In the modern world drug addiction plays a major role in the entire continent. It is found that there are millions of people addicted to the various drugs like Heroin, Cocaine, Ecstasy, Dagga, Barbiturates, etc. Drug addiction can be a a life threatening condition. Drug addiction can be treatable using an addiction recovery drug called Methadone and this article discusses the question: What is Methadone? This article contains other important information regarding its use as an alternative to Heroin or other opiate addiction.

What is methadone?

Methadone is a pain reliever drug also used an aid for heroin addiction recovery and maintenance therapy program.  Methadone primarily works like other derivatives of opium by stimulating the endorphin receptors of the human brain. Pain in the human body is inhibited by endorphins. For example if a person falls and hurts his hand, the pain that arises is counterbalanced by producing more endorphins. Methadone is a drug which artificialy stimulates these endorphin receptors and therefore, it acts as a pain reliever.

What is methadone tolerance?

Tolerance is defined as a state where more amounts of a drug is needed to get the same effect as the original dose. As a part of an effective anti-heroin drug addiction program, patients have to take increasingly larger doses of methadone to avoid the painful withdrawal symptoms. Usually patients will increase their dose of Methadone, with a doctor’s help, until  they no longer feel withdrawal symptoms from Heroin. When the doctor increases the dosage of methadone it may cause irregular heartbeat, dizziness, confusion, difficulty breathing, etc… Hence your doctor may give you a low dose at first, and after monitoring your health and response, she may increase the dose of methadone gradually to the point of relief of withdrawal symptoms and cravings for Heroin. Finding the right dose to maintain is very important, as again, this can battle both withdrawal symptoms and cravings. If the Methadone dose is not high enough, addicted people may still seek to take Heroin, therefore, making Methadone treatment ineffective.

What is methadone detox?

Like Heroin, Methadone is also an addictive drug that requires careful and safe planning in order to stop using it. Methadone detox can be very painful and its duration is the longest when compared to other opioid detox. This methadone detox pain will be more if the patient is too dehydrated or if the patient has deficiencies in either vitamins or minerals. A person needs to pay attention to their overall healthcare during this time, such as by getting good rest and nutrition.
Since the amount and the duration of pain is more, methadone detox should be strictly followed under medical supervision. It is this severe withdrawal pain, when stopped too abruptly or without the help of a health care provider, that can cause people to seek out Heroin again in order to cope with this pain. A Methadone addiction treatment strategy that is planned for and that follows a gradual reduction in dosing, can effectively cause the person to feel very few of the effects of withdrawal.  Even though methadone detox is painful, methadone is a popular and effective method for drug addiction recovery. Many people have used Methadone successfully and it has helped them to eliminate Heroin in their lives, leading to a much more safe and peaceful life. This site will continue to look at these issues in more detail.