QUESTION One of my patients is currently using methadone for maintenance of opioid dependence. She wants to breastfeed. Is breastfeeding safe for her infant? ANSWER The exposure of infants to methadone through their mothers' breast milk is minimal. Women using methadone for treatment of opioid dependence should not be discouraged from breastfeeding. The benefits of breastfeeding largely outwe...

Methadone is a potent synthetic opioid analgesic that has been used for decades, in conjunction with supportive psychological and social services, to manage and treat addiction to other opioids.1 Numerous incidents involving methadone have been reported,2 and methadone continues to be implicated in preventable deaths.3 This bulletin describes an incident involving a 10-fold overdose of methadon...

OBJECTIVES To assess the quality of life (QoL) of heroin users starting and following 4 and 8 months of maintenance treatment program using buprenorphine vs. methadone. METHODS Participants received maintenance treatment with oral methadone or sublingual buprenorphine for the treatment of heroin dependence. Participants' QoL was measured using the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Qu...

Methadone maintenance treatment of opioid addiction was developed in 1965 and implemented in the United States as a form of opioid agonist treatment. In the 1970s, a system of federal regulation was imposed in response to reports of diversion of methadone into illicit channels. In 1993, the US government gave approval to LAAM as a second maintenance medication, and, in 2002, buprenorphine, a pa...

AIMS Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of slow-release oral morphine (SROM) compared with methadone for detoxification from methadone and SROM maintenance treatment. DESIGN Randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, comparative multi-centre study with parallel groups. SETTING Three psychiatric hospitals in Austria specializing in in-patient detoxification. PARTICIPANTS Male and female op...

Methadone maintenance therapy is designed to reduce the need for addicts to use heroin or other illegal opiates. Death in patients starting on such a program has not previously been documented. We report the death of 10 persons who died within days of starting a methadone maintenance program administered by general practitioners. Their bodies were subject to a full autopsy by forensic pathologi...

BACKGROUND Methadone is currently the most frequently used substance in the treatment of short-term and particularly long-term opiate dependence. Patients' beliefs about the adverse effects of methadone on function of organs, especially liver, have widely affected the use of this substance. This study aimed to determine the effects of methadone on liver enzyme levels in patients on methadone ma...

OBJECTIVE To assess the outcomes of infants born to mothers receiving methadone for the management of pain in pregnancy. DESIGN A retrospective audit was conducted of neonatal outcomes in 19 cases in which methadone was used in the management of maternal pain (pain group). Twenty four cases in which methadone was used for maintenance of opiate addiction in pregnancy served as a comparison gro...

background: clopidogrel is a prodrug that converts in the liver to an active thiol metabolite, which irreversibly inhibits the platelet p2y12 adenosine diphosphate receptor. it seems that methadone as cyp2c19 inhibitor affects ticlopidine activity in vivo. this study aimed to test the ability of methadone in changing ticlopidine pharmacokinetics. methods: we conducted a case–control study in 10...