Opioids Does Methadone treatment cause toxicity in parts of the body or brain.

[purplehaze147]

Does Methadone treatment cause toxicity in parts of the body or brain?

I was reading someone's post and they said long term opiate treatment causes hypoxia. Hypoxia supposedly causes neurotoxicity. I'm taking 60mg of Methadone a day and the clinic will keep raising the dose by 5mg about every month or two for about two years. Then I will have to taper off which takes some time, probably around three months, and I'll probably use opiates every once in a while when I get off of methadone.

Will this cause any damage to my body or more importantly my brain? I love my brain, I wouldn't want to do any serious damage to the neurons.

I don't know how long term use of opioids would cause hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the brain.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Yup.

http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~grant/93.pdf (very extensive, on hypoxemia)

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11065-007-9041-y (behavioral justification)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17967153 (disordered breathing)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17141540 (sleep and hypoxia)

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/archive/index.php/t-504764.html; this has been discussed before, but seeing as its such uncommon knowledge, another discussion may be permitted.

Even a rudimentary knowledge of how opiates work would lead one to the open possibility that they're neurotoxic, if indirectly.

 

[Amberthefrog]

^ Thanks for the links, will give them a read.

I was under the (by the tone of your post I'm guessing wrong) impression that hypoxia would only be an issue with relatively high, 'nodding' doses - hence maintenance not so much. Thinking about though, if I've ingested enough morphine (et./or al.) to 'feel very good', put not involuntarily nod, then I tend to find that as the night drags on I will nod anyway - if that makes sense. Long phases of sleep are certainly interrupted, even at fairly low dosages, so I'm not surprised that's an issue with regular usage.

 

[purplehaze147]

I take choline, aniracetam, inositol, 5-htp, and a rockstar energy drink every day for supplements. I'm pretty sure choline and aniracetam increases the amount of oxygen in the brain and I know ginkgo (which is in rockstar energy) increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain and extremities. These supplements should protect me from this, at least slightly, right?

 

[Morphling]

Yup.

http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~grant/93.pdf (very extensive, on hypoxemia)

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11065-007-9041-y (behavioral justification)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17967153 (disordered breathing)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17141540 (sleep and hypoxia)

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/archive/index.php/t-504764.html; this has been discussed before, but seeing as its such uncommon knowledge, another discussion may be permitted.

Even a rudimentary knowledge of how opiates work would lead one to the open possibility that they're neurotoxic, if indirectly.

Thanks for that!

 

[fairnymph]

Thanks, HCM! Interesting data, but not conclusive regarding neurotoxicity. I am no expert on hypoxia, but the brain can function on less oxygen. If hypoxia were a major issue in chronic opioid users, I'd also expect to see damage to other parts of the body.

There are other factors at play, such as most in the Buffalo study being overweight, and chronic pain patients typically don't get much exercise, let alone cardio, so I'd expect they have reduced lung capacity. There could be other mechanisms which compensate for the hypoxia, too, and we just aren't aware of them yet.

 

[sekio]

As far as I can tell drug-induced neurotoxicity is not observed in "most" opioid users. It's more related to situational factors.

If you are spending all your time chasing a nod, and barely staying awake, or have a pre-existing history of apnea or something, obviously this doesn't hold true. But the average Joe is not going to have their breathing depressed to problematic levels on doses of opioids that are suited for pain control and/or maintenance.

 

[laCster]

^ good post sekio, and thank you for posting good info as well ho-chi-minh

i always believe opioids aren't neuro or cardiotoxic. good to see both sides though

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Ho-Chi-Minh thanks very much for posting those links! I am suspicious that I have central sleep apnea (although it also occurs while I'm awake so "sleep apnea" is a misnomer, it's just most destructive to my sleep patterns) from being on methadone for years (it hasn't improved since I quit either) and it's great to have some info supporting that idea. Doctors (and it seems especially doctors at methadone clinics IME 8)) don't tend to know much about this kind of stuff (for numerous reasons). BTW sekio: I was taking very normal maintenance doses that did not get me remotely high or nodding.

OP - Yes methadone is damaging to the body and brain. I absolutely regret going on methadone (and especially staying on it for so long) and feel it has caused me serious problems. It adversely affects your endocrine system, your immune system, your hypothalamic-pituitary-axis, your digestive system, your pain system, and so on. I can produce plenty of sources if people don't believe me.

As for "neurotoxicity" per se, if you define "neurotoxicity" as exposure to natural or artificial substances which alters the normal activity of the nervous system in such a way as to cause damage to cells/tissue, then yes chronic use of methadone has been found to cause neurotoxicity in both animals and humans, however severe neurotoxicity due to chronic methadone treatment is not considered common or a "major concern". I believe methadone withdrawal can also be neurotoxic due to excitotoxicity.

i always believe opioids aren't neuro or cardiotoxic. good to see both sides though

As for cardiotoxic, if you include electrophysiology dysfunction in the definition of cardiotoxicity, methadone causes QT prolongation, a delayed repolarization of the heart following a heartbeat which increases the risk of torsades de pointes.