People who fall victim to methadone addiction are often the most tragic examples of the perils of addictive drugs. Methadone is a narcotic medication commonly used as a substitute for heroin during detox. Methadone simulates the effects of heroin, but is less powerful. Because it is so dangerous to abruptly cease heroin use, methadone is used as a way of gradually weaning the patient off. Unfortunately, because it is close to heroin in effect, feeling and rush, patients sometimes wind up getting addicted to a completely new drug. Despite its use as a positive agent in heroin recovery, methadone does have addictive properties and, like anything else, should only be used under a doctor’s care. The horrific irony of methadone addiction is that it often claims patients who were making a concerted effort to try and break free from their heroin habit. There are, however, many other scenarios through which one can fall into methadone addiction. It is, like any other drug, widely available on the street. Additionally, patients may fool their doctors into prescribing more than they need to kick heroin, take more than the recommended dose, barter for heroin, or use it in conjunction with heroin.

The Dangerous Effects of Methadone Addiction

Since methadone mirrors the effects of heroin, many of the results of prolonged abuse will be the same: headaches, dizziness, vomiting, nausea, severe weight loss, constipation, weakness, lightheadedness, etc. The long-term and potentially fatal symptoms are also very similar: pulmonary problems, respiratory failure, digestive complications, heart disease, blood pressure problems, muscle spasms, coma, etc. Methadone addiction is no safer than that of heroin. The risks of overdosing are the same, and both could very well kill you. Methadone can also do considerable damage to your central nervous system. If you or a loved one find yourself on a doctor-prescribed methadone treatment routine, be sure to stick to it and take only what your physician tells you to, when he tells you to. Anything else will compromise your recovery and render your treatment efforts futile.

Methadone Addiction Treatment and Recovery

If you or someone close to you has fallen into methadone addiction, please call us. We can put you in touch with capable, compassionate and credentialed detox and counseling centers. Our representatives have at their disposal, a wealth of resources and contacts in the methadone addiction recovery field, and are eager to put them to work to help you fight your addiction. Your first step should be detoxification, followed by residential drug treatment therapy. After that, the support of likeminded people, family and friends, and continued outpatient counseling is highly recommended. The National Alcohol and Substance Abuse Information Center (NASAIC) maintains a continuously updated national database of Methadone addiction treatment programs in your local area, as well as the leading recommended Methadone addiction treatment centers in the United States and around the world.