Combating Methadone Withdrawal
When individuals who suffer from substance abuse disorder take advantage of medication options during detox and treatment, they’re afforded a luxury that was once considered lost. They’re able to focus on recovery without chasing heroin and other opiates – all without suffering through the dreaded withdrawal process.
This changes life in a big way for individuals who suffer from opiate abuse disorder, considering that the fear of withdrawal dictated every element of their lives while they were actively using. Medications like Suboxone and methadone aren’t replacements for heroin and other opiates, and they don’t mean you can use them to dodge the symptoms of withdrawal forever.
The Role of Methadone
When you become immersed in the excitement of a life without the daily need to “get well” by any means necessary, it’s easy to forget a couple of important facts.
The first is that medications like methadone and Suboxone lead to physical dependence and require detoxification that includes a period of withdrawal. Additionally, the symptoms associated with methadone withdrawal can sometimes be more intense than more common opiates like heroin.
The uninitiated user may not be familiar with methadone outside of the existence of clinics that dispense this medication. However, methadone has a very storied history regarding substance abuse treatment, with uses reported as early as 1966 to treat heroin addiction. The date of the very first case of synthesis goes back much earlier than that.
What Is Methadone?
Methadone was first synthesized in 1939 as part of an effort to research and develop newer forms of analgesics as part of Hitler’s Four Year Plan for a completely independent Germany. Initially, the medication was created with the intention of eliminating the dependence on imported goods associated with morphine production.
However, the drug would never have the chance to take off in Germany because of the country’s subsequent loss in World War 2. After the war was officially over, any patents belonging to the previous regime were dissolved and sold to the highest bidder.
It wouldn’t take much of a bid in the case of methadone, as the patent was sold for a single dollar. Fast forward to Rockefeller University in 1966, where Mary Jeanne Kreek had been conducting extensive research regarding methadone as a treatment option for heroin.
The Development of Methadone Clinics
Kreek interviewed hundreds of individuals with heroin abuse disorder, and eventually concluded that addiction was a disease and not an issue of morality or a predisposition for criminal behavior. Methadone clinics began opening in small numbers after her groundbreaking research paper was published the same year.
Critics questioned the credibility and effectiveness of methadone, citing that it was just a replacement way of continuing substance abuse. However, Kreek’s response stated that people develop a dependency on many types of medications, and in almost every case, a doctor recommends that patients back off slowly.
She believed that changes took place in the brain after long periods of heroin exposure. Without the need for drug seeking and drug chasing behavior to fight off withdrawal, the brain is able to return to a normal state after enough time.
Kreek found methadone so effective at treating heroin abuse disorder because of its long-acting properties and the fact that dosing was only required once per day. This effectiveness and strength is produced as a result of the half-life of methadone, and the fact that the drug is a full agonist.