Drug Addiction Treatment Q & A: Do I Need Methadone to Get Off Opiates?
I’ve written several blogs about how difficult it can be to get off methadone. A drug addiction treatment center that gets someone off heroin or other opiates is almost always preferable – it gets the person off the original drug without getting them hooked on another. The methadone is an added, usually unnecessary, step and it can be more difficult to stop taking than the heroin or opiate they started with.
Case in point – Tara Tovey started with an OxyContin addiction. Her doctor put her on methadone treatment. She started at 140 mg/day and stayed at that dose for 6 months. She then worked with her doctor to gradually decrease the dosage – she only dropped it by 2.5 mg every two weeks, and even that would sometimes be so devastating she’d wind up spending a whole week sick in bed.
She’s been tapering off for nearly one year and should be completely off it in September – one and a half years after she started her drug addiction treatment program. Tara is 19 years old.
Most people who go onto methadone treatment are parked on the drug for years without any further attempts at a real drug addiction treatment program that will get them off it.
This story demonstrates how easy is it to develop an OxyContin addiction, and how difficult it can be to get off methadone. In the beginning she tapered the dose by less than 2% every two weeks and still suffered.
With all due respect for Tara and her doctor’s persistence and hard work, I have to say if they had been able to find a good drug addiction treatment center, they would have been able to get her off the Oxy without methadone. It still would have taken several months for full rehab, but she wouldn’t have had to go through the agony of methadone withdrawal. I would advise anyone who has a heroin or OxyContin addiction to explore that avenue first.
Nevertheless, the most important thing is that her doctor cared enough to get her through it and not park her on the drug. And Tara persisted. Hats off to both of them.
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I have been actively exposing Purdue Pharma (a $10 billion criminally convicted pharmaceutical company) and its 3 CEO’s Michael Friedman, Howard Udell and Paul Goldenheim for criminally marketing OxyContin. I have worked on this for 6 years. In July 2007, they were charged in Federal Court with marketing OxyContin to patients and physicians as less likely to be addictive or abused. They pled guilty and were sentenced. I testified against them in Federal Court and in front of the US Senate. Their actions have resulted in an epidemic of OxyContin addiction and death in every state in the country. My work now focuses on further action being taken against them and J. David Haddox, the gatekeeper of Purdue Pharma’s involvement in the criminal marketing of OxyContin. I am working with government agencies and the FDA to accomplish this next goal. Purdue Pharma has recently begun marketing OxyContin to pregnant women for pain. I have notified all Attorney Generals of this latest marketing ploy which will cause an epidemic of addiction and death to pregnant women and unborn babies. I have also filed a charge against Purdue Pharma with the FDA which they have advised me they are taking “very seriously” as well as notifying all Attorney Generals that I believe Purdue Pharma has violated their probation. We do not need further devastation of OxyContin by an out of control, greedy Purdue Pharma.
Marianne Skolek
Activist for Victims of OxyContin and
Purdue Pharma – a criminally convicted pharmaceu
tical company
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/business/11drug-web.html?ex=1336536000&en=9cc24d9d766e92a6&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
I testified against Purdue Pharma before the U.S. Senate
http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=2905&wit_id=6612
908-285-1232
mskolek@aol.com
http://www.oxydeaths.com
Comment by Marianne Skolek — August 21, 2008 @ 4:33 am
The drug rehab should be staffed with expert counselors. When you investigate a program, be sure to ask about the qualifications of staff members. They should have at least state-level credentials as a licensed addiction counselor, and national-level credentials are an additional bonus. In alcohol rehab, you are entitled to know that addiction therapists have appropriate qualifications to perform their jobs.
# The one that you choose should share your views about how you cope with change, your personal values, and the degree, if any, of spirituality that may help you recover.
# You have an absolute right to be treated with dignity and respect by the staff members. You may be an addict, but you are still a valuable person and should be treated accordingly.
# The drug rehab of your choice is required by law to respect your privacy and confidentiality. You can sign release forms that allow disclosure of your treatment history to your next of kin, your attorney, your physician, and a judge. However, your spouse, children, and Uncle Nick have no need to know how your program is working for you. The only legal exception to these very strict rules of confidentiality is if your counselor or physician has a reasonable belief that you are at risk for harming yourself and/or others.
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Mohammed
Addiction Therapy
Comment by Mohammed — August 21, 2008 @ 11:42 pm