AboutEric Brandt Expertise I am a practicing pharmacist.On my drug information website, I have answered hundreds of questions to date. The articles posted on my site include Parkinson`s disease. depression, menopause, diabetes, sleep and aging, congestive heart failure, calcium channel blockers, thyroid hormone replacement therapy, ADHD, multiple sclerosis an more.
Experience I have experience in retail as well as hospital pharmacy pracice. Currently working in a hospital pharmacy. I am experienced in drug information. Over the last 6 years I have developed a successful web site for drug information.
The addressfor my drug information website is http://www.druginformation.bc.caThere you can read articles on varios areas of health interest. You can also leave me questions which I will personally answer. I also have a free health information newsletter called The Caplet. To subscribe send e-mail to
thecaplet-subscribe@topica.com
Question Hi! I was just prescribed Methadone 5 mg by my pain management doctor and I'm a bit concerned about it. I take Sythroid .2 mg/daily, Ambien/nightly, Lomotil 25 mg/prn, and Relafen 750 mg/nightly for my Lupus (biggest SLE problems I have are RA, OA, COPD, and osteroporosis), along with having thyroid disease as well as I have an ileostomy. I took the first methadone pill earlier tonight, and although it did help for a little while, after about 2 hours the pain came back just as bad. Since I can't take another pill until tomorrow night I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the pain (the relafen knocks me for a loop so I can't take it as day relief) ... but I'm more concerned with the fact that from what I read about meth it can seriously affect breathing and can interact badly with other types of meds. I'm awake for days if I don't take a sleeping pill along with a pain pill, so I really need to know if taking the Ambien + Relafen nightly is safe to do along side of the methadone (the doctor only wants me taking the meth at night even though I told him I take the other two nightly). I don't want to get addicted to methadone, and since it didn't do much for me anyway, is it even worth taking when I need the other meds more? It's hard enough living with the pain the Lupus and other conditions have brought me the past 14 years, the last thing I need is a medication that has such adverse side-effects. I'm really confused what to do about this medication ... should I call the doctor on Monday and have him give me something else, or should I keep taking the methadone until I see him again next month ... or ? Since you are familiar with terminal illnesses and the meds needed to treat them (not sure SLE is still considered terminal, it used to be though) any help you can offer would be wonderful. Thank you!
~~Mara~~
PS Oh, I also am supposed to be restarting my plaquinal and methotrexate meds soon, my rhumatologist stopped them when I had the ileostomy surgeries, will they have any issues when combined with the meth?
Answer Hi Mara,
Methadone prescribing takes a special skill and not all physicians are licensed or skilled in rscribing methadone. Your doctor likely has more experience with it than I do. Methadone takes a little time to buil up adequate blood levels to be effective. I would continue taking it but would not a month for followup. Call your doctor after 3-4 days to describe your response to the drug and get further directions from him. You may need something for in between which the doctor will prescribe.
The adverse effects you read about will occur if the dose started was too high, or dose increases are too rapid and too high. From what you describe I do not think you are at risk for these adverse effects. When taking methadone bowel care is important to prevent constipation. Were instructed on preventative measures in this regard?
Thank you for using Allexperts
Sincerely,
Eric Brandt, B.Sc. Pharm
