methadone weight gain

I've been on methadone for approx. 4 yrs. now. I was using herion with a needle & my situation got completely out of control. I heard about methadone, but my parents wanted me to go away to a treatment center instead of getting on the methadone maintenance. Hindsight is 20/20. If I knew what methadone was going to do to my body, I would have NEVER chosen it. I am currently in detox (weening off) of methadone. I was up to 175mg (liquid dose) & to this day, I have gained approx. 35 lbs!! Both my family doctor & the clinic doctor said I WILL gain weight when taking methadone because it slows down your metabolism quite a bit. Both doctors said I will probably start to crave sweets (ice cream, candy, cake, etc). I never had a sweet tooth; I mean, a bowl of ice cream here & there, maybe a candybar now & then, but I ate healthy snacks (fruit, peanuts, etc). Ice cream was my downfall. I would eat approx. 1 half gallon in a 1 to 2 nite spand! I asked the doctors, "What's wrong with me? I can't stop?". They once again explained how my metabolism wasn't burning off the calories fast enough!! Whether I exercised for 2hrs. a day or not; no change. I am currently detoxing from methadone. I come down 3mg a week; and have went from 175mg to 94mg this past Wed (3/3/10)!! I can feel my body starting to go back to "normal". I hardly eat sweets anymore (at least not like before!). And I can let the ice cream sit in the fridge for weeks at a time!! I can't wait till this is COMPLETELY over. I used to be involved in martial arts before my addiction, and I have already been doing my homework & looking into dojo's I want to go to. I have a family member that was on methadone before me. She was at approx. 145mg. When she got off the methadone, she said the weight started coming off naturally!! She wasn't even exercising! I will continue my meetings & individual sessions once I'm completey off methadone; I know that's the right thing to do. Hang in there, when you're off methadone, you'll start noticing BIG changes in your weight, etc!! I can't wait myself! GOOD LUCK!! :-D

Siiiiiiggggghhhh, A little over 6 months and already over 20 lbs heavier, Im more depressed than when I was completely strung out on illegal opiates. I should not have chosen to try methadone maintenance, I have only been using heroine for a year and a half and did much better on suboxone or cold turkey. Im afraid I will never have a metabolism again. I eat half as much as I did Iv'ing drugs all day, and almost no sugar anymore at all. I am considering doing a 21 or 28 day detox and fast-weening down from 130 mg/day to O mg/day. Tried to find a place to do the detox in rehab/hospital type setting but my have been refused by the only place my insurance will pay for it. Have to do the ween before I can do the in house detox, which is just highly unlikely for me to accomplish at home without killing my BF. ((who, by the way, has also become fat/looks pregnant for the first time in his life on the methadone and hardly eats as much as before)) Hate being shackeled to the methadone clinic, hate gaining almost a lb a day and going from size 5 to a 13, hate sweating all the time(methadone makes us both sweat alot), the constipation is worse than on any other drug for me, its screwing up my teeth, hate not wanting to have sex ever ( i have never been like that--even when i was on other opiates) since the first day I took this c**p, hate waiting in line, Being Sick for 1 Month or 3 Months Sounds Like A Better Prospect Than Feeling The Way I do On Methadone For Many Months/Years, and What if ThEse Symptoms Dont Go Away!?!?!?!? Suboxone really is clinically healthier and more effective in my opinion( which includes my own personal experience and the advice and reviews of MANY other peoples experiences). I wish somebody would have warned me and the "jerk government dope pushers" , who work at and run this clinic, would have told me that they offered suboxone for free before I was already over 100 mg methadone/day. I used to have to pay over $6/pill +doctor's fees )$200)/visit- to use suboxone and If I Knew I Was Going To Get Fat I Would Have Had More Will Power To Quit On My Own. I am 30 years old--hope this helps someone

i too feel your pain!. ive been scripted up on 110ml for nearly 4yrs now and ive got the ANSWER TO WHY YOUVE PUT ON WEIGHT. the weight your at now is the weight you should av been before you did drugs. we all know drugs makes the weight drop off you at a mad-up rate, so once we STOP TAKING them its obvious that our weight will start to return to what it was intended to be in the 1st place. ive got so many pics that i sit looking at as i was a size 8 and went up to a size 18! how do you think i feel? ivde never had a belly in my life. we all seem to 4get the life we had b4 drugs, but blieve me people, beauty is on the inside. your depression will make you pile on the pounds just as much. its not the meth, all meths now sugar free. its how god intended you to be. noones ever happy with there weight now are they?. youve come along way now so dont let a bit of blubber be your return to hell, :-S XD just keep your chin up and smile.

