Liver and Methadone

[SCACL]

My son was a heroin user, and to get him off  the drug, he was prescribed Methadone. He phoned me last night to say his liver was affected, he was very ill, and was going into detox treatment to get off the meth completely. He was taking gradually smaller doses, because he heard how the drug was very toxic.( I estimate that he's been on it for 5 years) It's  incredible that he was put on one bad drug to overcome the first bad drug. Will he be ok after going through detox?

[quadracersteve]

As far as I know, they test for Hep C at every clinic. I get tested twice a year. Just a little stab under the skin, then the dosing nurse looks at that spot in a couple days to see if it's raised and red. Hopefully he's not holding anything back from you, cause to diagnose yourself with a bad liver is odd to say the least. Ask him if the clinic has been testing him for Hep C. Hopefully you can cross that one off the list.
    Does methadone get into your liver? Of course, but most everything goes through the liver.
   The liver of a drug addict outta win some kind of award for handling all the junk we put into it.

[hellc@mst]

  Hi there. I think its great that you are on an addiction recovery forum looking for answers concerning your son and his unfortunate addiction. However i have to say first that there is absolutely no connection between a responsibly dosed (even an irresponsibly dosed) methadone patient and compromised liver function. I dont know why your son has told you this since it simply isn't true.

  I wonder if he contracted hepatitis C while he was using herion and this has steadily got worse over time which is the nature of the untreated disease and not the result of methadone.. Hep C is extremely common amongst I.V. drug users. Even if he was nt an I.V user there are less common ,but still possible, ways he may have been exposed. The other possibility is if he had an issue with alcohol. He may have cirrhosis of the liver.

   If you re interested, google"methadone and liver disease" and you will find a plethora of information. Almost all of it is contrary to your sons claims.

     Anyways im rambling. The most important thing is that your son is working on detoxing himself of this medication which is fantastic. I wish you both all the best.
Take care. Regards Jeremy

[IBKleen]

Hi Mom,

There are no doctors here so it would be hard to diagnose that on the internet. He needs to get a good check-up, including blood work and follow up with his doctor. Five years is a long time to be on Methadone but I am sure if he stops now and does a proper taper to come off of it he will be okay. Still, be sure he gets to the doctor. Best of luck to him.