What is Methadone and How Does it Work?

[Popper]

Can someone tell me about methadone? I've been curious about this medication for a while now. Does it make the user "high" or give them the euphoria normally associated with opioids? I.e. does it make the taker "high"? How well doesit work for pain control? When is it prescribe, i.e. for what conditions? I know that there are "methadone clinics" but I don't know much about them. Do they keep heroin addicts high and that's why they give it to them, i.e. because its safer than herion?

Please tell me everything there is to know about it. Thank you!

 

[phinds]

https://www.physicsforums.com/blog.php?b=3588

 

[Popper]

https://www.physicsforums.com/blog.php?b=3588

Since this is a medical forum it would be a good idea not to require the posterto state why they want to know what we’re asking. Medical problems are very personal things and it's a good idea, not to mention polite, to post other people's, or my, medical problems for whole world to read. In any case I did state what I wanted to do as that page you referred to me suggests. That page states the following

We frequently get questions such as these:

"What is energy?"

"What are Cooper Pairs?"

"What is conservation of momentum?"

etc...etc.

And the persons who asked such questions didn't bother to explain the context of the question, what exactly did he/she wanted to know, and didn't reveal the level of education that he/she could understand.

My post was quite unlike tis since I asked Can someone tell me about methadone? It also says ... didn't bother to explain the context of the question, what exactly did he/she wanted to know. I stated what I wanted to know as follows

(1) I've been curious about this medication for a while now

The reason I want to know would require posting confidential information about my friend(s) or myself, which I won’t do for reasons I'm sure everone will understand. If you think that this is anonymous because nobody knows who I am and who my friends are and it shouldn’t matter then I understand that kind of opinion. My experience tells me different though. People I know from having similar interests as I do have come to the same forums I have and would know who I could or a friend could be easily and for that reason I don’t reveal confidential information on anyone.

That's why I asked the question as I did. I also asked for reasons that I won’t share. It really should be understood that many people have reasons for asking questions for which they cannot share due to reasons regarding confidentiality, especially medical questions.

The above also states [i/]..what exactly did he/she wanted to know//[/i] I stated above exactly what I wanted to know. In this respect I asked

(2) Does it make the user "high" or give them the euphoria normally associated with opioids?

(3) How well does it work for pain control?

(4) When is it prescribe, i.e. for what conditions?

(5) Do they keep heroin addicts high and that's why they give it to them, i.e. because its safer than heroin?

It also says it is hard to comprehend anyone coming here asking a question cold, without first trying to look it up. Regarding that, I already looked it up on the internet and couldn't find satisfactory answers to my questions. I've also talked to other people I know about it. Some say that it maks you high or makes you feel euphorica while others say it doesn't.

I didn't ask in full detail as described in your post because I was unaware of that page and don't see anybody asking questions in such detail elsewhere in this or other forums. I also have reasons for not doing that level of description of what I've done to date but that's too personal to describe on the Internet. Thank you.

 

[mazinse]

I thought one of the reason people use methadone was because it does not give the "high" and thereby making it a tolerable treatment for addicts.

 

[phinds]

My point in posting that link was to encourage you to do some research on you own, which should be quite easy, and then come here with specific questions, NOT ask for a huge long discourse which would cover material that you would see in your own research.

 

[Popper]

My point in posting that link was to encourage you to do some research on you own, which should be quite easy, and then come here with specific questions, NOT ask for a huge long discourse which would cover material that you would see in your own research.

I did a long search over a long period of time and was unable to get the questions I posted answered. The long discourse would be to describe and explain all that I've learned in that time. It's easier to ask what I don't know rather than post what I know and ask people to post the rest of what I haven't posted and don't care about. The people who responded seem to have understood my question.

 

[Popper]

I thought one of the reason people use methadone was because it does not give the "high" and thereby making it a tolerable treatment for addicts.

