FALSE!
These are three of the many myths of methadone. Few drugs have been studied as extensively in
humans as methadone. Hundreds of thousands of people have been maintained on methadone, many since
the treatment was developed over thirty years ago. Methadone and methadone
therapy are so tremendously misunderstood (for many reasons)
that any study which indicated such serious side effects would have been massively publicized and
almost certainly would have resulted in the banning of the modality. The only side effects of methadone in stabilized patients however,
are increased sweating and constipation, neither of which afflict the majority of methadone patients.
As used in maintenance treatment, methadone is one of the safest medications known.
1. The
myth about methadone “getting in the bones” has its origin primarily in the effects of
withdrawal on under-medicated patients. Low dose patients or people with fast metabolisms who
experience the effects of Opioid Withdrawal induced lactic acid build-up in the muscles
conclude that it is the methadone, rather than the lack of methadone, which is “getting
in their bones”. The next time someone you know complains about the methadone “getting in their
bones”, ask them when they feel these pains. Odds are they’ll tell you the aches come in the eight hours
before they get medicated. Suggest they get their dose re-evaluated.
2. The myth that methadone “rots the teeth” is even easier to show to be false. Very few people dependent
on street heroin take care of their teeth. Many go for decades without regularly brushing or
ever visiting a dentist. By the time the street starts to get the better of them and they get into
treatment, their teeth are usually badly decayed and their gums diseased. As minds clear and the
pain relief of heroin is left behind, it seems to these people that their teeth have suddenly
started to rot. Generally the blame is placed on the methadone.
The age at which people generally get into treatment also affects the myth about bones and joints.
Many people with arthritis or other joint diseases feel the first effects in their mid-thirties,
generally the age at which many people first enter treatment. Again, the blame is placed on the methadone.
3. The last of these three myths is in many ways the saddest and most damaging. Medical professionals-
people who have ready access to extensive and accurate information on the safety of methadone-
combine the first two myths and come up with a pseudo-scientific explanation for the “aching bones”
and “rotting teeth”. Methadone, they decide, “depletes calcium”. This myth is actually believed
and promoted by medical professionals as well as counselors in the largest and best respected
MMTPs in the country. Patients who look to such professionals for accurate information about a
medication that is surrounded by misinformation all too often get baseless myths like this instead. Many
are scared from the treatment that could save their lives and return to the streets. There has never
been a single study that showed that methadone “depletes calcium”. It simply isn’t true.
References:
Kreek, M.J. Medical safety and side effects of methadone tolerant individuals. Journal of the American Medical Association; 1973 (Feb 5) 223(6): 665-668
Kreek, M.J, Dodes, L., Kane, S.; Knobler, L. & Martin, R. Long-term methadone maintenance therapy: Effects on liver function. Annals of Internal Medicine, 1972 (Oct) 77(4): 598-602 Back to the Methadone Test
