEK WHERE AS METHADONE TAKES ABOUT 2 MTHS OR SO B4 U CAN SLEEP & AFTER i KICKED IT & GOT OUT OF JAIL i WAS RIGHT BACK ON HERION AGAIN. So to each his own but Im thankful for it bcuz I dont know what wouldve happen to me
Well, all I can say that if the above statement is what it seems to be (not that I know either way, but one can only verify so much on the Internet) then that seems to be a very moving testimonial to some good which can be done with Methadone -- but also a confirmation of some of the strong downsides, indicating it should probably indeed be considered as a last resort, not a first attempted approach.
Anonymous, thank you very much for your comment!
I lost my son to an overdose of Methadone on Oct.9,2005. Did he mean to do it?...I ask myself...he was using for the past 6 years, just about everything, no matter what we did he couldn't beat the addiction. Bubba was 19 yrs old, only a few weeks away from his 20th birthday. The pain Bubba left behind I can never explain it but I know the pain he was in also. I miss my son so much. Please if you have a problem with any drug, please, please get some kind of help. Don't let your Mother and Father walk in my steps, your parents love you no matter what. Feel free to email me if you need to talk to someone, I wish my son would of talked to someone. My heart goes out to you all, hang in there, there are people who care..God Bless
I haven't had a chance to verify this myself, but heard it on a radio sermon recently.
Tithing 10% was from the old testament. In the new testament, God asks that we tithe cheerfully and generously, but a percentage was not specified.
Again, I haven't had a chance to verify this, but wondering if the pastor on the radio was correct or not.
I thought this was interesting. It seems that one of the few touted "benefits" of methadone treatment is "keeping people in treatment?" There seems to be some good done in terms of HIV prevention by moving people from an injected to a non-injected drug. (HIV transmission is reduced) but otherwise I can't find much in the literature to reccomend methadone treatment.
source
HIV and methadone link
A quick pubmed search suggests that Naltrexone and SSRIs would be superior to methadone treatment.
link
Despite clinical trials that show benefit, anticraving medications are not well known and are underused by clinicians.
link
A site offering therapy involving naltrexone claims that it is not addictive. It seems to work as an opiate receptor antagonist. So it prevents heroin (and a wide range of other addictive behaviors) from having an effect.
source
SSRIs help a little in ammeliorating withdrawl symptoms.
Not much worse than the flu? Less severe than the flu? Is this guy insane? Withdrawels are pure hell. A nightmare. Words can't even describe them. I assure you, no REAL addict would EVER say "is that all there is to it?" after experiencing full blown withdrawels. I'd rather chop off my right hand than experience them again.
I have been going to a methadone clinic for about 3 months I'm SCARED I didn't realize that withdrawls would be so bad.They told me that they would slowly lower my dose and their would no withdrawlling . But from what I've been reading it sounds like weather you stop cold turkey or slowly lower your dose everyone has some sort of withdrawl simtoms.I was wondering if I stop now if I have been on methadone to long and will have intense withdrawl simtoms. I wish I would have read more on methadone before I started takeing it.
I have been going to a methadone clinic for about 3 months I'm SCARED I didn't realize that withdrawls would be so bad.They told me that they would slowly lower my dose and their would no withdrawlling . But from what I've been reading it sounds like weather you stop cold turkey or slowly lower your dose everyone has some sort of withdrawl simtoms.I was wondering if I stop now if I have been on methadone to long and will have intense withdrawl simtoms. I wish I would have read more on methadone before I started takeing it.
I agree they are pure hell. 17 days of pure hell to be exact! I was smoking about a gram or 2 a day! The first week was like the worst flu ever and I fell like I was going to loose my mind! I had bad anxiety from day 5 until day 17.
Hello,
I just tried to go cold turkey for 5 days of methadone. It was pure hell, I finally went back to the clinic and got a half dose. I was at 140 and they gave me 70 today. I feel so much better now. I will never go cold turkey ever again. I thought I was going to die. I really wanted to die. One good thing has come out of the last 5 days, I am now down to 70 mg. I will take it slower now. I couldn't eat or drink for the last 2 days. The first 2 days was a breeze, but the 3 day, I started to feel the effects, by day 4 I thought I was going to run out in the street and run out in front of a car. Anything would have been better than what I was going through. Don't any of you try this cold turkey. Its not worth it. My blood pressure went up to 160/108. I had a migraine from hell because of my BP. I don't have high blood pressure but withdrawl will put you into it. Good luck to all of you trying to overcome your addictions. There is no magic cure. Just patience and time.
For what it's worth, I brought this topic up with an acquantaince, part of whose work involves administering methadone. Her response was that methadone was used only for the worst cases where she worked and that the intent was to move people from an illegal substance to one which the government controls.
I was on tramadol or ultram for a year to treat migraines that started after a surgery but no one wanted to tie the two together. When I tried to go off the tramadol I had terrible anxiety, etc. It was suggested to my horror that I go on Methadone to get off of the tramadol. I started on only 20mgs. and cut back by 2 1/2mgs. a week until I stopped all together 17 days ago. I was sick for most of the time I cut back and when I stopped with the methadone all together I didn't sleep for 2 weeks and my skin crawled constantly, I still have terrible stomach cramps, diarehha, tingling in my limbs, and extreme fatigue. When I called the doctor last week and described my symptoms and asked if there was anything he could give me to help me sleep his response was that he thought I had a variation of restless leg syndrome and suggested I considered methadone for life as treatment. Needless to say, I will find a new doctor. I will not turn back, no matter how long I suffer this way. What I would like to propose is that doctors who are allowed to prescribe methadone should understand better the withdrawl symptoms, how long to expect them to last and how to cope with them. That would help many people from going back on.
