NeuroTalk Support Groups - Warning issued on dangers of methadone

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Warning issued on dangers of methadone

This was posted in the Health News Headlines forum here at NeuroTalk.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061127/...hadone_warning

Quote:

WASHINGTON - People starting treatment with methadone have died and suffered life-threatening side effects, health officials said Monday in warning of the dangers of overdosing on the painkiller.

Overdoses of the increasingly popular narcotic can cause slow or shallow breathing and dangerous changes in heart beat that patients might not feel, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Those side effects, including reports of deaths, have been seen in patients starting methadone treatment for severe pain or who switched to the drug after using other strong narcotic pain relievers, the FDA said in a public health advisory.

The FDA warned that methadone only provides pain relief for four to eight hours, but can linger in the body for eight to 59 hours. That can lead patients to take more of the drug before it has been eliminated by the body, causing the drug to build up in the body to toxic levels, the FDA said.

Doctors should prescribe methadone carefully and closely monitor patients on the drug, the FDA said. Doctors also should thoroughly instruct patients how to take the painkiller, warning them not to take more than prescribed without first checking with the doctor, the agency added.

Methadone use is rising, especially for the treatment of pain, with more than 2 million prescription dispensed in 2003, according to the FDA. Increased reports of deaths and serious injuries have accompanied that greater use.

In 2003, methadone was listed as a cause of 2,452 unintentional poisoning deaths in the U.S., up from 623 in 1999, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

The FDA also said it updated the label for the methadone product Dolophine to include new dosing and other information.
A spokesman for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., whose Roxane Laboratories subsidiary makes Dolophine, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Methadone is similar to morphine and is most widely used to treat severe pain. The drug also is used in the treatment of heroin addiction.

On a personal note-

It's about time someone started noticing the half-life concerns with Methdaone. For years and years I have seen patients on chronic pain forums warn each other and discuss the half-life... I myself used to do the half-life math for people so that they understood how much Methadone was in their system by the 5th day.

It's a great pain killer that works well for so many, so I'm glad that this major safety issue is finally getting enough attention so that doctors can be more aware and more cautious when they prescribe it to their patients - and so that patients can be more aware of the half-life so that they know that the 10mg pill they took today will not fully leave their system for 5+ days.

Liz

Thanks Liz for the warning. Unfortunately I can't get anything stronger than an anti-inflammatory from my pain doc right now. No clue what I am going to do about that right now but I am working on it.

Great post, Liz. Methadone can be very effective - it is what I take - but it absolutely must be prescribed correctly. All the evidence suggests that it is very safe in the hands of experienced docs. Of course many of the deaths come from the population of addicts, but I think it is clear that, unfortunately, deaths in the chronic pain population are increasing.

Personally, I would never trust a physician prescribing methadone for me unless I was absolutely sure about their background, and that they had lots of experience specifically with the medication, and had talked with them about their philosophy and prescription practices. I realize that this may not always be possible for all of us - so we have to be as informed as we possibly can.

And there is another potentially serious problem - cardiac arrhythmias. This issue has been know for some years now but is still ignored by some docs. Anyone who is starting methadone needs to screened for cardiac risk factors, which includes an EKG.

Here are a couple of references:

Methadone heart health
Abnormal heart rhythm

rfinney

Please read this as well:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=1120 post #4

Methadone is the only opiate so far known to affect the QT sequence of the heart.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiberowendy2000 (Post 42781)

I had that same problem a few years ago. The 2 things that finally woke my doctor up was my pain journal and my husband.

In my pain journal I kept track of daily pain levels, activity levels, and activities that I was unable to do because of pain and other symptoms.

When I talk to my doctor about my pain, I also use the laundry/sex scale to measure my ability to do activity. For me since I live in a 3rd floow condo doing laundry means going downstairs and outside to the next building to the laundry room. So measuring my ability to do laundry is a measure of my physical activity capabilities.

Measuring my sex ability is about how the pain is affecting my mental state. If the pain is high I have no mental desire to engage in sex.

So, the sex/laundry scale communicates my mental and physical state to my doctor.

Having my husband there at my appointments helps the doctor to realize that my pain impacts him as well -- because when i can't do my laundry he has to do it for me, and my inability to have sex certainly has an impact on his life ;)

Once my doctor saw my pain journal, listened to me talk about laundry and sex, and listened to my husbands input she stopped bothering with the anti-inflamatories and realized that I needed more pain relief to be able to get through a normal day.

I want to thank you for this article. Even though, I take methadone as one of my pain meds, and I take it as prescribed, I had no idea that it was such a dangerous med.
I have heart disease and had a heart attack two years ago with a stent put in. Makes me wonder..... Also, I have heart arithmia but had that before I was even taking methadone, so I don't know. But, I do appreciate all the info. I like to be as informed as possible on the meds that I take.

Thanks,
Linda :)

I been on methadone for chronic brain pain almost 10 yr.
This first looked like Custer headaches then when pain cycle did not "break" I got labeled Chronic Custer headaches.
Now they just list as Chronic brain pain and no reason given.
wrritten for 80mg aday.
I saw this in the posting

"In 2003, methadone was listed as a cause of 2,452 unintentional poisoning"

And was wondering this unintentional poisoning means what and how it happen?
Any brand to stay away from.
I dont like methadose its half as good and screws with tummy filled with other junkie.
Thanks in advance

Thanks for this information. My hubby takes Methadone and is doing well with it. It is true that one must be careful when starting this med. My hubby almost OD'd on it in the beginning because it "appeared" to not be working at first so the nurse in charge of the methadone dosage up'd the med not realizing the danger. He became disorientated and extremely high one day and I called the doctor who immediately stopped his dosage to a much lower dose. The doctor knew what had happened and how methadone takes time to get into the system. Needless to say, that nurse wasn't in charge anymore.

Hi. My daughter is currently taking diladid for pain. She is a math major and is not able to do calculus while on this medication. She is looking at having to drop out of college for a while and is very depressed. Are you able to function normally while on methadone? I had heard that it does not give you as much of a high as the diladid. Please let me know how it has worked for you.

Thank you

Julie

Jim seems to do fine on it Julie. Doesn't appear to be high and functions normally.