just a thought here. i have been using methodone against my will for a year or more. no weight gain. just muscle. maybe and i am not being mean. look at yourself and think about your overall lifesytle and i bet over 80% of you (no offense) live a very sendentary lifesytle because of the injuries or addictions. if you seriously eat healthy and really work out you will have a six to eight pack i am a bodybuild for christ sake/

:-( I have been on Methadone almost a year, and i too have just started gaining weight. I am a little overweight as it is and this 20-30 lbs gain is just destroying me. i also have gotten a sweet tooth that i never had before. i only started gaining weight about 5-6months after i started. I have gained 10 lbs in under 2 months! i had myself at a managable weight before this and learned to live with being overweight. i was at 220 and now i am at 247! it is horrible. im glad im not doing drugs anymore but this is almost too much to deal with. I have also had swelling of my feet and ankles but that now only seems to happen before/during my period. If anyone has any kind of advise about how to get this weight off, let me know!

Methadone makes you retain water like a sinking ship! I know they make over the counter meds to help with water storage.... You also have to remember that Methadone primarily makes a person lazy, and what happens to most people who sit on the sofa all day? Try working out, and eating healthy. Also for constipation you can get over the counter meds for that aswell. Everyone is different, but I can say from experience that Methadone never made me gain weight for the 4 years I took it. I'm not sure if it was because I was taking it in pill form, where most people get it in liquid form from clinics. I however wish everyone the best of luck.

Yes, Methadone will make you gain weight. I have spoken to many MDs who have said that it slows your metabolsm down, extremely. The sugar cravings are also contributing, and the constipation. When you combined those 3 things, your screwed. I have been trying to work out every day, and it has helped some. Staying active is the best thing you can do. And for those who say, "its because you didn't have an appetite on pills", that does not apply to everyone. I had a normal appetite on pills, and I had always been the same weight. I never lost weight on pills. Once on methadone, I blew up. You will absoulutely loose the weight when you get off.

I didn't realise until I started reading about the withdrawl from methadone that I had gained all this weight, 80+ lbs., I became severely depressed, became a intovert. I didn't want to know what size I was, so I would wear these mans 5X t-shirts with elastic band pants. I never really new how much I gained b/c I don't have a scale in my house.... I knew I was no longer my size 9-10!!! After years (2+) of sitting in my home; not going out b/c I didn't want anyone to see how big I got. Eventually, I needed another eye surgery which meant a pre-surgical exam that is when I found out just how big I had gotten!!! I cried, and cried!!! I finally got up the nerve to hit the store and find out exactley what size I was. Since this happened in June I have lost 20+ lbs... and my weaning off of the methadone (was at 80mls/day) now down to 10mls/day for the next 10 days than NO MORE METHADONE!!!! I am taking methadone due to a severe car accident left me to have 18 back surgeries, and I have a lot of metal in my spine. My doctors are switching me to Morphine, but I am still having "severe," withdrawl symtoms. Yesterday was the day I was to go down to the 10mls/day for 10 days and last night was A FRIGGING NIGHTMARE!!!! I slept a grand total of 20 minutes in 48 hours, I am tired of dripping in sweat, tired of aching all over, tired of methadone!!!! Even though I am going thru the removal of methadone and being crossed to moraphine I am now having the worst feeling.... even my mind feels S L O W !!!!! God get us through our methadone withdrawl safely!!! Thanks for helping me figure out why I gained all this weight.... and I recommend a washcloth you carry with you ALWAYS to wipe the sweat off of every inch of your body! Be safe and methadone free everyone!!
-Shannon Patrick 8-|

ok all you people talk about gaining weight but how do you lose it on methadone??????????????

