Reading this article, I laughed out loud when it stated that methadone is cheap. Perhaps it is cheap to manufacture, but a nearby clinic charges a $200 enrollment fee, & a $110 weekly fee. And what the study may not take into account is that a significant number of addict clients take cocaine as well as smoke weed & cigarettes. I feel this article may be a bit misleading in stating "methadone linked to sudden cardiac death."
Methadone Linked To Sudden Cardiac Death
- Thread starter Ominous
- Start date
Also, many clients at methadone clinics take benzos such as xanax, valium, adivan, and clonidine. I don't know what detrimental effects, if any, these would have on one's heart, but its something to add to the "cardiac" study. All of this is coming from the angle of methadone as used as a tool for opiate addiction recovery. "Theraputic" doses of methadone can range from 1-250mgs or even more, depending upon one's level of addiction. There's much ignorance about this subject because of lack of education.
the_hammer
Jedi
The study wasn't only about the addicts. The article stated that cancer patients on Methadone suffered from cardiac malfunctions as well. For these findings to have any real value, one would hope they considered wether the people, whoes hearts stopped functioning, had just recieved a higher dosage..
As for buying Methadone, it is very cheap, when not getting any therapy, since you can get a 5.000ml bottle (1mg/ml) for 78.35 US dollars.
-http://www.medicin.dk/(eqavss453whi3f453jisvfen)/show.aspx;
AP4 oral opl. 1 mg/ml 452052 5000 ml 394,70dkk
As for buying Methadone, it is very cheap, when not getting any therapy, since you can get a 5.000ml bottle (1mg/ml) for 78.35 US dollars.
-http://www.medicin.dk/(eqavss453whi3f453jisvfen)/show.aspx;
AP4 oral opl. 1 mg/ml 452052 5000 ml 394,70dkk
I should've said, it's cheap to make AND to acquire IF you're a methadone clinic (or prescribed it for pain)...but $110/WEEK is what clinics charge their "patients." Of course that also includes 1 hour of counciling/month. Anyhow, back to the topic: I'm not sure this is on par w/, say, the dangers of alcohol or breathing smoke into your lungs...the human body is very resilient & we keep finding ways to test that, don't we?
The use in methadone in pain management is a recent practice. People on methadone have been having heart trouble for a long time, but until now, the methadone clinics have been able to attribute it to prolonged illicet drug use before methadone treatment. Only recently with the pain patients has the truth surfaced.
In my personal experience w/ a methadone clinic for the past 8 years, I've not heard any news of "patients" having heart problems. I realize this doesn't mean it isn't so. I can see how clinics would have a vested interest in hiding this info. I need to research this further...then perhaps bring it to the attention of the councilers at the methadone clinic.
the_hammer
Jedi
If one reads about Methadone, it has been known for quite some time that Methadone is linked to cardiac problems, but this is practially only seen when the patient gets high dosages of Methadone and that these problems (of course not death) normally goes away after having been on the same dosage for a period of time.
If you do have contact to a Methadone clinic, Ominous, you could ask them to read about Subutex/Buprenorphin, which appearently can get a person out of the addiction within a matter of weeks if administered correctly. Of course as you said yourself, they could have a vested interest in keeping this to themselves as well, so the people keep comming to the clinic for years.
-http://www.medicin.dk/(eqavss453whi3f453jisvfen)/show.aspx; (unfortunately in Danish, but it is just the leaflet which comes with the medicine put onto the internet)
If you do have contact to a Methadone clinic, Ominous, you could ask them to read about Subutex/Buprenorphin, which appearently can get a person out of the addiction within a matter of weeks if administered correctly. Of course as you said yourself, they could have a vested interest in keeping this to themselves as well, so the people keep comming to the clinic for years.
-http://www.medicin.dk/(eqavss453whi3f453jisvfen)/show.aspx; (unfortunately in Danish, but it is just the leaflet which comes with the medicine put onto the internet)
When I mentioned my "experience" w/ a methadone clinic, I meant that I myself have been ON methadone for 8 years. It was the last ditch effort for me to stop using intravenous drugs. It worked. Unfortunately, it is VERY hard to get off of. I am currently very close to being free of it. Subutex & suboxone work well for those who have lower tolerances, & also for those trying to get off of methadone itself (altho you must be down to at least 30mgs). & now I've found all sorts of info on google concerning the risk sudden cardiac death from methadone!
Its very true that methadone clinics have spread like wildfire throughout the USA. I do know that it gave me the opportunity to return to a productive life by eliminating the intense cravings and physical withdrawals that opiate use brings. But, I can only speak for myself. These years of being on methadone and away from the illicit drug lifestyle have given me the strength to want to get off it AND stay free of opiates. Strangely enuff, at some point during my first 3 years on methadone, I evidently suffered a heart attack! I recall an EKG I had done in 2002 that showed this, supposedly. They couldn't specify WHEN it happened; just that I had scar tissue on my heart. I then had a Stress Test done, & they told me I had the heart of an 18-year-old (!) and had nothing to worry about. I don't think the heart attack had anything to do w/ the methadone, or vice-versa.
