Methadone and other drugs

Although methadone doesn't react with or affect most other prescribed drugs, always check with a pharmacist if you get a prescription for something else or are buying over-thecounter medicines. If you go to the dentist or a doctor other than your prescribing doctor for treatment, tell them you are prescribed methadone.

Methadone blocks the receptors in your brain that heroin and other opiates have to fit into in order to have an effect.So if you have any methadone in your system heroin will probably have a much reduced effect or none at all. If you try to take enough to get a buzz you probably won't AND you run the risk of overdosing.

if you take Temgesic (buprenorphine) while on methadone you may go straight into withdrawals because it is a different type of opioid and it will expel methadone from the opiate receptors.

Taking any sedatives in conjunction with methadone can be dangerous as they make each other more effective and increase the risk of overdose (see over the page). Particularly risky are the tranquillisers like Valium and Temazepam which, as well as being an overdose risk, increase the chances of risky injecting (and therefore the risk of catching HIV and hepatitis) because people think less clearly, and can't remember what happened afterwards.