Maybe you should rethink your advice. For those with addictions then the clinic might be the place for them, for those with pain conditions, you’ve said yourself… they end up still in pain and also addicted to methadone.
That's fair. Again, @msdand everyone else, I'm sorry if this was insensitive or irresponsible.
I really meant to highlight that there are not a lot of great options out there right now. That sucks, it's depressing. I know.
To highlight all of the details of what I was thinking will take a moment and I'm on my phone presently.
In short, Methadone is an Opioid and many have found chronic relief from their pain by using it. Perhaps not the condition specified by our original poster, but you also have to cut me some slack. I'm not q doctor. I'm not as well-versed as you in the treatment of these conditions.
Second, when I talk about "the clinic" I'm not referring to just the drug methadone. The clinic itself is a byword for a microcosm of politics, crime and addiction of its own. There are pitfalls that come with attending a clinic, most glaringly, the fact that many attendees are in active, heavy poly-substance addiction and one is forced to visit this place every day. It is a place that can help people get better, but sometimes makes people much worse. I don't think this is due to the effects of Methadone itself however.
A problem that you will face with the clinic, is that you have to attend every single day. Methadone when used for pain management is best-administered three times daily. It can hold a person from going into withdrawal for 24 hours, but it's analgesia is strongest for 6-8 hours in most people. The way clinics are operating in the current climate, post-covid, is much more liberal than they have been historically. A person who does the right things and passes their drug tests can have weekly pick ups within 3 months. You can have every other day pick ups within a couple of weeks. So, it's not impossible, but there are many hoops to jump through.
Once you have your weekly pick ups, you could then self-administer the Methadone in a way that works best for your pain. It's not ideal, but we are not living in a world where pain patients are entitled to their ideal treatment. You sometimes have to make sacrifices, so if an Opioid is required, even if Methadone is not the best choice, it could be used as part of a comprehensive treatment protocol featuring other, non-chemical means of treatment.
I'm not a doctor and I don't have the knowledge of these conditions as some of you do. I am here to do my best for Harm Reduction. I'm not a pain management specialist. I don't think it's fair to jump down my throat. The Methadone clinic can be used as a great tool, but it can also be a place of great temptation. My answer regarding going to the clinic and "getting worse" was more complex than the few sentences that I originally typed. In the current climate of minimal Opioid prescribing, the options have to be correspondingly desperate.