Author: Charles Frank

Methadone Withdrawal Symptoms and Treatments

Naloxone reverses the effects of opioids during an emergency if you stop breathing. Narcan and Revive are naloxone nasal sprays you can buy without a prescription. You may be eager to reach your goal, but your body needs time to adjust to lower levels of opioids, and then to none at all. A step-by-step plan to lower how much opioid medicine you take will help this process go smoothly. This slow tapering also helps ease the discomfort you may feel as you stop taking opioids.

1. Whatever they decide, the Checklist provides guidance in optimizing the recovery effort, whether or not the patient remains on medication.
2. So, dose reductions can occur once a week, once every two weeks, or less often.
3. The good thing about opioid withdrawal is that you may already be familiar with how to manage many of the symptoms since it’s so similar to the flu.

It is also a medication that can help ease the symptoms of withdrawal from other opioids. In most cases, doctors prescribe it for this purpose, not for relieving pain. Methadone is an opioid that doctors may prescribe to people experiencing pain for whom other opioids do not work or to those with a high risk of developing addiction. Taking steps toward recovery is admirable and will improve your long-term health. While withdrawal from any addictive substance may be difficult, the long-term benefits far outweigh the risks. If you’re taking methadone, consider talking with a healthcare professional about possible interactions before you start a new medication.

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Ultimately, a medical detox program can help to lower the intensity of withdrawal symptoms and provide around-the-clock support, making a successful detox much more likely. A slow methadone taper can take several weeks, lowering the dosage once a week or so. A more rapid methadone taper can lower the dosage by 10 percent every day for a week or two, depending on the starting dose. The journal The Mental Health Clinician publishes that a methadone taper is highly individual and that dosages will need to be adjusted accordingly during a taper. This can range from lowering the dosage 10 percent to 50 percent daily or over a period of two weeks at a time. In short, the amount of methadone taken each day during a taper will depend on the person, their tolerance level, and how it feels.

Sources of Support

If you have opioid use disorder, you probably know what to expect from opioid withdrawal. Feeling like you have a terrible flu, vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, and insomnia are all common. With a short-acting opioid, these withdrawal symptoms can be intense but typically peak within a couple of days and begin to resolve. Your healthcare professional may recommend combining your taper with counseling from an alcohol and drug counselor.

When to contact a doctor

Always consult your healthcare provider to ensure the information displayed on this page applies to your personal circumstances. Keeping in regular contact with your healthcare team, if you have one, can help make the process more tolerable. You may be prescribed anti-nausea medications or medications to help ease anxiety and irritability. Buprenorphine, clonidine, and naloxone are all medications that can help relieve symptoms. While there’s no definitive withdrawal test, your healthcare team may check a urine sample to rule out any other drug interactions that may be causing your symptoms. You may either have to resupply the substance or let your body go through the withdrawal process while it creates a natural state of balance again.

Methadone Withdrawal Timeline

By Corinne O’Keefe OsbornCorinne Osborn is an award-winning health and wellness journalist with a background in substance abuse, sexual health, and psychology. These numbers aren’t pretty, but don’t let them scare or discourage you. Knowing the odds will help you understand the value of ongoing treatment. The WHO acknowledges that this is only a general recommendation and that the taper schedule should be tailored to each individual’s needs. So, dose reductions can occur once a week, once every two weeks, or less often. Opioids affect the way your brain works, flooding it with neurotransmitters.

Once your opioid taper starts and you’re taking a lower dose of opioids, you start to have a lower tolerance to opioids. If you suddenly take a higher dose of opioids, you’re at an increased risk of overdose. Especially follow your healthcare professional’s instructions about how and when to take medicines during the taper. If you’ve taken opioids for less than 7 to 10 days, you should be able to simply stop these medicines as soon as you’ve finished the pills your healthcare professional ordered, if not before. Ask your healthcare team if you’re not sure when you can stop your opioid medicine. Connery and Weiss52 offer a recent summary of some of the outstanding questions in their Editorial in the February 2020 issue The American Journal of Psychiatry, which features studies on this topic.

Methadone, like other opioids, is labeled a Schedule II drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), meaning it has a high chance of leading to drug dependency. Like all opioids, methadone’s origins can be traced back to opium, a product of the poppy plant. Additionally, staff can verify any insurance benefits, or you can verify your insurance benefits online. Plus, if you’re not ready to talk, you can sign up to receive insights via text.

Physical Side Effects

Binding to mu receptors isn’t the only mode of action methadone has in your body. Methadone works by specifically targeting a type of opioid receptor known as a mu receptor. A 2009 research review explains the mu receptor appears to be specifically related to the body’s reward process.

People recovering from opioid misuse are at higher risk of death than the general public. Methadone withdrawal is difficult, so it’s best not to attempt to do it on your own. Let your doctor know any troubles you are having so that they can help treat your withdrawal symptoms if they arise. Support groups can connect you with others who understand what you’re going through.

Symptoms may vary depending on several issues, such as the speed of the opioid taper and how long you’ve used opioid medicines. Tapering over time can help lessen withdrawal symptoms or keep you from having them. Are physicians clear on how to train the counselors to discuss meds with their patients? Do either of groups have skills beyond instruction (e.g., “it is too risky to go off medication”) to help patients work through their resistance? These aforementioned areas are implementation issues, and far too little is spent understanding these barriers to effective care.