OBJECTIVES This case report aims to help healthcare providers and methadone clinic patients to recognize one of the less recognized adverse effects of methadone, hyperhidrosis, and to suggest oxybutynin as a possible solution. METHODS A 35-year-old man on methadone maintenance therapy presented with excessive sweating, which began promptly after methadone was introduced. Urine toxicology was ...

BACKGROUND Opiate dependence is a major health and social issue in many countries. A mainstay of therapy has been methadone maintenance treatment, but other treatments, particularly buprenorphine, are increasingly being considered. AIM To conduct a systematic review to synthesise and critically appraise the evidence on the effectiveness of community maintenance programmes with methadone or bu...

Introduction: Methadone has been an essential medication in the treatment of opioid addiction worldwide. Aim: To discuss dosing considerations related to different methadone programs. Method: A search was performed the Ovid (all resources) including: Medline, Cochrane, and EMBASE databases using the following terms: methadone dose, methadone optimization, and methadone adequacy. We compared and...

BACKGROUND In British Columbia, Canada, methadone maintenance treatment formulation transitioned from the oral liquid compound Tang™-flavoured methadone to the ten-times more concentrated cherry-flavoured Methadose™ in February 2014. We quantitatively describe perceptions and reported consequences among a sample of patients on methadone maintenance treatment following this transition. METHODS...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether supervised medical prescription of heroin can successfully treat addicts who do not sufficiently benefit from methadone maintenance treatment. DESIGN Two open label randomised controlled trials. SETTING Methadone maintenance programmes in six cities in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS 549 heroin addicts. INTERVENTIONS Inhalable heroin (n = 375) or injectable ...

There is a high prevalence of alcohol use, abuse, and dependence in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programs. There have been reports that this may be a result of entry into methadone maintenance. Through a systematic review, this article attempts to determine whether alcohol consumption is affected during the course (from prior to treatment initiation to once on maintenance) of MMT. A li...

BACKGROUND Concern regarding the QTc interval in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients has been growing in recent years, and cases of prolonged QTc interval and torsades de pointes have been described in HIV-infected patients on methadone therapy. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with long QTc interval in a cohort of opioid-dependent HIV-infecte...