Methadone

What is methadone?

Methadone is an opioid pain reliever that works the same way morphine works. An opioid is often called a narcotic. Doctors suggest this medicine to reduce withdrawal symptoms in people who are addicted to heroin or some other narcotic drugs without stimulating the "high" related to the drug addiction.

Methadone is prescribed as part of drug addiction treatment and detoxification programs. Some doctors may prescribe methadone for many other purposes as well.

What do patients need to know before using methadone?

Taking methadone inappropriately can increase your risk of having severe side effects or some time it may even cause death. Even if you have used other narcotic treatments, you may still have severe side effects from methadone. That is why you need to follow your doctor's prescription and dosing instructions carefully.

Like many narcotic medicines, methadone may slow your breathing, sometimes long after the pain alleviating effects of the medicines wear off. In the worst case, a life and death situation may happen if breathing gets too weak. You should never use more methadone than your doctor has recommended. You need to call your doctor or physician if you really feel the medicine or the current dose is not working. You should not stop using methadone instantly you feel that because you can have terrible withdrawal symptoms. You need to call your doctor or your physician if you miss any dose or forget to take this drug for longer three days in a row.

You should not drink any amount of alcohol while taking methadone because it can enhance the effects of alcohol that could be really risky for your health. To avoid the complexities you need to have a closer look at all the medicine and food labels to be more confident that your foods do not have alcohol.

Methadone may sometime impair your reactions or thinking to some extent. For that reason you must avoid driving or operating machines until you figure out how methadone can affect you.

You should not use methadone if you have ever felt any allergic reaction to any narcotic medicine such as codeine, Oxycontin, Lortab, morphine, Darvocet, Vicodin, Percocet, and many similar types of medicines. You need to avoid taking methadone if you have had an asthma related problem or if you have got a bowel obstruction that is called paralytic ileus.

To use this medicine properly, you should inform your doctor or physician if you have any of these conditions: sleep apnea, asthma, COPD, or other types of breathing disorders; kidney disease; mental illness; curvature of the spine; Addison's disease; underactive thyroid; liver disease; urination problems; epilepsy, other seizure disorder; any brain tumor or head injury; gallbladder disease; low blood pressure; or any record of addiction.

Taking methadone during pregnancy

At present it is not known whether methadone can cause any problem to an unborn child. However methadone can cause withdrawal symptoms or addiction in a child if the mother takes the drug during her pregnancy. You need to inform your doctor or physician if you are pregnant or planning to conceive while taking this medicine.

Again, methadone may pass into the breast milk and might cause a lot of harm to a nursing baby. Thus if you are breast-feeding a baby, you should not take the medicine without discussion with your doctor about taking methadone.

What are the side effects of Methadone?

You need to get emergency help if you notice any of the allergic reactions to methadone such as difficulty breathing; hives; swelling of your face, tongue, lips, or throat. You should look for a doctor if you notice any of these serious side effects including shallow breathing; confusion or hallucinations; chest pain, fainting, dizziness, fast or pounding heartbeat; or feeling light-headed, trouble breathing, or fainting.

Some of the less serious methadone side effects are: feeling nervous, anxious, or restless; feeling weak or drowsy; sleep problems or insomnia; nausea, dry mouth, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, loss of appetite; or impotence, decreased sex drive, or difficulty having an orgasm.

However, this is not a complete list of all the side effects and some other side effects may occur in few occasions. If you feel any unusual or bothersome side effects of the medicine you should inform your doctor immediately.

So like all other medicines proper precautions and safety measures should be taken before having the medicine. Again this medicine should only be taken in a proper way after consulting with a doctor.