Tramadol withdrawal is worse than any opiate----do not take tramadol for long periods of time.
At low doses it's kind of vicodin acually more like codeine, but large doses, you become a tweaker---because of the ssri.
I thought I'd mention; ascorbate can help users of opioids like morphine experience the effects of the drug while slowing the development of tolerance. And a number of anecdotal accounts on the web suggest that it could also be used in helping certain types of addicts tolerate withdrawl.
In mice ascorbate, when co-administered with morphine, suppresses the development of tolerance and physical dependence on the drug, without significantly affecting its analgesic properties as inferred from unaltered ED50 values.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6686637&dopt=Abstract
what ever twat wrote that piece of rubish above about heroin withdrawels really should be locked up for their own good before they actually regurgitate that rubish in front of a suffering addict and the addict shoots him/her.
have a nice day
Medthadone is only as effective as the user allows it to be. After 1 1/2 years on the stuff, I finally had to demand, and I mean demand, that I be detoxed off of the program. I informed the administering doctor that the whole point of joining the methadone program was to detox off of heroin...not to replace the heroin with methadone. I tried to detox myself off methadone once, and found the withdrawl to be much more horrific than heroin withdraw, which by the way, if far worse than mere "mild flu-symptoms". People don't think. If is was only mild flu symptoms, people wouldn't do such drastic things to avoid withdrawl. Sometimes doctors can be real scary people. Anyway, trying to detox off methadone is difficult not only because the withdrawl symptoms are so severe, but there seems to be hesitancy on the part of the clinic in referrence to detoxing. I don't know if they have retention bonuses or what kind of incentives that are in place for "program maintenance" but there seems to be some hesitancy on the part of clinics to allow for a humain detox. It almost like they want to say..."see, I told you you needed to stay on the program...". To the point: One must take control of their own program. Detox a pace that is comfortable to you. Even one mg a week is ok. The program is only as good as the person using it, as is true of all things in life. We can all find room for abuse and negative outcomes if this is what we seek. True enough, detox isn't easy, but it beats the hell out of a cold turkey heroin withdrawl any day of the week. I will continue until I'm down to 2mg/day. I'm very close.
Ive been on 'done 4 seperate times in 7 years, by choice, to combat chronic pain. I have also been addicted to oxycodone, hydrocodone, heroin, morphine, etc etc. Methadone is much easier to "kick" successfully, at least for me. Last time I got off I was totally "clean" for 18mos but my pain was so severe it was impacting my life MORE than any addiction (pain, depression, non activity, etc) When I kicked last time I was at 120mg/day and went down 10mg a week until I was at 40 or 30mg, then I went down 3mg a week until I was at 10mg where I went to 1mg/week... It took a little time but when I jumped off at 3mg/day, I only had VERY MILD w/ds that were far easier to manage than even 2-3 5mg hydros a day...
Do your own research and know that the experience of methadone is what YOU make out of it. A lot of the anxiety, fear, pain, etc that you "feel" during withdrawl is manifested and amplified by your own mind during the experience.. A positive, willingness to want to stop makes the whole experience MUCH more tolerable than being forced to kick. I know, Ive done it both ways. I WANTED to stop at 120mg/day and it was much easier than stopping say 20mg/day of oxy or hydro, just because I initiated the process and had an active part in it and also took my time to do it right.
The point of methadone is to repair your life, forget your engrained ritualistic habits, and to move on. If you take it for other uses like pain control it can be very effective w/less mental stigma than if you are a "junky" that is forced to take it thru judicial sentencing or intervention.
For me methadone is a life saver when my chronic pain is in full swing. The unpredictable fast cycling of short term opioids is a non issue with methadone. You don't get "high" and no euphoria, but you DO get good analgesic properties and pain control...
Good luck everyone.
I agree that methadone withdrawl is very, very tough... and if titrated down, can take months. Even then, the withdrawal continues. The exact half-life of methadone is unknown... some stuff I've read thinks it could be weeks, rather than days. Add to that the fact that the longer you take it, the longer it builds up in your system. Plus, God Bless the soul that ends up in the hospital for surgery while on methadone... there will be NO post-op relief, cause nothing -- repeat nothing -- will work to kill your pain. I've been a pain patient for years, on a number of drugs (even the biggies) and withdrawn from them. In my experience, you will see the devil coming off methadone. If you are a pain patient, I'd think hard and twice before agreeing to methadone; there are other Rx drugs to kill your pain.
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I have been on Methadone for 6years after trying many other things this was my last resort. I now live a "normal" life work 2 jobs have money saved own a car have a baby & a fiance. Maybe methadone isnt for everybody but Im so thankful for it it saved my life who knows were I would be dead? in jail? or infected with HIV. I have a healthy beautiful baby. I have kicked a methadone habit b4 & YES IT IS WAY WORSE & LONGER THAN HERION HERION TAKES 3 TO 4 MAYBE EVEN A WEEK WHERE AS METHADONE TAKES ABOUT 2 MTHS OR SO B4 U CAN SLEEP & AFTER i KICKED IT & GOT OUT OF JAIL i WAS RIGHT BACK ON HERION AGAIN. So to each his own but Im thankful for it bcuz I dont know what wouldve happen to me
Posted by: on August 27, 2006 02:35 AM