Symptoms of Methadone Dose Being Too High: Can One Use Percocet or Vicodin for Pain if on Methadone Maintanance?
Question by FourSeasons715: Can one use percocet or vicodin for pain if on methadone maintanance?
Would these type of painkillers get rid of the pain when one is on a methadone maintance program. Say I needed a surgery; methadone is not good for pain at all, so would a painkillers such as oxycodone work for pain? I know the methadone will prevent one from obtaining a high due to cross tolerance. But for pain…??
Best answer:
Answer by deniseyb2003
Percocet and Vicodin are narcotics. Isn’t methadone used to kick the habit of your use of narcotics.
I really don’t think you should use them both together.
Seek your couselors advice!
You may be defeating the purpose.
Answer by Jess B
I’m not sure if those pain killers are opiates. If they are, they will not work because Methadone diminishes the affect of opiates. I would ask your doctor.
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Related Symptoms Of Methadone Dose Being Too High Information…
There are a couple of misconceptions in your questions — which could be dangerous. Methadone is a synthetic opiate. It has many of the same side effects as “natural” opiates such as heroin and codeine, and it is risky to combine it with any other opiates because of the combined cumulative dosage. Death by overdosing on methadone, by itself and mixed with other drugs, has become quite common with street drug users, part of which may be due to the misperception that methadone acts “against” opiate drugs.
Actually, it doesn’t. Methadone supposedly makes it easier to get off heroin and other opiate additions, because it has a longer half-life in the body, does not give as intense a “high”, and does not have such severe withdrawal symptoms. BUT it is also very possible to get physically addicted to methadone itself, which will have its own withdrawal problems.
As for pain, all opiate drugs including methadone DO relieve pain. Why do you think it’s not a pain reliever? Methadone actually is fairly frequently prescribed by doctors (although maybe it shouldn’t be) for non-heroin users who have severe, chronic pain. (Remember Anna Nicole Smith’s son Danny? The cause of death was accidental multi-drug interactions, and one of those drugs was methadone which had been prescribed to him for back pain.)
Please don’t self-dose with ANY other opiates while on a methadone program. You need to consult with your medical doctor prior to any surgery, not just because of the danger of multi-opiate interactions, but because other drugs that are administered for surgery could also interact badly. For example, high doses of opiates will slow heart rate and breathing. Many anaesthetics also have this effect. If the two are combined together, you could have respiratory or heart failure on the operating table. Be safe rather than sorry!