Methadone Maintainance & Weight Gain!!! Help!!! (Top voted first)

I AM A METHADONE MAINTAINANCE PATIENT, CLEAN FROM OXYCONTIN FOR THREE+ YEARS & I HAE PACKED ON 40 POUNDS! I AM RETAINING WATER & EXPERIENCE HORRIBLE CONSTIPATION...ANYONE WITH SIMILAR ISSUES OR TIPS TO HELP ME OR FIND THE CAUSE???

REPLY

REPORT

I have been taking methadone for over a year now. When I started taking it, I only weighed 102. However, I now weigh 158. I honestly believe that the methadone is the cause of my weight gain. I have never been this heavy in my life. Yet, it is the price that I am willing to pay, so that I can be grug free. Heroin and pain pills almost destroyed my life, but now I am able to carry on a very productive life with my husband and children. Instead of being all drugged up every day, I now go to school, take care of my children and husband, and I have 2 jobs. I feel wonderful. Therefore, if you gain weight, don't let it bother you. The weight is better than using----ANY DAY!!!------Good Luck!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 32

Wow! You all hit on a subject that has consumed my life for the last 11 years. I'm allergic to Morphine so my doctor started me on the Duragesic patch in the early 90's. I didn't care for it for many reason's. Anyway after about 4 years of that my new pain doctor switched me to Methadone. I felt much better, was able to take college classes and even play golf. I was more active but I noticed my clothes were getting tighter and by the next year many of the desks and chairs at school were getting smaller lol. I was gaining about 3 to 5 pounds a month which turned into 25 to 50 a year! Each year my wife and I went to Mexico I could see the weight gain in the pictures she took. I had never weighted over 205 in my life and at 6'1 had a 31 waist. I complained and complained but my doctor would just tell me to diet or exercise which was frustrating as I was active for a person who had been through 4 spinal fusion's with new hardware each time. After 5 years of Methadone I broke the 300 pound mark! I was horrified, frustrated and very down on myself! I kept telling my doctor that it had to be the Methadone? I even showed him my charts and how my weight increased from the time I began Methadone and showed him the pictures. I moved cross country and had 2 more spinal fusion's. I talked with my new pain doctor about my weight gain concerns from Methadone but he didn't want to mess with it. That was 4 years ago. I now weighted 348 pounds and was so depressed I was giving up. My wife left me after 20 years of marriage and I felt horrible about myself. Hurting and fat! Finally 3 months ago and weighing 361 my doctor agreed to change my pain medication. Part of the wait was because I lost my insurance. I couldn't afford anything other than Methadone. I have been taking Oxycontin for 3 months and am just now starting to notice the changes. I was given 40mg of Lasix a day 10 years ago because I was retaining water and looking puffy. I have lost the puffiness and no longer need Lasix. That has helped to lower my blood pressure which as allowed me to already reduce my dose of Diovan HCT and Toprol XR! I once again have a sex drive and full function! Thank goodness for the new Medicare prescription plan! Being able to change medications has not only improved my life but very likely made it longer? I have lost 11 pounds so far. I have been approved for a gastric by-pass but if I keep losing am thinking of holding off on it? Thank you guys for reaffirming what I began to believe was all in my head!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 25

I've also gained TONS of weight on methadone. 50 lbs in the past year. I went from 120 to 170 in about 6 mos. I actually eat a whole lot less than before I started the methadone. In fact, I eat only about 500 calories a day and I still cant lose any weight. I'm way too tired from the methadone to exercise. My blood pressure has went way up as well. Is there anything to combat the weight gain from methadone? This has gotten so bad and depressing for me, I am considering just getting off of it. Sometimes I think I was better off when I was on dope. At least I wasnt fat.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 27

