Methadone Hydrochloride is a synthetic opiate that German pharmaceutical companies initially synthesized during the Second World War, and it was first marketed as Dolophine.
Taking any number of prescription opioid medications daily can result in physical dependency. Methadone addiction and dependence can even surface for patients with chronic pain or illnesses that have required the prescription. Methadone dependence results in withdrawal if therapy is discontinued, but this can be managed.
The much more significant threat is opiate addiction. This means that a person is both physically and psychologically dependent upon medication. It may also imply that there is some level of misuse or abuse involved.
Methadone Addiction
Methadone addiction usually occurs after prolonged daily use of the drug. It causes dysfunction of the brain’s reward, memory, motivation, and related circuitry. Addiction is generally characterized as the inability to abstain, behavioral control, cravings, dysfunctional emotional response, and diminished recognition of risks.
But what happens when people become dependent or addicted to medication prescribed to treat opiate addiction? Well, for starters, they should look at non-opiate options for treatment. Methadone, Suboxone, and Subutex are opiate replacements used to treat addiction to drugs, including heroin, OxyContin, Vicodin, and Percocet. They are opiates, however, so they can be habit-forming. They can also be abused.
If you are taking Methadone for opiate addiction, you are still addicted to opiate drugs, and the withdrawals will likely be complicated, if not impossible, to overcome on your own. This is not because dependent people are weak; The very nature of methadone addiction makes a recovery without help nearly impossible. The effects of methadone are longer-lasting than those of morphine-based drugs.
Methadone Dependence
Methadone Dependence occurs when the neurons adapt to the drug exposure and require the presence of such a drug in order to function. If the drug is withdrawn, severe physiological symptoms (methadone withdrawal) may occur.
•An estimated one million Americans are addicted to heroin. About 120,000 people take Methadone to control their heroin addiction.
•According to a 2012 statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), methadone now accounts for nearly a third of opioid-associated deaths.
•About 20 percent of methadone patients continue the opiate-substitute treatment for more than ten years.
These are some negative physical consequences that can result from Methadone dependence:
•Anaphylactic reactions
•Gastrointestinal disturbance
•Cardiovascular damages
•Depressed pulmonary function
•Sexual impotence
•Death due to overdose
Treatment Options to Come Off Methadone
Waismann Method Methadone is a humane and effective detoxification option that thousands of opiate-dependent patients have chosen. Patients are treated in a hospital by board-certified physicians. The recovery is a lot quicker, and the success rates a lot higher than trying to quit on your own. This type of accelerated Methadone detoxification allows patients to be under sedation through the acute withdrawal syndrome.
We have been treating patients suffering from Methadone addition since the late 90s, and to date, over 98% of patients have been successfully detoxed.
Safe, rapid detox hinges on the specific program chosen. Responsible rapid detox centers provide this expert treatment in an accredited hospital and help patients through the transitional period in a recovery facility.
