Long Term Effects Methadone

Mum took killer cocktail of drugs

A mum-of-two who took a lethal cocktail of drugs died through misadventure, a coroner ruled.

Long-term drug user Samantha Lewis, 38, took an overdose of heroin substitute methadone combined with other prescription drugs before she died at her friend’s house in Whitley on December 5, last year.

During an inquest, Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford heard how friend Kenneth Guiblan got the methadone illicitly for Ms Lewis after she took what they thought was a bad batch of heroin and became ill.

Mr Guiblan found Ms Lewis’ body on the sofa at his house in Newcastle Road shortly after 7am that day but decided to do the washing up, repair his car and visit a friend before calling paramedics – although he said he did so because he knew she was already dead.

At an inquest in Reading Civic Centre on Tuesday last week Mr Bedford confirmed Ms Lewis was unlikely to have survived even if Mr Guiblan had called an ambulance immediately.

Mr Guiblan told the hearing he had taken Ms Lewis in after she fled a home in Tilehurst. He banned her from using heroin in his house and was helping her come off the drug but knew she still smoked and injected it.

About four days before her death she started to get cramps, cough and was in pain and the pair thought she could have had a “dirty hit” of heroin. He said: “She didn’t usually take methadone but she asked me to go to a friend’s and pick her up some methadone. That was just on the one occasion and it was close to her death.”

After she took the methadone on December 4, Mr Guiblan left Ms Lewis asleep on the sofa, returning at various points during the evening and night noting that it looked like she was still asleep. It was only the next morning that he checked on her and realised she was dead.

He said: “I know I shouldn’t have done this but I went and did the washing up and the car alarm kept going off so I went and disconnected the battery and put it back on and then, instead of calling the police, I went to a friend’s house in Caversham.”

He said he told the friend what had happened and his friend told him to go back home and call an ambulance. Ms Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene.

The court heard a toxicology report found potentially lethal levels of methadone combined with morphine, diazepam and codeine – all of which could have exacerbated the effects of the methadone.

Mr Bedford added: “The issue that is surprising is the unfortunate delay in the ambulance being called but I accept that if he had thought for a minute that medical intervention would have affected the outcome he would have acted differently. Mr Guiblan collected illicit methadone for her but she was not taking regular methadone so her tolerance for it would not be great.

methadonelies - How long term methadone use wrecked my body.

I started this page in response to plethora of misinformation regarding methadone and it's long term effects on one's body. I hope to find other people who are in the same situation I am:  astonished that my health has been so severly comprimised, after having been told that methadone would have NO effect on any of my body's systems if taken as prescribed under medical care.

The White House has a drugsheet in which they describe methadone as being completely safe to take over a long period of time."When methadone is taken under medical supervision, long-term maintenance causes no adverse effects to the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, bones, blood, brain, or other vital body organs." http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publ I have been on methadone for 8 years. I am female. According to my doctor, my hypothyroidism and menopausal symptoms are a DIRECT RESULT of taking methadone for so long. I am 32, and no where near the age at which women go into menopause. I am also having other symptoms which I am going to see the doctor for next week. These include pain in near my ovaries, abdominal bloating, and severe night sweats with a temperature sometimes going over 103. I don't know if this has to do with the methadone, but with it suppressing my progesterone and estrogen, among other things, I would venture to guess it has something to do with it. I have yet to find a page on the web that is aimed specifically at this topic, and I'm hoping we can get the word out to people that methadone DOES have it's consequences, unlike what the clinics, most of the medical community, and (most horrifically) government will tell you. This isn't to say that it doesn't have good use; however, patients SHOULD be informed of what could be in store. Thank you for reading.

Meyler's Side Effects of Psychiatric Drugs

State Methadone Treatment Guidelines, A Treatment Improvement Protocol.

Biological Psychology

Federal regulation of methadone treatment

The Effects of maternal alcohol and drug abuse on the newborn