Posts Tagged ‘methadone users’
Methadone Addictions: Methadone Addiction and Abuse Issues
Methadone is a prescribed drug used to treat major pain. It also aids in the treatment of people addicted to heroin without experiencing unbearable withdrawal symptoms. Heroin causes an overload of dopamine to be released into your brain. This causes addicts feel an unending need for the drug to continue the high. Methadone can satisfy this need for an opiate, but without the feeling of ecstasy that comes with using heroin. Although people who use this treatment drug are in effect transferring their dependence from one drug to another, they aren’t as unstable or experiencing intense impulses as when they used heroin. As soon as the desire to use heroin is completely gone, the patients are weaned from of the methadone, but this can take up to several years to complete.
Symptoms of Methadone Withdrawal: The Methadone Abuse and Addiction
Methadone is a prescription medication that is used to treat severe pain. It also helps those addicted to heroin to cease their use of the drug without experiencing horrendous withdrawal symptoms. Since heroin causes an excess of dopamine to be released into the brain, addicts feel a constant need for the drug to maintain this high. Methadone satisfies this need for an opiate without the euphoria associated with heroin. While users of methadone are ultimately transferring their dependence from one drug to another, they become more stable and no longer experience urgent impulses to take heroin. Once the desire to take heroin is completely diminished, patients are then weaned off of the methadone, although this process can sometimes take several years to complete.