I KNOW A NURSE THAT SAID THEY THEY LEARNED THAT METHADONE SOMEHOW BUILDS UP ON THE FAT TISSUE, CAUSING WEIGHT GAIN. I KNOW ALOT OF PEOPLE ON METHADONE AND 99% OF THE WOMAN GAINED AT LEAST 40 LBS. I GAINED 40 MYSELF. MEN ALSO GAINED, BUT NOT LIKE THE WOMAN. WHEN I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO STOP TAKING, I LOST ALOT. THEN A YEAR LATER STARTED TAKING VERY SMALL AMOUNTS { 3-10 MILAGRAMS A DAY.} ,, {GAINING ALL BACK} AND NOW LESS THAN 10 A DAY AND STILL CANT LOOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT EXERCISE AND DIET. LAST SUMMER I EXERCISED FAITHFULLY FOR 4 MONTHS AND LOST 10 LBS. WHEN I STOPPED TAKING IT BEFORE, WITHIN A WEEK I HAD NOTICED THAT I LOOKED LIKE I HAD LOST 10 LBS. LOOKED LIKE A HEALTHY PERSON AGAIN. COLOR IN SKIN WAS 75% BETTER. I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS, I KNOW METHADONE CAUSES WEIGHT GAIN AND WATER RETAIN..

REPLY

Was this helpful? 23

I have gained over 20 pounds, but I don't think that it is due to the Methadone. I think that it is due to the Celexa I was taking along with birth control pills. However, I was researching the issue of wieght gain due to medications. Some meds slow your metabolism (like Methadone) and some create a lack of a hormome which controls your weight. I found that CLA and Omega 3 are two of the only viatmins you can take to help produce this hormone. I found a website that sales high miligram doses of these vitamins and are specifically formulated to cause weight loss. I have ordered them and are waiting for them to come in. I will repost on my progress. In the mean time, if you are on an antidepressant that causes weight gain, switch to one that doesn't. Wellbutrin is one of them. I have also started taking Phentermin to raise my lowered metabolism due to the methadone and other downers I was taking.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 14

Your uneducated comment was neither helpful or warranted. Methadone saved my life and now I'm more than halfway through with my taper. I put myself back in school after the loss of my fiance and delightful little girls father. I now work in harm reduction and have helped so many people with medication assisted treatment. Obviously you don't know much because these medications are the new wave of treatment. Just as insulin is to a diabetic. Do some reading. Otherwise, stay off a page where people are looking for hope, not a$$holes. Have fun in your little box, but I suggest coming out of it. Addiction is a scientifically proven disease and there's plenty you can read or even watch, if need be.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 13

Regarding your drug-kicking, CONGRATULATIONS on returning to this Sweet Life! My return to life was in 1972, by the Grace of Jehovah God and my Savior, Jesus Christ, who, I believe, saved my physical body on what was supposed to be it's last day alive, though my soul's surrender to salvation and freedom from sin took many more years of learning about my failings and the price of sin, and about God's true love.

I pray you are within some sort of Christian Bible study, by which you may find all the answers you need for the strength required to 'MAKE IT, for real, for good, one day at a time. You are no way unique in your symptoms with the weight gain, bloating, constipation, edema, probably have food cravings and anxieties also. These are the symptoms of an abdominal dysfunction, where drugs suppressed normal eating, digesting, sleeping, etc, for so long, and now there is an onslaught of normal life experience's stresses to which your body is failing to fully handle. Other physicians will diagnose the terribly common and disruptive IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This life-killer came on me hard when I was 11 years clean and 2 years sober through AA, when I went back to work full time. You may feel very guilty, self-conscious about the bloating, belching, having to go to the bathroom so much as some sufferers are constipated but it is hard, small deer-pellet stools that force you to strain them out several times daily, never getting complete evacuation.
Your treatment trials should include:
Probiotics (with several million flora per dose), using natural yoghurts several times daily for the same reason, to put back natural, live digesting organisms into your gut, and find a multi-enzyme that has Papaya extracts, Bromelain, Amylase, etc; each digest different things that you eat, taken twice daily with your foods. Bromelain also eases arthritis & muscle pains. Newest studies were amazed to find out that calcium has it's chemical hand in nearly every body function, including fixing water retention naturally. Take daily the Calcium-Magnesium-Zinc combo pill that most Walmarts have cheap, because the latter two are necessary for the first to work right, and Mag & Zinc are great healers. Take a B Complex vitamin daily, which is a recovering abuser's greatest brain and body ally; it will help you to feel stronger, alert, help your blood, lungs, muscles, everthing that will help you to climb out of the rut of feelling rotten for so long, which is the devil's trap to make you give up on your renewed life, by making it harder than it has to be. A natural constipaton remedy is Cascara Sagrada, an herb which I only need to take one in the late afternoons, to have a better BM by the next morning; it normalizes the size & moisture to BM, which will relieve your straining. Just remember to ask your doctor about that endoscopy, if you have med. ins, to check for polyps and any precancerous stuff, all of which can cause obstructions to BM. There's always the old natural stand-bys of prune juice and pears. Best of God's blessings for you; find a good church family to support you, or a 12 step program and seek the Great Physician. Mari,

