How Does Methadone Work?

Some people quitting heroin, morphine, or codeine use methadone treatments to help gain recovery from the drug to which they have become addicted. Methadone works in specific ways to reduce withdrawal symptoms, cravings, and eliminate the euphoria of drug use.

When closely monitored, methadone treatments can be used in conjunction with other opioid addiction treatment programs.

What Is Methadone?

Methadone is an opioid drug similar to heroin, morphine, or codeine. The difference is that methadone is often used to help people addicted to other drugs to become “clean.” Since the early 1960s, doctors have prescribed methadone to patients wanting to end their addiction.

Methadone is an opioid agonist. This means that it acts like other narcotic drugs in the body. But it is not made from opium poppies like heroin and morphine. Instead, the drug is created in a lab.

Methadone is also a painkiller but lasts much longer in the body than heroin, codeine, and morphine. While those other drugs last about two to four hours, methadone lasts about 24 hours.

How Does Methadone Work?

It can sound a bit puzzling, the practice of treating addiction with another drug. But methadone works by acting on opioid receptors in the brain to prevent relapse from other opioids.

Methadone fits into the same brain receptors as opiates like heroin and morphine. As it acts like these other drugs, methadone relieves many of the side effects of withdrawal. So as the person taking methadone has quit heroin or another drug and is going through detox, methadone makes the journey to sobriety less uncomfortable. A Florida opiate rehab center will usually use methadone to alleviate withdrawal symptoms during drug detox. According to the research report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, there is much evidence showing reduced opioid use and its consequences when medications are used in treatment.

Although methadone acts like other drugs, it does not give the person using it a sense of euphoria, or a high. Methadone also blocks other drugs like heroin and morphine from causing a high when the methadone is being used. This means that someone who is on methadone and tries to relapse on heroin will not gain the high they are craving. This means there is no reward for the relapse in the brain.

Methadone is safe when used under the supervision of medical professionals. Patients take the drug in a pill or liquid form. How it is used depends upon the patient’s health, drug history, the facility’s program methods, and the level of addiction.

Taking methadone alone will not cure addiction. But using methadone as part of a comprehensive rehab program along with therapies, support, education, and guidance of addiction specialists does work. Patients who try to use methadone without therapies and other forms of treatment for healthy recovery often may end up with methadone addiction. This is why this helpful drug should never be used without supervision or additional addiction therapies.

Beaches Recovery Is the Next Step In Your Journey to Sobriety

If you or a loved one have been using heroin or other painkillers, you need specialized drug addiction treatment. Beaches Recovery in Jacksonville, Florida is an accredited rehab center for patients entering recovery from drugs and alcohol.

Our experts provide an opportunity for recovery through the following:

• Inpatient drug rehab
• Partial hospitalization program (PHP)
• Intensive outpatient program (IOP)
• Outpatient drug rehab
• Men’s and women’s rehab programs
• Aftercare and alumni programs

To learn more about Beaches Recovery and programs available at this premier facility, contact us today. Call 866.605.0532 to speak with an expert about addiction treatment in Jacksonville, FL now. You can get the recovery you seek, with help.