Where is methadone stored

Methadone may cause serious or life-threatening breathing problems, especially during the first 24 to 72 hours of your treatment and any time your dose is increased. Your doctor will monitor you carefully during your treatment. Tell your doctor if you have or have ever had slowed breathing or asthma. Your doctor will probably tell you not to take methadone.

Also tell your doctor if you have or have ever had lung disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD; a group of lung diseases that includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema , a head injury, a brain tumor, or any condition that increases the amount of pressure in your brain. The risk that you will develop breathing problems may be higher if you are an older adult or are weak or malnourished due to disease.

If you experience any of the following symptoms, call your doctor immediately or get emergency medical treatment: slowed breathing, long pauses between breaths, or shortness of breath. Taking certain other medications during your treatment with methadone may increase the risk that you will experience serious, life-threatening side effects such as breathing problems, sedation, or coma.

Tell your doctor if you are taking or plan to take any of the following medications: antipsychotics such as aripiprazole Abilify , asenapine Saphris , cariprazine Vraylar , chlorpromazine, clozapine Versacloz , fluphenazine, haloperidol Haldol , iloperidone Fanapt , loxapine, lurasidone Latuda , molindone, olanzapine Zyprexa , paliperidone Invega , perphenazine, pimavanserin Nuplazid , quetiapine Seroquel , risperidone Risperdal , thioridazine, thiothixene, trifluoperazine, and ziprasidone Geodon ; benzodiazepines such as alprazolam Xanax , chlordiazepoxide Librium , clonazepam Klonopin , clorazepate Gen-Xene, Tranxene , diazepam Diastat, Valium , estazolam, flurazepam, lorazepam Ativan , oxazepam, temazepam Restoril , and triazolam Halcion ; opiate narcotic medications for pain and cough; medications for nausea or mental illness; muscle relaxants; sedatives; sleeping pills; or tranquilizers.

Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medications and will monitor you carefully. If you take methadone with any of these medications and you develop any of the following symptoms, call your doctor immediately or seek emergency medical care: unusual dizziness, lightheadedness, extreme sleepiness, slowed or difficult breathing, or unresponsiveness. Be sure that your caregiver or family members know which symptoms may be serious so they can call the doctor or emergency medical care if you are unable to seek treatment on your own.

Drinking alcohol, taking prescription or nonprescription medications that contain alcohol, or using street drugs during your treatment with methadone increases the risk that you will experience serious, life-threatening side effects. Do not drink alcohol, take prescription or nonprescription medications that contain alcohol, or use street drugs during your treatment.

Do not allow anyone else to take your medication. Methadone may harm or cause death to other people who take your medication, especially children. Store methadone in a safe place so that no one else can take it accidentally or on purpose. Be especially careful to keep methadone out of the reach of children. Keep track of how many tablets or how much liquid is left so you will know if any medication is missing.

Dispose of any unwanted methadone tablets or oral solution properly according to instructions. Methadone may cause a prolonged QT interval a rare heart problem that may cause irregular heartbeat, fainting, or sudden death.

Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your family has or has ever had long QT syndrome; or if you have or ever had a slow or irregular heartbeat; low blood levels of potassium or magnesium, or heart disease. Tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are taking or plan to take any of the following medications: antidepressants such as amitriptyline, amoxapine, clomipramine Anafranil , desipramine Norpramin , doxepin Silenor , imipramine Tofranil , nortriptyline Pamelor , protriptyline Vivactil , and trimipramine Surmontil ; certain antifungals such as fluconazole Diflucan , itraconazole Onmel, Sporanox , ketoconazole, and voriconazole Vfend ; diuretics 'water pills' ; erythromycin Eryc, Erythrocin, others ; fludrocortisone; certain laxatives; medications for irregular heartbeat such as amiodarone Nexterone, Pacerone , disopyramide Norpace , dofetilide Tikosyn , flecainide, ibutilide Corvert , procainamide, and quinidine in Nuedexta ; nicardipine Cardene ; and risperidone Risperdal ; and sertraline Zoloft.

If you experience any of the following symptoms, call your doctor immediately: pounding heartbeat, dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. If you take methadone regularly during your pregnancy, your baby may experience life-threatening withdrawal symptoms after birth. Tell your baby's doctor right away if your baby experiences any of the following symptoms: irritability, hyperactivity, abnormal sleep, high-pitched cry, uncontrollable shaking of a part of the body, vomiting, diarrhea, or failure to gain weight.

Your doctor or pharmacist will give you the manufacturer's patient information sheet Medication Guide when you begin treatment with methadone and each time you fill your prescription if a Medication Guide is available for the methadone product you are taking. Read the information carefully and ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions.

If you have been addicted to an opiate narcotic drug such as heroin , and you are taking methadone to help you stop taking or continue not taking the drug, you must enroll in a treatment program.

The treatment program must be approved by the state and federal governments and must treat patients according to specific federal laws. You may have to take your medication at the treatment program facility under the supervision of the program staff. Ask your doctor or the treatment program staff if you have any questions about enrolling in the program or taking or getting your medication. Methadone is used to relieve severe pain in people who are expected to need pain medication around the clock for a long time and who cannot be treated with other medications.

