Methadone

Summary

Methadone is a medication used to prevent opioid withdrawal symptoms and is used for long-term maintenance therapy.

As a full opioid agonist and long-acting medication, methadone activates the same opioid receptors as drugs like heroin but provides a more sustained and controlled effect.

A serious potential side effect of methadone is respiratory depression.

When discontinuing methadone, the dose should not be stopped abruptly due to withdrawal risk. Methadone is typically given orally for precise dosing and ease of administration.

Key Points

• Methadone
  • Mechanism
    • Full Opioid Agonist
      • Binds to and activates opioid receptors, but does not cause as much of a “high” as other opioids
    • Long Acting
  • Clinical Use
    • Prevents opioid withdrawal symptoms
      • Dependence transferred from illegal opioid to methadone
      • Dosage is slowly tapered and closely monitored by a healthcare provider
    • Long term maintenance
      • Prevents opioid relapse
  • Side Effects
    • Respiratory Depression
      • Methadone is an opioid, so in large doses it has the same CNS depressive effects
  • Administration
    • Slowly taper dose
      • Provider will taper the dose over an extended period of time to help patient recover from opioid dependence
    • Given orally
      • Most common dosage forms include an oral solution or an oral tablet