What Do You Think of My Article?
Question by DynoDiKk: What do you think of my article?
Methadone and Harmd. Is Harmd doing more harm?
I am here to write my opinion on HARMD. This means; “Helping America Reduce Methadone Deaths”.
Although their intentions might be good or in their own mind considered good. H.A.R.M.D. is disseminating lies about the drug Methadone. A co-founder of this organzition experienced a horrible tragedy in regards to the admintration of this drug in a professional medical setting.
As the story goes this individuals loved one was addicted to Oxycodone. Upon seeking medical help for this, the Medical facilty gave this person Methadone in conjunction with a benzodiazepiene and this person tragically died as a result of this combination. A dangerous combination.
Harmd will tell you absolutely nothing positive about the drug Methadone. Instead of calling it Helping America reduce Methadone Deaths……… They should have called it; “Trying to ban Methadone in America”. That seems to me like their goal. And the fact is Methadone save lifes. It makes people that live in chronic pain functioning human beings again. It makes addicts live normal lives. Methadone is not a replacement for Heroin! IN other word’s Methadone clinics are there to help these people live normal lives.
Harmd’s claims on their video’s on U-tube openly admit that the onset of the rush of the drug is slow; (Thus sticking their foot in their mouth indicating the drug is used to obtain a high/hence obtaining it for illicit reasons)so the person takes more to get high and doesn’t realize a toxic level is increasing in them. METHADONE IS not to be USED to get HIGH or a rush! It is so easy to point the finger at a thing than a person. Methadone does not have a brain, it cannot control how and who or why a person uses it.
No one is going to want to admit their son died in a bathroom and was found with a syringe full of cocaine in his arm are they? No one would want to admit their son was a IV cocaine addict. But they can say Methadone killed their kid? Why? Because Methadone is FDA approved? Oxycontins ruined all of this. Oxycontins made regular pill users into full blown junkies. That is how Methadone just became a issue. Funny we never heard about Methadone deaths prior to 1998.
Number one; Methadone is a powerful synthetic opiate narcotic! The only people that have business with this drug are addicts that are going to addiction treatment or people that live in chronic pain in pain management. Methadone is not used to take if you have trouble sleeping! It is not used for a headache and it is not used as a spice in making meatloaf! Methadone must be used only by people that are qualified to take it. HARMD states it stays in your system a long time and or but it’s pain relief is only 4 to 6 hours.
THIS IS FALSE! Methadone’s analgesia threshold is 8 or more hours! Methadone has a 24 to 36 hour half life. This indicates that if you consume 10mg’s. Exactly 24 hours later you will have 5mg’s dormant in you. Thus if you want to maintain this 10mg a day dose, you take 10mg initially and than every day than and there out you take 5 mg’s! So on and so fourth. Again a person that is not prescribed Methadone for pain or does not get it in an addiction treatment scenario HAS NO BUSINESS WITH IT! Giving this to a non familiar user that is only using it for a stupid reason is like giving a blind person glass in their dinner. JUst say no to drugs!
True facts on Methadone:
Methadone is the most sctrunized drug on the planet. No drug , not one in the history of the world has gone under the scrutiny that Methadone has. The drug has been in use since perhaps the mid 60’s and this drug has a proven tried and true list of positive virtues in regards to long term effects on the body and almost has a explanation and theory on every dosaging protocol that has ever existed on the planet. I don’t believe there is a single case of anyone being allergic to Methadone.
All opiates have long term effects on the body. There is nothing but overwhelming evidence that indicates that Methadone is the lightest on all the organs compared to any other opiate. It is the long half life which does not give the body time to recover throughout doses is what I believe makes it the harshest in this aspect.
All opiates impede vitamin and mineral absorbtion. Methadone is not excempt from this and because of it’s long duration on visiting the body, mineral and vitamins should be used as a supplement. There is not a single drug on the planet that is as healthy as drinking milk or as healthy as eating a apple a day. Eating a bag of Potato chips everyday may actually be worse for your health. The FDA does not tell you the long term effects of MSG to readily. Or the stuff they put in a Big Mac.
Methadone is the flattest hitting opiate on the planet. In other word’s it maintains a constant blood level throughout a 24 hour period. This is what makes Methadone such a miracle drug for addicts and pain management people. But it is this virtue that HARMD claims it is so dangerous. This is the a paradox of their thinking.
Where conventional opaites hit high and rapidly drop, Methadone does not. Therefore a person that is taking conventional opiates for pain eventually will end up abusing them to chase blood levels to keep an existing happy mood in check. This is a real thing that is going on in the brain and it is not in a person’s head. So instead of taking more medication for pain relief, they are taking more to keep their mood in check and not pain control. This inadvertantly results in tolerence to the drug very quickly and non-delibarate abuse. With Methadone this is almost non-existant. It is a superior pain reliever by this virtue and dosing twice a day is almost always considered effective as compared to 4 times or more a day by a conventional opiate.
It is this aspect of Methadone that also of course makes it a choice for addcition treatment. It keeps the person in check throughout the entire day (Not needing more and more of the opiate) and cancels the so-called mental cravings a opiate addict gets.
