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

I just want to tell u something ...... as i will agree it must suck detoxing from black tar (in which i wouldnt know .... never done it ) but bit also really sucks from detoxing from 5 80s a day i needed 2 just to get out of bed

I did try subs but alls they did was make my sickness 10 times worse . When i talked to my counsiler about itr she had a good point ..... when u do dope your getting sh*t that is cut with all sorts of sh*t oxys are pure there is nothing in them except for oxy so sometimes it is harder to come off of pills so were not just winey pill poppers we have addiction just as much as u do and withdraw just like u do.....,.

I cannot beleive this. I'm in the same boat-to make a long story short .... me+10 months+90mgs methadone a day=25/30 lbs. AHHH!! and reading all these posts have just really depressed me even more. Now I feel like there isn't anything i can do. I was thinking maybe the weight gain came from just being older than the last time (years ago) i lost weight. I thought maybe I was just susceptible to weight gain. I gained 25 lbs at 11years old-became bone thin at 12. Gained about 30 at 21 yrs old was a foxy skinny 22 year old....and now 31 years-25 lbs. (BTW, I just noticed the tem year thing, very weird). Also i have an addictive personality, I like chocolate, but being as i don't really eat very much i was suprised this crept up. What to do? Seems like the onlt thing is to get off the methadone, get active, get healthy, drop excuses!-very scary. The question is what is more scary???

Everyone here is telling my exact story! It is so infuriating. I have been on methadone 4 years after 2 years of trying every pain medicine and basically being high all the time I was desperate for a pain medicine with no loopy side effects. I blamed my weight gain on everything from carbs to lack of exercise. I am greatful for these posts. Now I know it is the Mthadone. I went from a steady 150 to 200lbs!!! I am terribly depressed and my self esteem is worse than ever in my life. I recentally joined a dating site and have been dumpped by suiters after showing pictures of my body. I am very pretty and am mortified. I went down to 10 miligrams a day and there was no change in weight although it would have been easier to withdraw offthe methadone. I am going to try to get off the methadone and get my core muscles strong to help my degenerative back disease and my buldging disc. Thanks for all the posts here.

My story is the same as everyone here. Been on methadone for 5 years for chronic pain. Never knew of the weight gain side effect. Have been slowing putting on weight. For the past 6 months I have been trying so hard to lose weight. I eat no more than 800 calories a day, I work out...and I haven't lost ONE POUND. So, my doctor finally told me that Methadone is the culprit, and I am weaning off as I type this.

My question is this...has anyone quit taking the methadone, and if so, did you lose the weight pretty easily? I hope to have weaned off this med within 2-3 weeks. I really need to lose the 50 lbs I have put on while taking this med, and I hope it is somewhat easy. I've never had trouble losing weight before, which is why this has been so strange.

It's really too bad because as a pain medication, methadone does an excellent job. I have no idea what med I will switch too...but it must be one that doesn't cause weight gain!! Anyone know of such a med? Does Vicodin make you gain weight?

Thanks!

Noelle

Fentanyl patches are said to have fewer side effects than Methadone.

hi I am so glad i found this sight.YES!I to have gained so much weight .I don't no what to do it is depressing.You cant win for loosing.
we need it for pain yet the weight gain makes it almost not worth it.I am 45 and i started it 4yrs ago to.I weight was 130 now i am 210.
I drink allot of coke.I eat stuff i have never liked before like cheese and pop cycles but i don't over eat it .I do drink allot.
IT also causes your teeth to start going bad.This c**p is almost as bad as the addition it self.My sister was very small to she to has put on allot of weight she did slow down on it and she has start to loose a little.It is the methadone no doubt in my mind.
But what do we do? Cant stop taking it if the pain is bad.Cant get diet pills oh no cause then we would fell a UA god forbid.
I don't no what the answer is .I do no that y'all aren't alone .I to am in the c**p.As far as the person who wrote about pill poppin .I agree with you completely.PILLS,METHODONE whatever it maybe we all are addicts in one way or another.So whoever thinks they are so different because they don't take methadone or whatever the case maybe get down off the petal stool.

hi i can tell you 100precent you will gain weight on methadone. what really makes me mad is when you ask your doctor if your weight gain is because of your methadone he says no.
but ive always been thin my whole life. it was always easy for me to loose weight but now its so hard to lose just a little bit of weight it sucks but im not taking 20 or 30 loratabs a day so i guess you have to take the good with the bad right. but i cant stand this weight i will lose this weight . im going to do what ever it takes to lose this ugly weight. i know i can do it because methadone makes you strong.

