While many people have tried to used methadone to stabilize withdrawal symptoms and lead a normal life after opioids or heroin dependency, they can then be stuck in a cycle of methadone addiction. The uncertainty and denial that can come from a methadone addiction can be mentally and physically exhausting. GH Recovery Solutions offers you a way out from methadone addiction. Recovery from methadone addiction and dependency is possible. Reach out today to take back your life from the grips of methadone addiction.
GH Recovery Solutions guides you to recovery through personal responsibility, accountability and teaching you the life skills you need to leave a methadone addiction behind. We believe in putting people first. That is the foundation of our philosophy. GH Recovery Solutions can help you to end the cycle of methadone addiction and help you build the life you want to live.
How Do I Know if I Need Methadone Addiction Treatment?
If you are tied to a methadone clinic, or your prescribing doctor to function in daily life, you need methadone addiction treatment. While methadone is mainly used as a maintenance medication, and for long-term pain treatment, it has a grip on the lives of those who take it just as all addictive drugs do. Methadone is a dangerous drug that can also be heavily abused when not monitored properly. Entering a substance abuse treatment center for methadone addiction can give you your life back. GH Recovery Solutions is here to help you gain your independence from methadone.
Methadone is a long-acting synthetic opioid pain medication. It is typically used as a maintenance medication to help those addicted to other opioids such as heroin. Methadone is also used as a painkiller for moderate to severe long-term pain treatment. Methadone is an opioid; there is still a high rate of methadone addiction and abuse. Even when methadone maintenance programs are being closely monitored, addiction and dependence can still occur. Methadone works by being a long-acting drug to ease withdrawal symptoms from other opiates like heroin and prescription opioids. Methadone stays in the bloodstream for 1-2 days.
Therefore, tolerance is quickly built up to the drug. Even once someone has stopped using other opiates, they are still physically addicted to methadone, and this can impede on the quality of life that they may have. GH Recovery Solutions offers many treatment options for methadone addiction.
If you or a loved one are struggling with methadone addiction, please reach out to GH Recovery Solutions at (888) 345-2025. We can help.
Quick Facts About Methadone Abuse and Addiction
- Methadone is involved in one-third of opiate pain reliever-related deaths.
- Methadone is a Schedule II drug, meaning it has legitimate medical and legal use but also has an extremely high likelihood of users developing a dependence on it.
- When methadone is abused or combined with other drugs such as benzos or alcohol it can cause significant problems including overdose and death.
- Methadone has a 22-hour half-life (the amount of time a drug stays in the body before its concentration drops by half) meaning that multiple doses build a tolerance to the drug, and its effects.
- The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recommends a minimum of one year in a methadone maintenance treatment program for the best outcomes.
- In 2005, more than 4,000 fatally overdosed on methadone or methadone and combinations of other drugs.
- Methadone is prescribed in a pill form for the use of long-term pain treatment and in liquid form to help treat addiction to opiate drugs like heroin which are given .
- Methadone clinics will drug test their patients and people can be dropped from methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) if they continuously give a positive drug test for other drugs.
- Methadone abuse can present similar if not the same, side effects as other opioids.
- For methadone to be used as a treatment of opioid addiction the treatment facility administering it must be certified by the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) and registered by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prescribe methadone.
Physiology and Side Effects of Methadone Addiction and Abuse
Since methadone is an opioid, it reacts in the brain the same way other opioids do but doesn’t produce the same high when taken as prescribed. Methadone increases the amount of dopamine in the brain like other opioids, but not much more than what is naturally produced to offer pain relief and to calm the body. When someone is dependent on other narcotics, such as heroin, methadone can be very useful in reducing cravings for other opiates. When methadone is abused, the effects are amplified and can be dangerous.
When methadone is abused, it has side effects like other opioids and becomes highly addictive. Repeated use of methadone results in tolerance and more methadone is required to achieve the same relief, or high, from methadone. Common side effects of methadone abuse are:
• Dry mouth
• Lack of coordination
• Depressed respiratory function
• Constipation
• Drowsiness
• Depressed heart rate
• Pinned pupils
• Overdose
Understanding Methadone Abuse and Addiction
When methadone is taken for extended amounts of time, it causes the person’s mind and body to become dependent on methadone. This repeated use of methadone, even prescribed, can become an addiction. When someone uses methadone without a prescription, this is abuse and can end in methadone addiction. Many of the people who do not properly utilize a methadone maintenance program (MMT) resort back to other narcotics and illicit drugs such as heroin. Methadone is an opioid and when someone stops taking it, it causes cravings for opiates, and the painful withdrawal process begins. The back and forth of a methadone program feeds into the dangerous cycle of using other drugs along with methadone to try to get clean from methadone and increases the risk for an overdose.
If you or a loved one are stuck in the endless loop of trying to get off of a methadone program, GH Recovery Solutions can help you. You do not have to do this alone, and we offer other options if you prefer to stay on a medication-assisted treatment path. We know that recovery from methadone addiction is possible; let us help you to achieve long-term sobriety.
Understanding and identifying signs and symptoms of methadone abuse and addiction can be very hard. Methadone is an opioid, and it is a prescription drug, it has very similar side effects of other medications in the same drug class, and street drugs such as heroin. Since it can also be a prescribed medication there are some side effects that are limited to that of prescription drug abuse.
Signs of methadone abuse
Mood
- Euphoric mood
- Mood swings
- Lowered motivation
- Irritability
- Forgetfulness
- Change in patterns
- Increased sleeping
- Lowered inhibitions
- Aloofness
- Improved self-esteem
Behavioral
- Hoarding of medications
- Going to multiple doctors for the same medication
- Nodding off at inappropriate times
- Miscellaneous pills being hidden
- Purchasing prescription methadone on the street
- Drug-seeking behaviors
- Crushing or breaking pills
- Wearing long sleeves in warm weather (to hide track marks)
- Changes in eating habits
- Changes in sleep patterns
Physical
- Constricted pupils
- Constipation
- Slowed breathing
- Flushed skin
- Oversleeping
- Fatigue
- Tolerance to normal dosage
- Unexplained itchiness
- Lack of coordination
- Bruises and track marks (from IV abuse of methadone)
Get Help for Methadone Addiction
At GH Recovery Solutions we know that recovery is possible. Reach out to one of our admissions coordinators today to get treatment for methadone addiction for yourself, or a loved one.
The endless cycle of trying to get sober from a methadone addiction can be tiring and trying. GH Recovery Solutions can help you to overcome methadone addiction and show you how to build a life that you want to live. You can heal, we can help. Call us at (888) 345-2025 to participate in your recovery today.
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