Methadone in a pain scenario is also a opiate that keeps opiate induced hypersensitivity down to a low. All pain people in time will experience this and it either can be considered a form of withdrawal as more opiates are administered or break-thru pain. Since Methadone maintains a flat blood level and keeps pain receptors filled constantly, this phenomenon is greatly reduced. There are some claim that Methadone does not create opiate induced hypersnsitivity. I think it does and will but the effects are far less apparent.
Methadone is the simpliest of all opiate molecular structures.
Methadone was developed in Germany (I.G. Farben) under the direction of Herman Goering in mid 40’s as a substitute for morphine. It was never intended at the time to be used in opiate addiction. It just happened that way.
People in pain management that obtain Methadone for pain are readily sterotyped as ex Heroin addicts because of Methdone’s use in addiction centers.
Fact: A 40mg Methadone pill( Wafer) was as large as a quarter. And it is thick as two on the eges and in the middle as thick as three quarters stacked. If someone gave you a pill the size of a quarter and told you it was an aspirin, would you be a little apprehensive about it? It was perhaps one of the largest pain pills ever produced and as a aspirin in this form this would be perhaps be a 4,000 MG aspirin? Just saying.
The size alone of the 40mg pill should have been a deterrant from anyone abusing it. The truth is, you would have difficulty placing the entire thing in your mouth and swallowing it whole. It was also serated into four sections, not half but quarters. Thus indicating a quarter of the pill could be taken, but people that decided to abuse it, and took the entire thing anyways? Knowing it could be broken in fours? 40 Milligrams are no longer made however the 10’s are. The company makes very small 10 mg pills and by eliminating the 40 they should make the 10mg just as large to indicate it looks strong? Who knows. For 10mg’s of Methadone is strong!
Fact: 10mg’s of Methadone is approx. 100 Milligrams of Morphine. Now this varies in IV and other routes of administration how it is metabolized, but for a standard equal it holds primary true. Methadone in a pain scenario prescribed 5mg’s a day for three days, than 10 mg’s a day for three day’s and so on (Until determined the level of pain it is controlling) will never represent a problem with the patient. This patient must be simply monitored to see how they are reacting to the medication as far as fatique, lack of motor coordination, mental awareness for a two week period. The patient decides how they are reacting to the medication. Than they can safely be on the a stable dose of Methadone which is superior in pain control versus anything else.
Methadone should not be mixed with alcohol at all! Methadone should not be mixed with any type of Benzodiazepiene.
Methadone does not induce “Sleep Driving” like Ambien does.
And last HARMD is so quick to indicate that pain patients use Methadone because it is cheap. They say “Cheaper is not always better.” What an crazy statement. I never heard that before. Since when is anything cheap ever better? I think they made it up. Don’t better things cost money? Explain that to me?
BUT! Methadone as bought as a illegal drug on the street is anything but cheap! Not in the least. It is just as expensive as everything else. Again it should never be purchased illegally! That solves that problem. Say no to drugs.The only way to obtain it cheap is legal. Methadone treatment in clinic’s is EXPENSIVE not CHEAP either. So I have no idea what they are talking about. So people that used it, abused it and died, did not pay pennies for their death but high dollar like everything else. And it is cheap. So what? I am a pain person that didn’t have insurance, that was a blessing. HARMD could care less about that! Stating that Methadone is cheap as bought from a genuine prescription was a dumb thing to put in their arsenal. So what? It again is not cheap on the street or from the drug dealer on the corner.
What are my sources? I am a extensive researcher on opiates. I weaned off of 200mg’s of Methadone a day as precribed for pain in 3 months and had them in my hand. I been researching opiates for 10 years and was a legally prescribed user of the,Give me any question on any opiate. I will give you an answer. Not a lie.
Best answer:
Answer by Dr. Maddog
If you are truly looking for an opinion…ok…you have some good thoughts and facts. It is definitely an editorial piece not, and at this point would not stand up as a journal article. Though with some tweaking it could be. I might suggest avoiding using MOST, ALWAYS, NEVER, and I would support any claim using these with a source. It starts with a pretty good flow but It would flow better if you stated first what is HARMD what are their sources, what is Methadone what are your sources. Then you can lead the reader to see OK HARMD is a not a legit group, but you have more power if they think of it on their own. If you tell people they are crazy they will fight you, if you lay out the facts in order, either all them, all you, or back and forth point-counter point. Then let them come up with the idea that they are crazy and voila you have a strong paper. Hope this helps.
Answer by MATRIX
Your article was interesting to read. However, You need to add footnotes/endnotes as references to make your article more evidentially proven and have credibility. Also, keeping it in formal English will be more appropiate.
My own impression of this article after reading it is that it’s been written bias, especially the section ” True facts on Methadone ” completely ignores the true facts of methadone from it’s adverse effects point of view. Also, withdrawal symptoms resulting in physiological and cognitive effects causing upto death have not been acknowledged.
Good Luck !