Does methadone cause weight gain and/or slow down metabolism?

so your advice is for everyone to go shoot black tar heroin in their veins and then get on methadone? wow you are an as****e addict. you arent any better or deserving than anybodyelse. at least these people are trying to get off of whatever they are hooked on before they stand outside walmart smoking cigarette butts. and if you know addivts that are dying that is their choice because there is plenty of methadone clinics if they wanted help they would get it.

I have been on methadone for a little over a year now and I've gained like 35 pounds and still going, i can't even look in the mirror and its near IMPOSSIBLE to lose it. I had got into cocaine pretty bad while on methadone and only lost about 10 pounds after doing it for 5 months straight, now if i were to do that and not be on methadone, i would;ve been a stick figure! i am no longer doing any drugs and the weight came right back and its absolutely because of the methadone and because it makes you eat nothing but sugar and sweets! i am currently forcing myself to go down at least 30 mg over time probably 5mg every two weeks no matter how bad it killls me because unfortunately that is the only way to lose the weight is to go down to a lower dose, i am on 95 mg and going down, some people gain weight and some people dont, but 90% of people absolutely do!!! sorry about your sister but i feel her pain trust me, although it does keep us away from using other opiate substances, it comes along with some unwanted side effecta, my doctor told me to eat more protein and exercise more, but to exercise every day and stay on a low calorie diet and cut out sweets is crazy hard especially being on methadone and the results take FOREVERRR. so yA, the only way to fix this is to stop with the sugars and lower your dose, i have chronic back pain i have degenerative disc disease and multilevel spondilosis and it sucks but i cant handle being so thick , i havent had to shop at the bottom of the jean pile in years lol i wish the best of luck to your sister!!

I have been on methadone for 4 years this month. I gained weight very rapidly. Even almost a year in jail before I could not get over 130 or even actually hit it. lol. 3 months on methadone I was 135 and loving it. I always wanted a lil meat. The sweets cravings were insane. The highest my dose became was 100. Then I started coming off it and then got pregnant and went up to 85. After my daughter I weighed 180. And no matter what I did it wouldn't budge. Methadone FOR SURE causes weight gain. men and women. My husband usually weighted about 140 and he is at 200 now. I am only on 18 mg now and when I got down to 30 mg on my weening off I started to lose wt. I am now about 145 lbs. I am hoping that as I get completely off in the next few months that I don't get gross skinny like I always was but feel like I have no control over it. I don't crave the sweets at all anymore. Also any women on methadone get your thyroid checked by your doctor. Also the only ppl that i have seen take methadone and not gain wt were on benzos or using other drugs.

Yea, methadone has a tendency to cause weight gain because of its long half life, which keeps the metabolism down. 3 years of methadone treatment has caused significant weight gain for me, but i've lost a lot recently with the introduction of 30 minutes of light exercise every morning to jack up my metabolism. Try to snack lightly after dosing instead of eating a whole meal, this will help too. Hope u found some help from this post, good luck!

I knew someone with a similar problem. She cut down on her methadone dose, took lasiks and other dierhetics and cut out most salt and sugar. She lost a sh*t-ton of weight and looks great now. I hope this helps, good luck!

What a load off sh*t!

After being on Methadone for 30 yrs I can give this answer: Most people that get strung out on opiates tend to be underweight because they don't eat regular or healthy foods, so yes , however methadone makes you crave sweets and especially chocolate so you have to really watch yourself because its very easy to overeat on this medication.  I used to drink a gallon a day of chocolate milk and lots of reeses' , snickers, ice cream, etc.   Currently I'm about 25lbs overweight and I'm struggling to not add any more weight.     I hope this helps confirm what you probably already knew.  lol 

You have other problems than just overeating on methadone. 300 lbs? that's ridiculous to blame a drug for that , be serious and just admit you're a pig. lmao