It also is used to prevent withdrawal symptoms in patients who were addicted to opiate drugs and are enrolled in treatment programs in order to stop taking or continue not taking the drugs.

Methadone is in a class of medications called opiate narcotic analgesics. Methadone works to treat pain by changing the way the brain and nervous system respond to pain. It works to treat people who were addicted to opiate drugs by producing similar effects and preventing withdrawal symptoms in people who have stopped using these drugs.

Methadone comes as a tablet, a dispersible can be dissolved in liquid tablet, a solution liquid , and a concentrated solution to take by mouth. When methadone is used to relieve pain, it may be taken every 8 to 12 hours. If you take methadone as part of a treatment program, your doctor will prescribe the dosing schedule that is best for you.

Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully and ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand. If you are using the dispersible tablets, do not chew or swallow before mixing the tablet in a liquid. If your doctor has told you to take only part of a tablet, break the tablet carefully along the lines that have been scored into it. Drink the entire mixture right away. Some said they would be more inclined to warn of the dangers to children if the patient came to the pharmacy with a child.

One pharmacist commented that all bottles have a label which states it must be kept out of the reach of children so they felt they did not need to re-iterate it. This study found that of the 18 In total, 50 Patients seem unaware of the fact that keeping methadone in the fridge makes it very accessible to children, increasing the likelihood of a child consuming it. The best practice guidelines from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain states that 'pharmacists or other appropriately trained pharmacy staff should provide direct input wherever possible to promote harm reduction' [ 10 ].

This audit suggests that is not happening in a large number of cases. Following the original audit which showed that there was poor recall of provision of information about safe storage, it was proposed that new documentation would allow patients to be given verbal advice to store their methadone safely when they commence their treatment. It was then hoped that this would be re-enforced if patients went from supervised consumption at the pharmacy to unsupervised home consumption programmes.

It was found that despite these new procedures Of those who did recall being told to store it safely, 24 Of the 6 patients who replied "others", 4 stated it was their friends who told them where it should be stored, and the remaining 2 said their partner had told them.

The patients were sampled randomly, some of these patients may have been on methadone for many years, and some may have only just started. For those who have been on methadone for many years, it is understandable that they may not remember if anybody had ever told them about safe storage. This project has demonstrated that there are still a number of serious concerns regarding storage of methadone in the home.

It would appear that despite the introduction of a protocol to ensure that staff and patients recorded the fact that safety information had been given, this had only been recorded in It would be unrealistic and unhelpful for a patient to be educated about storage of their methadone every time they pick it up, however it seems reasonable that at the start of the programme, every few months and if they ever change to being unsupervised they should be reminded.

This should be done by all health professionals involved in the care of these patients, including clinic staff, pharmacists, local drug agencies and GPs using verbal and written material or by the use of targeted text messages for those who have mobile phones. Effective medical treatment of Opiate Addiction. NIH consensus statement.

Int J Epidemiol. Article PubMed Google Scholar. Google Scholar. Only half of patients store methadone in safe place. Article Google Scholar. Law and Ethics Bulletin: Safe storage of methadone in the home. The Pharmaceutical Journal. Harkin K, Bradley F: Storing methadone in babies' bottles puts young children at risk.

National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse: Best practice guidance for commissioners and providers of pharmaceutical services for drug users. Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Britain. Download references. This study was performed as a Medical Student 4 th year project option and was funded and peer reviewed by the University of Keele Medical School Project Options Group. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Roger N Bloor. AM is a 4 th Year Medical Student who completed this audit as a special study module option, she devised the questionnaire, collected and analysed the data and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript.

IBC supervised the data analysis, co- supervised AM during the project and during the preparation of the initial draft manuscript. RNB conceived of the audit, devised the methodology and was the academic supervisor for AM and wrote the final manuscript.

Reprints and Permissions. Mullin, A. Awareness of the need for safe storage of Methadone at home is not improved by the use of protocols on recording information giving. Harm Reduct J 5, 15 Download citation. Received : 28 March Accepted : 30 April Published : 30 April Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:. Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative.

Skip to main content. Search all BMC articles Search. Download PDF. Abstract Background Methadone is a synthetic, narcotic analgesic used in the treatment of drug misuse. Methods The study was undertaken in the setting of an NHS methadone clinic with the aim of re- auditing the storage of methadone at home following the introduction of the new protocols. Results Only 49 Conclusion Recall of information on safety issues is very poor. Background While the safety and efficacy of methadone maintenance treatment has been unequivocally established [ 1 ], reports have shown that in the period to there were methadone related deaths in England and Wales [ 2 ].

Most patients store methadone at home for at least one day per week which poses serious risks to children who may inadvertently drink the mixture[ 3 , 4 ] Previous research has shown that only half of patients store methadone in a safe place[ 5 ]. Methods Criteria The following criteria for the adequacy of information provision were selected after reviewing the criteria in the original audit and after review of the literature. All patients prescribed methadone should recall being given information on its safe storage.

All patients should be aware of the dangers of methadone use. There is a problem with information submitted for this request. Sign up for free, and stay up-to-date on research advancements, health tips and current health topics, like COVID, plus expert advice on managing your health. Error Email field is required. Error Include a valid email address. To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information and to understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your e-mail and website usage information with other information we have about you.

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