Methadone: Methadone Facts

There are different types of recovery programs for those with a methadone addiction. It is important to find the right program. Not every program is right for every person. When you find the right program, you will have a better success rate of not relapsing, which is what family members want, and hopefully the person with the dependency problem.

There are inpatient and outpatient programs. Knowing which one is right for the person with the problem is important. They cannot get the right help if they are in the wrong program. Knowing the differences between inpatient and outpatient is important. Knowing the pros and cons of each will help you find the right program for the person in need of help.

There are inpatient programs to help those with a methadone dependency. This is a great way to still be able to visit the person, yet getting them out of the environment that could potentially hurt them more or kill them. With inpatient programs they have people watching them 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This program has all kinds of meetings, support groups, etc to help the person with the dependency out.

Then there is an outpatient program to help out. This program the person does not live at the facility. They come for the activities assigned them each day or the days they are required. They have a support group, but they are not with that support group 24 hours a day 7 days a week. If you do not need to get them away from the group causing the problem, this might be a good way to go.

Knowing how long someone has been using Methadone and how much they have been taking will probably affect which type of program they go to. Sometimes getting out of the situation can make a huge impact and can really help the person clean up. While others may need the help and support, but not need it 24 hours day surveillance. Finding the right inpatient or outpatient program is important. There are many ways to look for help. There are doctors, psychologist, and other medical professionals who can give their suggestions and even refer someone if that is needed. The right help will help you get the person into the right program, which is of up most importance.

When methadone has been used, finding the right programs is important. When you find a program that will really help them out, you will do anything to get them there and as soon as possible.

Posted by: J Miller on 2012-01-06, 21:24:40

It would be nice if people knew what they were talking about before they answered a question. Methadone is a medication used to treat pain and to treat addiction to drugs like heroin and certain pail killers. The way it's used for pain and for addiction is a bit different though. It's a synthetic opiate, meaning it has about the same effect as opiates, such as morphine or lortab, but it's not made from the opium poppy as "real " opiates are. It's a pretty strong pain killer so it's very effective for moderate to severe pain and the effects lasts longer than the effects of natural opiates. Many people with pain take methadone as a maintenance medication to keep their pain under control and then take a short acting pain medication, like Lortab, for acute pain when they need something more. Another benefit with methadone is that it doesn't cause you to develop a tolerance nearly as fast as you do to natural opiates. When you take drugs like Lortab or morphine you need to keep taking larger doses to get the same effect as the body gets used to the drug. With methadone you can take the same dose for long periods of time and get the same effect. Opiates, synthetic and natural, are very safe to the body and causes no harm to internal organs even if used for many years. There is risk of overdose though so it's very important to take them exactly as prescribed. Your mom should never take more than prescribed or take it more often than prescribed. Because methadone lasts longer the levels of the drug in the blood stream will build up as you keep taking the drug so if you take more than you're supposed to you can easily overdose which can be fatal. Another drawback with opiates is that when taken daily for more than a few weeks the body gets used to getting it and becomes physically dependent. That means that when the person who is dependent stops taking the medication abruptly she will go into withdrawal which makes one very sick for several days. With methadone, because it lasts longer, the withdrawal symptoms also lasts longer. But this can be avoided by reducing the dose little by little down to zero. Drugs like methadone and Lortab should never be stopped abruptly. If your mom uses her medication as presccribed she should be like normal. It should not make her high or intoxicated. A side effect of opiates is tiredness so she may get more tired than usual but that could go away over time and there are ways to avoid it. If your mom seems out of it she could be taking a too high dose. However, people with very severe pain may sometimes have to take very high doses to get relief so if she seems very tired or a bit out of it once in a while it doesn't necessarily mean that she is taking too much. She may need it at that time. If it happens all the time though she should probably reduce her dose. Most people that take methadone function like everyone else so for the most part there is no need to worry.

Finding a recovery program for Methadone addiction

Methadone: Methadone Facts