I am a male and I am 26 years old, I started taking methadone almost 4 years ago I didnt start to gain weight till after the first year. I am 6'3 and I was 158 lbs when I started the methadone and in the first year my weight went up to 165 lbs, my methadone nurse asked me if I had an eating disorder because I had been drug free for over a year and had only gained 6 lbs, I have a large frame so being 160 lbs and 6'3 on the dot I looked very thin although I did excersize for 1 hr a day to keep my weight down because many people told me methadone could rot my teeth cause bad acne and make me gain a lot of weight. I have gone to see the dentist every 6 months for a cleaning and check up and I have not had 1 cavity in my life, I also started using ProActiv 3 step system a few months after being on the methadone because it was causing slight acne, I now use the 3 step ProActiv system every day and I haven't had a zit in over a year and I just seen the dentist last week and had X-rays of my teeth and a cleaning done and I have no signs of tooth decay. On the forms I had to fill out for the dentist one of the questions was are you on any medications and if so what they were I wrote Methadone 120 mg daily, the dentist told me he had never in his 25 year career seen a drug addict with such healthy immaculate teeth. I was a bit offended but I think he meant it as a compliment. My mother buys me Lancome skin care products and I often get complements from strangers on how good my skin is. So I know if you take care of your teeth methadone will not rot your teeth and if you take care of your skin Methadone will not cause any skin problems, it does however cause weight gain. In November of last year I weighed myself and I was 202 lbs, I bought an elliptical and a yoga ball and I have been working an hour and 12 5-6 times a week and I weighed myself yesterday and I am 193 lbs, I have been stuck at 193 lbs since mid January, I am on a low calorie diet and I am working out as hard as I can for a minimum of 4 days every week and I cannot drop a lb. I know that being 192 lbs at 6'3 is a healthy body weight and if you can run 7 miles in an hr 6 times a week and do a 100 push ups, side bends, Leg raises and dips using a yoga ball. I am healthy but I am desperately want to get my weight down to 175 and my body fat % back down to 8% it is now at 12%. It seems no matter how hard I work out and how well I eat the lowest I can get my weight is 192 which is a 24 on the BMI for me and my body fat has stayed the same as far as I know. I have been running over 7 miles a day 6 times a week and doing 4 sets of 25 push ups, leg raises, side bends, sit ups and dips for the last 6 weeks and I have not dropped an ounce of body fat or weight.. Before I started taking the methadone If I was working this hard and eating this well I would be loosing 5 lbs every 2 weeks at least., now I cant lose a lb in 2 weeks and I am working harder and eating better then I ever have. I believe the Methadone is doing something to my body that is preventing me from losing weight and if I didn't start working out when I did I would probably be 210 lbs right now. I am going to see my doctor next week about this problem and he is putting me on Xenical and phentermine as well as writing out a diet plan for me to follow for 4 weeks and he said if I keep up the exercise and follow his plan that I should be able to get my weight down to 175 in 3 months. I was on 175 mg of methadone for 2 years I am now on 80 mg and going down 5 mg every 2 weeks until I am down to 25 mg and then the step downs will continue at a lower dose until I am off of it. I am 26 years old and I had an Opiate addiction that was killing me, I started the methadone in collage I have now been clean for 3 years I haven't so much as smoked a joint. If the Xenical and phentermine along with his diet plan works I will let you know what the dose of each medication and what the diet he has me on is. I think that the methadone may prevent me from losing weight but if you have any tips that you think may work for me that have worked for you I would be interested to know. If it doesn't work the only thing I can do is work out and get as strong as possible until I have completed the methadone step-down and when I am finished the step down I will be able to run 8 miles an hr on the highest resistance my elliptical and be able to do 4 sets of 25 of each floor work out. If I keep it up once I am off the methadone and it has left my system I will have a high level of stamina and strength and the weight should melt off once the methadone has left my system, I think that should only take 2-4 weeks after the final step-down. I have never worked this hard this consistently and seen almost no results other then my stamina and strength are getting back up there.

Give It some time the first 2 years I thought the same thing I was a model when I was 16 till I was 21 I have always exercised and taken very good care of myself even when I was smoking Opiates I went to the gym almost every day and tanning right after. I still take very good care of myself but I gained 35 lbs after being on methadone for 3 years and it is very very difficult to lose I am able to lose about a lb a month working out and eating healthy all the time. I am 6'3 and 192 Lbs my normal weight is 172 when I started the methadone i was 160 now I am 192 and by summer if I work out and stay on a low calorie diet I might get to 185 by summer. If I wasn't on methadone the same diet and work out would get me to 170 by late April. I am just leaving the scale alone and focusing on getting my stamina, strength and endurance up once I am off the Methadone I will probably have a 12% body fat and be 185 once it leaves my system I will be very strong, very fast and be able to work out for long periods of time with no problem. Once the methadone has left my system I guarantee the 4% of body fat and extra 20 lbs I have gained will melt off with little to no effort. If someone gains over 20 lbs and blames the methadone I agree it is there own fault for not taking care of themselves and just being a sloth and a glutton but people like me who are used to being thin and having tons of energy it has a tremendous affect on those things. 95% of how badly the side affects are within your control you just need to exercise some self control and look after yourself but it is difficult you do crave sweets and it does become much easier to gain weight and much harder to loose it.

I am also on methadone and I can't stand the weight gain its driveing me crazy.i think I should give nutridone a try it can't hurt

I too took methadone for pain. I was on it for eight months and gained 140 lbs. I have had everything checked to see if something else caused the weight gain. The only answer is the methadone.

I have been on meth for almost a year now, I'm on a high daily dose I was addicted to heroin for over 2 yrs it got to the point that I was bout to lose everything I had due to the usage and money involve, I had to make a change in my life. I know exactly how you feel about no self-esteem and having any type of weight gain. Over the year i have gained approx. 20 lbs It is so hard and makes me so depressed and down on myself. I'm a single Mom with 3 kids and I also work 2 jobs and go to school full-time, paying the clinic that I go to every week is 80.50 a week and it is so hard to pay that, where I live there in know agency to help with that at all. I have been thinking of getting off the meth, but I'm afraid I will start using again and also afraid of the detox from the meth. they tell at the clinic that they will be able to do it so I won't get sick, but I really don't believe that, I still crave everyday and so I'm very worried about relapse if I stop the meth, but I honestly can't afford it anymore, I feel like you that I have gone from one drug to another, that this is just a legal way, even though it is the biggest rip off out there, sometimes I think they are there more for the money than anything, and to make you feel like you are s**m and a bad person.

I too have been on methadone for about 4 years and started gaining weight almost immediately.  I have gained 40 pounds in about 2-3 years.  No matter what I did, I could not get the weight off.  I have now been off the methadone for about 6 months and have not lost any weight yet, but have noticed certain body parts are smaller now, chest, arms, and butt.  I am taking suboxone to help with the withdrawls.  I took the medicine for pain.  God has healed me and I am now pain free!  It is definitely a different kind of fat.  Its hard to describe.  I too have never had a weight problem.  I am hoping and praying in time, all the extra weight will come off.  I could NEVER get under 188 pounds.  I am now 187.  I'm glad I read this, I thought it was just me.  Not sure why it makes people gain weight but it does.  No amount of exercise or lack of food changed it for me.

I'm on methadone 100mg n I've weighed 120 my whole life at 5"7 I've tried many thing to lose weight n. Weigh 190, I weighed that much at the end of my second pregnancy, so u say the HCG really weeks??what are some of the guidelines you have to go by....n how fast does it week, n how many drops do u take daily