REPLY

Was this helpful? 14

I am so sick of ppl talking about how others need to get of methadone NOW before it's to late...I've been taking methadone for 6 months and it saved my life, because my doctor said how I didn't OD from all the drugs I was taking was a miracle...and yes it makes u gain weight, I asked my counselor and dr both...and I have gained quite a bit 40 pounds to be exact and I also sweat so badly it drives me crazy...I think a lot of it is the fact that it makes u crave sweets so I drink a lot of soda so I am now drinking more water and have started walking to see if that helps, but regardless of whether it does or not I would rather deal with that than to be where I was because now I am a better wife, mother, grandmother and have a new outlook on life...so if it's not for u then fine but really stop telling the rest of us how wrong we are for doing something that is working....

REPLY

Was this helpful? 9

I gained a lot of weight taking methadone also. I've been on methadone for about 7 years now and will probably be on it the rest of my life. All pain meds slow the metabolism, so there is a danger of gaining weight. You just have to exercise as much as your disability will let you and definitely watch what you eat. Constipation is a very serious threat- you must take a stool softener on a daily basis. I agree, Colace is the best one to try. Take two a day and see how that does, raise or lower it after a week of trying.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 10

When you don't eat your body senses it and starts to slow down. The less you eat the slower it gets and stays that way for days. Consuming 500 calories in that condition will cause weight gain!! Look up any good weight loss program and they will tell you the best way to lose is to eat small meals 6 times a day. That keeps the metabolism revving up.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 9

I have been on methadone for two years 80 mg a day from a clinic I have gained about twenty five pounds and my legs are full of water and my feet hurt so bad But the one thing i will say is that Methadone has saved my life I was on roxies for ten years and shooting 100-200 $ a day of H for about 6 years my life was a mess i was always sick and broke was alwYs stealing from family scheming and just a stung out junkie i had terrible tracks on my hands and arms kept getting infections in my veins that had to be cut opened with scalpels and drained of all the puss and the embarsment of being called a junkie in emergancy rooms forced me to cut these open myself with no anesthetic causing so much pain and scars not to mention the depression of not being able to quit the sick cycle of H addiction So honestly methadone has saved my life im going to stop eating so much and try to loose wieght as hard as it might be and take my water pills for my legs because the trade off to H is not worth anything to me im clean for two years and love life i will be getting off methadone eventually but will do it so so slow and with the doc in my clinic Methadone has its bad points but H addiction sucks far far worse

REPLY

Was this helpful? 7

Hi I have been on methadone for 2+ years I have gained an astonishing 80 pounds I lost my job and mainly sat around the house all day I ate junk food BUT it wasnt that I ate all the time it was my habbits I would stay up late pass out for a couple hours at 3:00am wake up at 5:30am take my dose eat and pass out at 10 10:30am and somtimes sleep 15 hours Im active now i was finally able to get back to work its been about 2 months ive already lost 20 pounds and am eating right and only sleeping 6 to 7.5 hours a day i feel tons better and now i go to the restroom twice if not three times a day before i was lucky if i was going once every three days not healthy at all anyway i hope this helps an good luck.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 10

I hope everything continues to work out for you. I to have gained about 40lbs being on methadone. I am in the process of working out with a trainer. I understand the depression and feeling unattractive I struggle with all these feelings daily. Keep me in your prayers and I will definitely keep you in mine.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 5

