Methadone Mortality Rates have Risen According to the CDC October 19
The rate of methadone related deaths has risen by at least 7 times in the last decade according to the CDC and according to the findings of the report it may be because of increased use of the drug for pain relief. Methadone was almost entirely used to treat heroin addiction until late in the 1990s. Since then the drug’s use for pain relief has risen dramatically and as a result methadone has become one of the most commonly prescribed opioid pain killers resulting in prescription rates as high as 4 million in 2006 alone. In that time it’s also become one of the deadliest drugs on the market.
According to the report (which studied the rising death rates of opioid pain relievers like Diluadid, Vicodin, OxyContin, morphine and methadone between the years 1999 and 2006) death rate from these drugs tripled from 4,000 in 1999 to 13,800 in 2006. The report also indicated that at least 40% of poisoning deaths in 2006 were related to the use of these opioid pain relievers. In that span methadone related poisoning deaths rose from 790 to 5,420.
Concerns with the abuse of OxyContin caused a shift toward using methadone for pain relief in the late 1990s. Methadone suppresses the withdrawal symptoms of heroin addiction for a 24 hour period but only helps with pain relief for about 4 to 8 hours. The trouble is that it stays in the system for 59 hours and while patients might be feeling pain and be unaware that it’s still in their system and consistently taking the drug their toxicity levels are also rising. This toxicity can lead to heart and breathing problems that in time can lead to death.
Tags: CDC, methadone, overdose, pain relief
James Kildare Oct 20
The opioids narcotics are effective for diseases such as chronic pain partially solved, medicines like Vicodin, Lortab, oxycodone, Lorcet are widely used in USA and Europe for medical specialists according to findrxonline the percentage of use of these drugs is very high in this part of the continent.