Deaths from Opioid Overdose Tripled
Oct. 2nd, 2009 03:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
US Deaths from opioid overdose tripled between 1999 and 2006 according to CDC Data. The drug leading the charge for the grave was methadone.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/709744?src=mpnews&spon=12&uac=89474MT
I talked to a junkie on bus#9 the other day who had been through hell but not died. He had a good idea what his protocol would be for getting people unhooked from methadone. It involved taking pts through a series of other high powered drugs, each to be given for a time period just short of the dependence/addiction-inducing timeframe. He was sure his method would work.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/709744?src=mpnews&spon=12&uac=89474MT
I talked to a junkie on bus#9 the other day who had been through hell but not died. He had a good idea what his protocol would be for getting people unhooked from methadone. It involved taking pts through a series of other high powered drugs, each to be given for a time period just short of the dependence/addiction-inducing timeframe. He was sure his method would work.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-03 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-03 02:44 am (UTC)there is a study in there...
Date: 2009-10-03 12:55 pm (UTC)Studied medical research yet? You could easily have randomization (which bus you took...), time frame would be at your discretion, theory to be developed,and you have plenty of subjects there in Portland. Keep it to one or two variables and it might go somewhere...hmmmmmmmmmm?.........
I give methadone about once a month at work. I wonder about how it affects the pt. It has a long half life as I have been told so the buzz is stretched out...and whatever you do, DON"T CHEW IT!....
Re: there is a study in there...
Date: 2009-10-03 05:18 pm (UTC)Re: there is a study in there...
Date: 2009-10-03 11:52 pm (UTC)But this does not address half life of a drug. Methadone is maybe not packaged in a sustained release form, but it has a very long half life. I do believe this is the trait that the clinicians are hoping will allow the addict to then transition down in dosage, and eventually off of an opioid.
So, for my understanding, chewing of a pain med is never a good idea, and the same goes for things like ambien, some stomach meds, and any drug meant to be dispersed in the body over time.
Lots of demented seniors in nursing homes will chew instead of swallow their pills. They either then spit them out, a real mess, or swallow them in a masticated form. Usually not a good idea. But they just don't comprehend it any other way.
different strokes for different folks...
Date: 2009-10-03 01:04 pm (UTC)In this previous scenario, if you work on the mental, you can help the addict.
or, the other way around. But I do think some folks are a bit more pre-disposed to being a chemically (brain driven) addict.
maybe a bit simple, but that is the feeling I get.
anecdotally, I am going to Colorado next weekend to visit family, notably my father. He was a long term alcoholic until about 49 years old. I get the feeling he had a strong pre-disposition to a chemically derived dependency.
just the opinion of an ACOA (adult child of an alcoholic...)
Re: different strokes for different folks...
Date: 2009-10-03 05:15 pm (UTC)Hope your trip to CO goes well.