Yes! I lost every single pound I gained during my methadone days! Like I said I went from a size 12 to a 24 in 6 years. It was a nightmare. I got off of it and the weight fell off

REPLY

Was this helpful? 5

I was on methadone myself after i lost my insurance after losing a job because of a major car accident which left me with permanent problems and i've been using methadone to treat the pain and obviously avoid withdrawls. After a couple of years i went from 130lbs to 170 lbs. Then I tried every diet there was out there and spend almost 1000$ on diets and pills to lose weight and nothing would work. After taking methadone, i don't know if this happened to you, but i started craving sweets like crazy and that's what lead to my weight gain and other poor eating decisions. {edited for policy reasons}

REPLY

Was this helpful? 6

its not so much that eating little causes weight gain, but it will cause a very difficult time to lose weight, I a an RN, and what happens to you is your brain thinks you body is starving and tried to hold onto those precious fat cells, for future energy if no carbs are being taken in. But its starvation mode, your brain would rather take first muscles, than from organs, and bones, and very last the fat will be used to provide a sustenance. So starving or almost starving puts your body into a state of almost shock, and will make your body want to store that fat and if she was still getting around 500 calories a day, her body was only using that, and then holding onto every cell of fat for dear life, and so she had to have been maintaining and not gaining, but not losing either. I see your point, and no, gaining makes no sense, but lack of losing, yes, while ingesting still 500 calories, that was not quite starving so I bet she just could not lose. methadone usually triggers those receptors in the brain, the same ones that chocolate pleases, and its triggers them, it give a craving of sweets, and yes, then we crave the sweets, and most folks think little of that, but how many times do you wake in the night, while on methadone and want to eat some ice cream or chocolate, you want it so badly its all you think of, until you eat that sugary substance your cravings can make you mad! But there are healthier ways to satisfy those cravings, by not buying any junk foods, and only keep fruits in your fridge, believe me here, your body will be satisfied with the sugar, so eat some grapes, some prunes or plums and those fruits are loaded with fiber, good for your constipation needs as well, and after you eat those fruits your mind will be at ease, your cravings will slow, and after time, on methadone, your body and brain should adjust and those cravings will diminish in time, so go for the fruits, plenty of good sugars, and that is what your brain wants! good luck! Also, the best thing for constipation, without giving yourself horrid diarrhea, and possible dehydration, and stomach cramps to die from, is like a wal mart they have their own brand that are so cheap! way less than buying say, doculax or sennacot brand, but they are the same, so for the sennacot, 8mg, wal mart brand is called: Natural Vegetable Laxative, and that come with 100 tablets per bottle for around 4 dollars, Also mix that with Docusate sodium, which is a stool softener, together, they work wonders, alone, eh not so great, but take them together, the wal mart brand is called, Stool softener, just that, stool softener, look at the active ingredient, and just get the one that is the docusate sodium, and you will need to play around, mix the two meds and find your happy place, and that is also cheap, 120 gel caps for 4 bucks too, and that will last you a month with the both of them, they have one that is already the combination of the two mixed but it wont work as well, the two different medications, taken will work a miracle and no pains, and no explosive dehydrating diarrhea,
good luck to all!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 4