I am 30 years old and I started methadone June 2008 for heroin addiction. My whole life I have been skinny, anywhere from 125 to 140 at 5'8, and never had to diet. Within 3 months of being on methadone I gained weight so fast!, I gained probably 80 lbs! It was so incredibly fast it seemed like one day my clothes didn't fit anymore! At my highest dose I was at 110 mgs for a while, and my highest weight was about 245 lbs. Within the last 6 most I have been decreasing my dose and I am now at half, 55mgs. I wanted to decrease to try and lose weight but I have only lost about 45lbs, I'm at 200 lbs now. I know I am decreasing for the wrong reasons, but I hate the way I look and its really hard on me since I have never been overweight before and it was so fast. Its like I don't know who I'm looking at. I try so hard to lose weight, I didn't do anything to gained in the first place. I watch what I eat and go to the gym. Its like I am fighting a losing battle. I'm embarrassed and I have even been asked if I was pregnant! I was mortified! My husband has not treated me any different...but I still hate it. I know I should just be happy I'm not on drugs.....but its so hard. I asked the Dr at the clinic and he said it will go away when I stop taking it, but again it feels like I want to stop for the wrong reasons. I thought when I decreased it would go down, but not as much as I hoped. I guess my question is, is there any way to lose this weight while on methadone? Or am I trying for nothing and just have to be patient and wait till I'm off of it?

I have been on mdone for 7 months and I went from 125 to 200 lbs I was pregos so I expected to gain some weight but not that much! I wont even go out of the house because I think that people are looking at me thinking my god how did she get so big? I am addicted to sweets I. I dont eat much but what I do eat it is sugar. Regular meals don't even appeal to me anymore. I always dropped the weight after my kids no problem. Right now though I am at a standstill and I cannot take it . I just started to go down 10mg a week and we will see how that goes. I am also on a water pill called bumex that works very well with the bloating. It doesnt make my face look heavy. It is mostly in my chest and belly. The doctor also put me on Topamax and I have lost 7 lbs. I hope that this helps

I have been doing methadone maintenance for 16 months now. Daily dose is 115mgs. Weight gained is 90 lbs total.  I've never been fat in my entire life & I've had 3 kids. It's embarrassing . I spoke to my dr about it and he gave me the whole "it slows your metabolism down to a crawl" speech as well. The only way to get the weight off(for some) is to come off the 'done. Some people have slow metabolisms to begin with. We are the ones who are screwed hardcore by the methadone. I've also done some research on the net and found that it can even "paralyze" your bowels.  Oh, and for those with the terrible sugar cravings(like me) VitaDone vitamins are made to stop sugar cravings, sweating, constipation and a few other side effects from it. I'm taking them(for 7 weeks now)& Ive stopped eating more sugar than I should be. Also, I started exercising regularly(5+ days/week) 2 months ago. I haven't lost anything. I actually gained 2 more pounds. *screams* The only thing left to do is come off this c**p.  Oh, and to the woman who said that the weight we have put on is where we should be @ after recovering from addiction is trippin! Lol it's unnatural for any woman to be over 200lbs. No matter how long she has been that heavy or what excuse there is for it, it is still extremely unhealthy and just not right. Holding your head high and accepting it will lead to an earlier death and health problems. That's just my opinion tho...

I am 24 yrs old and have been on methadone for a little over a year now.  When I first started I weighed 110 lbs...around 4 months  I started the methadone I began gaining weight, and I am now at 185lbs.  Being thin most my life and also having an eating disorder when I was in highschool- this has been incredibly hard for me as it seems to be to all of you who have been used to being a certain size and body type their whole lives and all of a sudden turning into something you feel terrible about.  Im currently coming down slowly in the process of getting completely off of this. From what Ive researched and read and been told from many people, the weight does come off once your off the methadone.  This has been very hopeful news to me.  Ive made my life so much better from where it was years ago, and now I want the chance to be completely happy with myself again. So dont worry everyone, I think theres hope for us to not have this extra weight forever!!

Join the methadone fat club. I am so unhappy I feel depressed. I have gained 40 lbs now . I went from 160 to 200. If someone has a solution plzzzz help:( this is bad.

opiates make you crave sugar so its no surprise that methadone would cause you to eat a lot of junk food thus causing you to gain weight. the drug itself is not what makes you gain weight. its very simple..once you start decreasing how much sugar you eat your body wont crave it as much. start eating healthier and exercising and stop eating donuts and cupcakes  and watching tv and you will lose weight.