Methadone is an analgesic and can reduce pain for persons
with injuries or following surgeries. It has pharmacological properties similar
to morphine and heroin, including habituation and addiction. Methadone
is sometimes substituted for heroin, morphine or other opioid drugs during drug
addiction treatment.
Used in drug addiction treatment, methadone can be substituted for heroin,
morphine, dilaudid, Vicodin or OxyContin due to a cross-tolerance. Meaning that
the symptoms incident to withdrawal from opiates can be reduced by taking
methadone.
If increasingly smaller doses are given, the idea is that the addict will be
able to endure withdrawal symptoms more easily and be successfully “detoxed”
from whatever they were using.
More often, an illegal addiction to opiates is replaced with a legal
dependency or addiction on methadone.
Methadone Buildup
One of the problems with methadone maintenance programs is that methadone
stays in the body for up to 60 hours, even though the perceived benefits may be
gone in 4 to 6 hours. Methadone levels in the body can therefore build up over
a period of days to toxic levels and the user, trying to maintain the same
level of relief might continue to take higher doses, compounding the problem.
Such a toxic buildup of methadone in the body can lead to dangerous changes in
breathing or heart rate that may cause death.
This can be especially dangerous if certain other medications are taken
along with the methadone.
Signs of Methadone overdose
Overdose of methadone can result from days of the same or similar doses
indications include:
Shallow breathing
Trouble breathing
Disorientation
Confusion or dizziness
Difficulty walking or talking
normally
Blurred vision
Patients experiencing these symptoms should seek professional help
immediately.
The ultimate goal of all drug rehabilitation is not simply a switch from one
drug to another but the elimination of dependency on any drug and the regaining
of personal strength and abilities sufficient to survive and live a happy and
productive life.
At Narconon drug rehabilitation centers, we don’t pull the old switcheroo,
taking one drug away just to replace it with another, perhaps even more
addicting drug.
Students of the Narconon program leave the center drug free and confident in
their ability to face life and succeed without the use of any drugs.
It's not possible to change the past, but it IS possible to change the
future. We help people do it every day in over one hundred worldwide
centers.
Drug Information 