I am 38 years old I worked in construction for 20 years I had a rock hard muscular body weighing 85 pounds my entire adult life and part of my teen years. I have had 5 children I have never retained any of the weight ever. Within 3 weeks of having my kids I have always gone right back to my normal size with a very flat stomach definitely bathing suit worthy although always trying to gain weight. I was tormented by the comments from people about being too thin. I tried every diet in the world to gain weight ,5000 calories a day just to maintain the weight I had. I went on methadone. 3 months after being on it I went up a little on my dosage as soon as I did within 6 weeks I gained 20 pounds all in my stomach and the back of my thighs. I have never been able to retain two to three pounds in the past while on methadone I had to cut down to 1000 calories a day just to keep from gaining more I have been on it for about 8 months now I am still at the 20 pound mark hoping it does not go up. This weight is very hard to get back off , I have tried different things. I will continue exercise and everything I can to get rid of the fat that is definitely related to the methadone. It definitely causes weight gain and I am a true test of a. person to tell you because I begged for weight but it takes a while but as soon as it starts to wait just keeps going and going and you have to try to stop it by either lowering your dose ,eating pretty much nothing and exercising every waking moment that you have outside of your normal schedule. Not fun but the methadone also works extremely well so it is a catch 22. I personally can afford a little weight so I'm hoping as long as it doesn't get worse I intend to stay on it. If it keeps going up I will eventually slowly go off it. Maybe if I get down to a certain dosage I won't gain anymore. I didn't have any problems when I was on a lower dosage but the lower dosage also doesn't work as well unfortunately.I just wanted to reiterate your story and let you know it is not you and you are most definitely not alone I am around many patients that are on methadone and they all have the same problem, the majority put on 40 to 60 pounds and I can attest to many many people with that same concern an issue and the same dramatic story in the end of relationship issues and depression I think the pain is by far worse than the weoght ,just appreciate who you are and the gift of the pain being gone! You can't change that you have that pain but you can take it away not everybody is meant to be a size 1 just remember that when someone loves a size 40 or a size 1 its the person underneath all that if they don't love you because of that they're not worth your time anyway!!!!! do be careful with the oxy anything tho,please! they work very well if you're careful but theyre highly addictive even for the most non addictive people they too can become drug addicts just from taking them because they do work so well some people can tolerate them and never have an issue though just be warned good luck with everything.....

REPLY

Was this helpful? 4

Yes I have been on methadone 4 years and have gained 70 pounds and craved sugar like crazy i was depressed constipated had no libido sweated all the time....I had tried everything to lose weight and help with all the side effects with no results until Vitadone I lost all the weight and I feel alive again no depression no sweating I have energy I used to sleep 19 hours a day before and never wanted to leave my house had became a failure as a parent because sleeping was all I cared about but vitadone has changed all the bad side effects of methadone and I'm glad to be me again and be a mother to my kids

REPLY

Was this helpful? 4

Kali,
I've taken Methadone for years (chronic pain). It is a side effect of methadone on the constipation & retaining water (edema). Try taking a stool softener like colace two every night. If that don't help take a mild laxative also. On the retaining water you can take a water pill over the counter or ask your doc about taking a diuretic. Sorry I don't know about the weight gain. But, I've got you beat on the weight gain 55 POUNDS!!!
Good Luck,
Gina

REPLY

Was this helpful? 9

That's why you're gaining weight. If you eat less than 1200 calories a day, your body, which is much smarter than you, will slow then shut down because it knows it's starving. You've shut down your metabolism so if you eat 500 calories you will GAIN.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 12

I have gained about 40 unwanted pounds from methadone liquid weight gain! I'm absolutely miserable!! I just bout Lip...

9 REPLIES

Help plz.. I've been on liquid methadone for over 3 yrs and gained 50 lbs. and still gaining weight; my question is ...

1 REPLY

I started taking methadone in 2004 and kept on it until sep 2007. during that time I went from 125 pounds to 200 pounds!...

3 REPLIES

I have been on Methadone for 15 years. I am now 56 years old l really need to know why l have put on so much weight on? ...

8 REPLIES

I am on 165mgs a day. I take liquid. I am being told I need to taper bc I have been going there for almost 4 years. I am...

1 REPLY

I am currently on a methadone program for about 7 months now and have gained weight and noticed I sweat a lot more now. ...

7 REPLIES

How do I loose the weight I have gained on methadone? I am 5'2" and almost 180lbs. I have NEVER weighed this muc...

2 REPLIES

Most of what I look up comes up either unsafe with methadone or will flush my dose out which would be devastating for me...

2 REPLIES

i need to know if the 50 pounds i gained while i was on methadone will come off now that i have switched to suboxone ## ...

7 REPLIES

I am being prescribed methadone for opiate addiction been of all other drugs for 4 years I'm in the process of tryin...

47 REPLIES