does the effect of methadone also stop the feelings of benzos like with opiates??

[slowpoke1967]

thats all i realy want to know ,,
Its been on my mind since i am going to be going on methadone.
Does methadone stop the receptors or release of dopamine or whatever it does to stop the effects of opiates........
Does it do the same thing with my clones and temazepams or valium for that matter....
Very curious........

 

[daddysgone]

thats all i realy want to know ,,
Its been on my mind since i am going to be going on methadone.
Does methadone stop the receptors or release of dopamine or whatever it does to stop the effects of opiates........
Does it do the same thing with my clones and temazepams or valium for that matter....
Very curious........

No.

Totally different mechanisms. Methadone blocks other opioids (at higher doses) because it has a higher affinity for the opioid receptors then most other opioids. Benzos bind to GABA receptors and so the methadone will not block them at all.

In fact, the methadone will actually make your benzos seem even more potent. You must be very careful when combining these 2 classes of drugs.

Also, this is not ADD material.

 

[fryingsquirrel]

no.

Totally different mechanisms. Methadone blocks other opioids (at higher doses) because it has a higher affinity for the opioid receptors then most other opioids. Benzos bind to gaba receptors and so the methadone will not block them at all.

In fact, the methadone will actually make your benzos seem even more potent. You must be very careful when combining these 2 classes of drugs.

Also, this is not add material.

+ 1

 

[ecahcd]

I've lost 2 friends from methadone and xanax.
I've been on methadone for 5 yrs and xanax,valium,ect. effects are increased ALOT.

Be careful!

 

[onlywant2nod]

I'm on 200milligrams of methadone 1x daily and 2milligrams xanax 3x daily, since benzos are enhanced while on "done", is being on the xanax the main reason I'm so tired most of the time?

Heck I dose at the clinic around 7am each day, except when I get takehomes I usually sleep later and take my dose at 9am at the latest. For example this morning I dosed at 7am and now its 10am only and already I'm nodding out, I take my 1st xanax of the day at around 8:30am.

 

[slowpoke1967]

sorry i thought this would be an advanced question since i have never herd anything like this before on any forums.
didnt know where to put it.
But i do appreciate the answer..
I also appreciated the answer that it increases the benzos.
I have the methadone book here since im going to be starting on it soon i hope and it sais nothing about increaseing the effects of benzos,so i realy appreciate the reply..

 

[astroboy007]

I am on Suboxone so i assume that they it will not effect the potency of benzos if i take them?

 

[Hammilton]

It'll probably enhance them some. I'd cut your dose in half just to be safe. No one should die from pharmaceuticals.

If you're talking prescribed benzos, not recreational ones, you're probably fine as it is.

 

[seep]

I don't think there's a direct synergism per se. What's going on is that methadone is a substrate for CYP3A4, so competitive inhibition kinetics apply. I would guess low potency benzos like temazepam and diazepam would be greater potentiators because there are so many more molecules to break down.*

I'm on 200milligrams of methadone 1x daily and 2milligrams xanax 3x daily, since benzos are enhanced while on "done", is being on the xanax the main reason I'm so tired most of the time?

Weird, my wife is on the exact same gargantuan doses. Her bedtime is 1300h! Lucky bitch.

My gut feeling is that you're mainly nodding because of the very high dose of methadone. If maintenance is your goal, can you stay clean if you titrate slowly to a lower dose?

Also, IMHO 2mg alprazolam tid is overkill in most cases. I've been on a 1mg tid dose for more than half a decade. If you can keep your anxiety under control (through psychotherapy or whatever) I think your overall Quality of Life will go up if you tweak your benzo consumption down a notch. Or you can switch to a longer acting benzo like clonazepam and take it bid, then take eszopiclone or even trazodone** as needed for insomnia.

*Though I'd check about the temazepam thing. The hydroxyl moiety may lead to a greater portion of the dose eliminated directly through glucuronidation, thus throwing off competitive inhibition kinetics.

**Check interactions. Trazodone has hypotensive and vasodilatory side effects, so it could be dangerous. Then again, waking up with priapism can be a very good thing for a married methadone user.

 

[seep]

OK look at lorazepam for instance:

It is not a CYP3A4 substrate and it has one principal metabolite: lorazepam glucuronide:

For perspective, WGFJ will not potentiate lorazepam AFAIK.

So then is there documented potentiation of lorazepam by methadone? If no, or not significantly, then cytochrome kinetics is probably the principal mechanism for methadone potentiation of benzos. As a corollary, lorazepam (or oxazepam) may be a safer benzo to take while on methadone.

 

[Hammilton]

Increases CNS depression dramatically, not in an additive fashion. I can't think of a non-GABA-A agonist GABAergic depressant (barbs, benzos, etc) that doesn't produce more than additive CNS depression when combined with opiates (ie exponential increases, not additive).

inhibiting metabolism cannot explain all of these, or even all of the BZD agonists that potentiate.