Methadone Overdose

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Methadone overdose is a serious medical emergency. As reported by federal and state officials, Methadone is increasingly being abused by drug users for recreation and is causing an alarming increase in methadone overdoses and deaths. Methadone is a drug valued for treating heroin addiction and for soothing chronic pain. Methadone’s delayed narcotic effect and its lack of a potent high are important reasons the drug can be so dangerous.

Symptoms of Methadone overdose may include slow and shallow breathing - that too with great difficulty, weak pulse, sometimes the breathing altogether stops which leads to death, bluish skin, fingernails and lips, spasms of the stomach, intestinal tract, constipation, low blood pressure, pinpoint pupils, drowsiness, disorientation, and coma.
When Methadone overdose is suspected, one should make arrangements to visit the doctor or better still call for an ambulance at the earliest.

If the patient is losing consciousness lay them on side in the recovery position. This will help them to deal with vomiting better and they won’t choke. Encouraging patients to vomit is not the right thing to do because of the risk of rapid onset of CNS depression / unconsciousness. This could lead to choking. When a patient is hospitalized during this time their saturation of oxygen should be monitored on an ongoing basis with the help of an oximeter and should be sent to ICE without delay if the patient is undergoing altered consciousness or hypoxia.

For adults ho have never taken methadone earlier or often - a single day’s maintenance dose of methadone between 50-100 mg can prove to be lethal. For people beginning MMT, starting with 40 mg doses have lead to deaths within four days of treatment. Similarly children may overdose if they mistake the medication for a drink. A 10 to 20 mg methadone dose can prove to be fatal to a child.

This drug is too unpredictable to be prescribing to ANYONE. The reason methadone deaths are so prevalent these days is because it was legalized for pain management as opposed to its previous limited use for narcotic addiction treatment drug.