I understand about weight gain and the older I get the harder to lose it. I've gotten to an acceptance phase of my life and then I was able to dispose of fast foods, sweets, and giving in to cravings. When I stopped obsessing I became happier. Yes I still have weight to lose but I am happier walk more, don't spend money on bad foods, learned to cook better and look at other areas of my life that need improvement. As long as I am not in pain and can function I am grateful and no it is not easy but it's just life. I detoxed from methedone a long time ago. I decided it wasn't for me. It works wonders for so many people in chronic pain and addiction. I was just too hard headed though. I run from all pain killers now but luckily Iam not in pain now. I admire all who battle pain, addiction and all the hassles that come with it. Keep Truckin'.

I have been on methadone for about 8 years now and was always a big guy, 6ft. about 220lbs, and after being on 20mg. of methadone every 6hrs, for severe back pain, I have gained about 70lbs. I lost 25lbs, eating tons of fruit and not eating out constantly, but I am stalled at 265lbs. and hate it. All my clothes are tight, and I sweat constantly. I used to pop vicodin, and oxy's constantly and drink like a fish, and not get heavy. Now, I dont drink,and have not since I started taking methadone. I think methadone slows your matabolism, and makes you retain water weight. In 2003 I wanted to get off all meds, and got off the methadone, and weight melted off me as my dose went down. But got back on the methadone after 1 year, and back came the weight. I would definitly rather be fat than in pain constantly, but it sucks. I guess you gotts decide which is more important Pain Control, without addiction, or being thinner and abusing short acting opiates, or living in pain. I guess I would rather be a fatass, meth taker with not so much pain.

I can really understand where everyone with this problem is coming from. I have been on methadone for about 5 yrs. now and started to notice the weight gain after only a couple of months.I have allways been a big guy. When I started the methadone I weighed 250lbs. and now i am tipping the scale at 370lbs.I am so unhappy.Since starting my treatment I have bought a home as well as bought and paid for three vehicles.Before treatment I couldn't even manage to keep a roof over my wife and childrens heads for more than a few months at a time.I know if I stop the treatment then i'll be right back to 30 percoset and as many oxies as i can find in a day. I just don't know if it is worth it. Please reply if you have any answers.

I have been on 110mg of methadone now for several months to no longer use heroin. i had been on heroin for 3years and last november i had finally quit with the only help being 5days of methadone around 100mg. then i didn't use for a peroid of 5 months and in that time i basically did my own rehab program by staying at home and not leaving to go anywhere to avoid being around places i used to use at or buy at, thus avoid relapsing. in that 5 month period i had gained a ridiculous 50lbs going from 190lbs to a whooping 240lbs, all by not doing anything, not leaving the house and being lazy. then i started up college which was near the location of where i used and bought and like old habits dying slowly i relapsed fast and hard. after using heavy again fopr about 3-4 months, for several personal reasons i finally decided to call it quits again. so i went and signed up for a methadone maintenance program. so now i am using daily 110mg for the past several months, and because i don't have a car and the clinic is nearly 20miles from my house, i bus it and walk to dose. afterwards, i walk another 2.5 miles from clinic to my moms work, eat for lunch something healthy and sometimes, sometimes i eat only after i get back home around 5pm. so then after getting to my mom's work which is located in downtown, la around 1-2pm, i go out and walk from 1-2pm until 4pm when i leave back home with my mom. i usually end up walking anywhere between 5-7.5 miles in the 2-3 hours peroid, plus the 2.5miles from the clinic to my mom's work, and 1.5miles from the subway station to the clinic. so its anywhere between 9-12 miles a day, plus i eat one hardy and healthy home cooked meal a day, and i also have coffee, sweetened with maybe a doughnut or two, or a yogurt in the morning. and maybe a small snack in the evening, and definitely plenty of fluids throughout the day, i prefer vitamen water the power-c flavor. so all that, plus all the walking, and honest to GOD i have lost over 25lbs over the several month peroid and still losing more. oh, also i do about 4-5miles saturday and same on sunday, plus i eat maybe a little more on the weekends, but it has really been working for me, and i don't take any other medication other than 110mg of methadone. but my side effects include swelling of my ankles and legs, especially if i sit for a long peroid of time, and my urine is a very concentrate yellow color and has a very funky smell to it. so if anyone can give me some insite on those two side effect, that would be very appreciated.