I read that methadone in high doses blocks the eulphoria that opioids would give them. However I've talked to people who have spoken to people comming out of those clinics and they appear to be high. Confusing. I don't know what would happen if given in lower dosages and would that be effective for pain. Would high doses put a patient a risk by accidental overdose?

 

[mazinse]

high doses definitely has cardiac toxicity.

 

[Yanick]

I read that methadone in high doses blocks the eulphoria that opioids would give them. However I've talked to people who have spoken to people comming out of those clinics and they appear to be high. Confusing. I don't know what would happen if given in lower dosages and would that be effective for pain. Would high doses put a patient a risk by accidental overdose?

You've spoken to people who have spoken to people who appear to be high? Is that what you are basing your research on? Is there no other possibility of why this person seemed high except that methadone makes you high? If this is your idea of research I have to agree with phinds.

Have you looked at sources beyond Wikipedia and the first couple of results of google and your friends who may have spoken to someone who spoke to someone while high?

Try eMedicine from Medscape, its a reference for medical professionals. Should contain a ton of information. Lastly, you may want to speak to an actual counselor/Doctor about this instead of listening to someone who saw someone who may have been high.

 

[Popper]

You've spoken to people who have spoken to people who appear to be high? Is that what you are basing your research on? Is there no other possibility of why this person seemed high except that methadone makes you high? If this is your idea of research I have to agree with phinds.

Who said that was research? Certainly not I. I said I did research by reading various medical websites on the topic. Then I spoke to people who used it and those who took them to clinics. All of this as incosistent so I posted a question here. Period. It's not a good idea to ignore what a variety of people say merely because I don't have medical data on them. It's useful in oder to see whether you're getting the whole story and gives you information on what questions to ask. But I looked on a variety of medical web sites and they made no mention of whether a person gets high on non-high doses of methadone. I wouldn't suggest such a thing for someone of all they did was get high on it or if they needed it for pain but it meant that they were loopy all the time. Hence this thread.

 

[Tzikin]

You should be able to find and deduce the positive questions but matters of why methadone is not used for pain control are less obvious.
Methadone has too long a half life to be an effective tool in terms of pain which often varies during the day and shorter half life opiates are generally preferable. Other preparations are available that cover a whole night's sleep and this really is the maximum desirable half-life for an opiate.

 

[DiracPool]

You should be able to find and deduce the positive questions but matters of why methadone is not used for pain control are less obvious.
Methadone has too long a half life to be an effective tool in terms of pain which often varies during the day and shorter half life opiates are generally preferable. Other preparations are available that cover a whole night's sleep and this really is the maximum desirable half-life for an opiate.

Methadone withdrawal is a b$%^#, just ask Chuck Negron.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM7zb5FMmLM


I recommend Buprenorphine.

 

[DiracPool]

Methadone withdrawal is a b$%^#, just ask Chuck Negron.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM7zb5FMmLM I recommend Buprenorphine.

Chuck is so loaded in this video, you'd think it was Danny, but Danny was just a clown, he wasn't a real partier

This is before he started wearing long sleeve black shirts to hide the blood and track marks. I thinks he's doing OK today, though, a real success story.

 

[xAxis]

Methadone is only prescribed for opiate addiction. Its sole purpose is to keep addicts off heroin and other opiates. It is not very effective as a pain killer. Methadone doesn't give "high", it just stops or largely reduces the opiate cravings.

 

[OCR]

Methadone is only prescribed for opiate addiction. Its sole purpose is to keep addicts off heroin and other opiates. It is not very effective as a pain killer. Methadone doesn't give "high", it just stops or largely reduces the opiate cravings.

Methadone is [STRIKE]only[/STRIKE] prescribed for opiate addiction. Its [STRIKE]sole[/STRIKE] purpose is to keep addicts off heroin and other opiates. It is [STRIKE]not[/STRIKE] very effective as a pain killer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methadone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methadone#Analgesic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methadone#Other_uses

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18676827




OCR