Methadone is a synthetic substance with pharmacological properties similar to morphine and heroin. Methadone is prescribed for patients with severe pain, such as those with serious injuries or those who have undergone major surgery, as it is a long acting pain reliever. Methadone works in the brain to decrease the sensation of pain and to mute the emotional response to pain.
Methadone is also used as a replacement-opiate therapy for heroin addiction. Taking methadone is promoted as a substitution in rehabilitation from heroin, and that is why methadone is sometimes called synthetic or man made heroin. In some cases, methadone rehabilitation has been carried out successfully. In other cases, the person has become overly tolerant and heavily addicted to methadone, and a legal addiction (methadone) has become a substitute for an illegal addiction (heroin). Methadone, from this point of view, may be considered as a drug substitute for heroin, not a cure for addiction. On the other hand, and ironically, methadone used to control narcotic addiction is frequently encountered on the illicit market and has been associated with a number of overdose deaths.
The biochemical effects of methadone are what make it addictive. This substance binds to painkilling sites throughout the brain, known as opioid-µ receptors, and the "reward pathway". This leads to slower uptake of neurotransmitters, like dopamine, between neurons. Immediate effects include cessation of pain, drowsiness, and a feeling of well-being associated with pain reduction.
But with a continued use of methadone, users develop tolerance and physical addiction, because the brain stop producing endorphins, natural painkilling chemicals, and the user must replace the missing endorphins with methadone in order to feel normal. When this use is interrupted or the user does not have enough methadone in the body, he or she goes into withdrawal, as body depends on methadone to function “normally”. That is why withdrawal symptoms are relieved by using methadone again.
Signs and symptoms of Methadone Withdrawal
Withdrawal from methadone is similar to heroin withdrawal, but it lasts much longer (it is often four times longer than heroin withdrawal). Methadone if taken for long periods and at large doses can lead to a very long withdrawal period. As compared to other opiates in which the withdrawal period is a week to ten days, heavy methadone users can expect to not recover for up to 5 or 6 weeks. Many individual end up in methadone "therapy" for years fearing the painful withdrawal that is sure to come when they discontinue use. On the other hand, methadone withdrawal is more painful than heroin withdrawal. Withdrawal from opiates of any kind is almost never life threatening, even when attempted "cold turkey" from a high dose, though it is still terribly unpleasant.
Symptoms are a bad flu-like, but include increased blood pressure, diarrhoea, "gooseflesh", insomnia, twitching, pain, depression and anxiety.
Methadone Withdrawal symptoms include but are not limited to
•Sneezing
•Yawning
•Tearing of eyes
•Runny nose
•Excessive perspiration
•Fever
•Dilated pupils
•Abdominal cramps
•Nausea
•Body aches
•Tremors
•Irritability
Methadone rehabilitation without withdrawal pains is possible
As it has been said, the hardness of the withdrawal syndrome leads to a very high risk of relapse during the early withdrawal period, in part because drug craving is easily triggered by encounters with or thinking of drug-associated stimuli. And that is why withdrawal is a main obstacle for methadone rehabilitation, and detox must be carried out with an appropriate medical management and level of care.
But detox without withdrawal syndrome is possible. The methadone withdrawal process is NOT an imperative start to the methadone rehabilitation process.
To avoid the withdrawal syndrome, it is necessary to restore brain functions that have been damaged by the addiction to methadone. But this is not possible with just “traditional” detox. Neurons must be recovered. Only a pharmacological intervention to recover the normal neural functioning of the brain structures harmed by methadone, allows a detox without withdrawal symptoms and without craving. Moreover, it allows the recovery of higher
cognitive and affective processes as attention, reading abilities, conciousness or serenity.