I have been taking methadone for about three years at a low 15 mg per day. In that three years I gained 30 pounds. I don't eat much, but the weight keeps on coming on. My self esteem has been horrid. It also affected my ability for orgasm. Once I started taking it, I could no longer have one. That has also affected my life. I asked for something comparable for pain, so the side effect of orgasm would be removed from the picture. My pain doctor switched me to MS Contin (synthetic morphine). From the end of August when I made the switch from methadone to MS Contin, to end of September, I have lost an easy 12 pounds. I didn't realize that the methadone was causing that until I went off it and started losing weight. I recommend that each of you make this switch, and lose weight too.

same boat but this one floats - in order to ascertain whether or not the methadone is the sole cause of the weight gain - would entail a complete audit of ones lifestyle, but ina nutshell calory counters would do well to consider the amount of pure sugar in high doses of methadone millilitres - also i'm guessing that anyone on a "high' dose is likely to be quite sedate in their lifestyle due in part to the level of shheer contentment that the opiate related endorphins (seratonin and dopamine)could deliver to the user. Maybee i'm just one of the lucky ones - over a year on the meth now and i've lost weight - muscle and fat. i expected the muscle to wither to some degree due to atrophy since i havent worked for 2 years now while i.ve been addressing my drug dependance(formerly heroin) - however my lack of employment also spawned a lack of cashflow which in short means i occaisonally have been hungry and also have been lazier over the past 24 months - no doubt facilitated by the methadone as otherwise i should have went round the bend with sloth and lethargy. however ive enjoyed the r'n'r - now im changing to suboxone as i managed to reduce my daily methadone intake to 25ml . expect il be working soon and will accordingly ramp up my calorific intake to fuel the increased energy expenditure. - though providing i find the right balance between input and expenditure; what reason should i , or anyone, have to attribute any change in weight(+/-} to a powerfull emerald demon - which i have stopped(or started) taking - yay the greenstuff may play its part in the alleged problem - but as with most things; the key to the solution lies not in the mystical properties of the sweet greenliquid but rather ; in the mind of the one who will drink this think down!

HELLO IM A METHADONE PAIENT IVE BEEN ON THE MEDICATION FOR 5 1/2 YRS. IM 29 YRS. OLD. I KNOWDIST THAT MY WEIGHT GOES UP AND DOWN CONSTANTLY!!!IT MAKE ME CRAZY!!ANYWAY IF SHE TAKES A STOOL SOFFENER EVERYDAY IT WILL DEFINATELY HELP HER!WHEN I GO ON HIGH PROTIEN LOW CARB/SUGAR DIET I LOOSE WEIGHT QUICKLY!!SHE SOUNDS LIKE SHES DOING VERY WELL,BETTER THAN,"EXTEMLY WELL!!"I THINK THAT CONSTIPATION IS THE REASON FOR THE WEIGHT GAIN.YOU CAN ALWAYS ASK PHARMISISTS FOR ADVISE I DO ALL THE TIME!!

I take methadone for SLE and scleroderma pain. Haven't been able to move around much from joint degeneration for ten years. I weighed around 95 lbs for most of my adult life. My esophagus has hardened, making it difficult to get food down, which used to keep me pretty thin. Nothing has changed except my pain killer, which took place three years ago. I actually eat less because of advanced disease and move more because of PT- the extra pain control gives me more ability to move around, and I've put on 130 LBS. That is not a typo. I am 5'0" with tiny bones, hardening skin and organs and rotting joints, and I've steadily gained weight in three years of being on methdone. My doctors swear it isn't because of the methadone, even after I went into a hospital to prove I wasn't somehow closet eating, and because I've maxed out on the dosage of other meds, won't change my meds. I'm actually more comfortable on this med, but convinced its caused awful weight gain. It isn't the same kind of fat, my doctors agree, but they can find no other reason for the weight gain. I don't eat meat, refined sugar, fried food or cooked oils of any kind. I was a researcher in nutritional chemistry before becoming incapacitated. I have amputations and haven't enough fingers or joints left to type out my story, but in the same way that only some people experience sweating or certain other methadone side effects, only certain people experience weight gain from methadone. However, it seems that more people put on weight than lose it or maintain their weight. I do not understand why doctors deny this. I seem to be at the extreme end of the spectrum and feel very trapped. I may have to deal with pain and a shortened life, but it is unfair that I am stuck with the option of weighing 225 lbs or being in pain. I've been through all the other pain meds, and until I am at the end of my life, they will not give me high enough doses of the other medications.

To the last poster: I feel no euphoria from methadone, and I am on a high dose. To the others who claim the weight gain is from dietary changes: If a person is not eating any differently than they did before, they should not be gaining weight. Since pain patients seem to have the same likelihood of gaining weight as addicts or pain patient/addicts, it seems that the weight gain has to do with the medication.

Has anyone else experienced EXTREME weight gain from using methadone?