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Opioids Alcohol lowering methadone levels in the body

robd

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 15, 2002
Messages
479
In my clinic they have a sign of a few drugs that increase the methadone levels in the body, and a few that lower the methadone levels. Alcohol is stated as one that lowers the levels. I have spoke to people there who have said they notice they feel a little dope sick either while drinking or after. It could be that this sign just put the idea in their head...i dont know though i must admit i have noticed this sometimes as well. I haven't been able to find any information about this except for this paper posted up on the wall. Does anyone have any further info?
 
Yea I always noticed that after drinking I will start to feel worse until I take more opiates, not sure why though. (I notice it with all opiates not just methadone)

On a somewhat related note I got a paper from my methadone clinic and under drugs that can precipitate withdrawal it listed tramadol as a drug which causes w/d which I found weird cause I never heard that tramadol does that.
 
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anyone else have some input on this? im very curious to find some technical info relating to the question....
 
Here is the deal. The sign at your clinic is true, not only for methadone levels tho, for many opiates. This is how it works.

Alcohol is a drug that is considered a CYP450 inducer. If you aint sure WTF that is just keep reading i will explain it to you. I am a 9th grade drop out Ghetto Education Diploma reciever, so if i can understand this shit, you can.

Yall know about potentiation, right? When for example you take some painkillers with certain other things like grapefruit juice, cimetidine (tagamet), etc. they work in your liver as "inhibitors" of the cytochrome P450 enzyme. That means that they slow the metabolizing of it and end up causing increased levels of the drug in your system with a longer duration.

the opposite is a cyp450 inducer. It causes the enzyme to speed up its action like the litle pac man guy on meth, chomping thru the little gum balls way too fast. the inducer causes cyp450 to increase its production of the enzyme protein that is responsible for metabolizing and processing the drug. so, instead of slowin it down and gettin the most out of it like in enzyme inhibition, in this case its the opposite. When this happens, it burns thru the drug way faster than it normally would have, breaking it down into its metabolites before it gets to you, weakening the drug. this causes abnormally low levels of the drug in your blood becuz its gettin processed into its metabolites too fast, not giving the drug enough chance to naturally work its way thru your system. the decreased levels in your blood serum due to this can cause withdrawal or make it come on sooner than if the cyp450 inducer had not been combined with the drug.

Alcohol is a cyp450 inducer and that particular enzyme is one that is very involved in opiate metabolization. so it aint something you want to combine with opiates if you want to get the most out of them. It will make them leave out your system faster than they normally would, its like putting the fast forward on them.

I hope that explains it for you and aint too boring. Its a common thing to hear people say alcohol makes opiates leave your system quicker, but not many people know about why that is so i am glad to explain it to you.:)
 
thanks lacey, i knew about potentiation but didnt know alcohol did the opposite. makes sense now, thanks again!
 
i dont know but when i drink i dont feel any higher.... prob true
 
Here is the deal. The sign at your clinic is true, not only for methadone levels tho, for many opiates. This is how it works.

Alcohol is a drug that is considered a CYP450 inducer. If you aint sure WTF that is just keep reading i will explain it to you. I am a 9th grade drop out Ghetto Education Diploma reciever, so if i can understand this shit, you can.

Yall know about potentiation, right? When for example you take some painkillers with certain other things like grapefruit juice, cimetidine (tagamet), etc. they work in your liver as "inhibitors" of the cytochrome P450 enzyme. That means that they slow the metabolizing of it and end up causing increased levels of the drug in your system with a longer duration.

the opposite is a cyp450 inducer. It causes the enzyme to speed up its action like the litle pac man guy on meth, chomping thru the little gum balls way too fast. the inducer causes cyp450 to increase its production of the enzyme protein that is responsible for metabolizing and processing the drug. so, instead of slowin it down and gettin the most out of it like in enzyme inhibition, in this case its the opposite. When this happens, it burns thru the drug way faster than it normally would have, breaking it down into its metabolites before it gets to you, weakening the drug. this causes abnormally low levels of the drug in your blood becuz its gettin processed into its metabolites too fast, not giving the drug enough chance to naturally work its way thru your system. the decreased levels in your blood serum due to this can cause withdrawal or make it come on sooner than if the cyp450 inducer had not been combined with the drug.

Alcohol is a cyp450 inducer and that particular enzyme is one that is very involved in opiate metabolization. so it aint something you want to combine with opiates if you want to get the most out of them. It will make them leave out your system faster than they normally would, its like putting the fast forward on them.

I hope that explains it for you and aint too boring. Its a common thing to hear people say alcohol makes opiates leave your system quicker, but not many people know about why that is so i am glad to explain it to you.:)


Excellent answer... and when I didn't drink much just having a pint of beer on top of a bag of gear completely ruined the heroin high and made me want more. However, like everything else your body soon adjusts to it and now I use alcohol to potentiate opiates. Now I can only get the nod I crave after sinking 1/2 bottle of vodka on top of my daily 60mg methadone dose and preferably a bag as well..
 
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