What does it do?

T he main differences people notice between methadone and heroin are the lack of any sense of a 'hit' and the fact that methadone is long acting (most people can take it once a day without experiencing serious withdrawal symptoms), but as they are both opiates the effects are broadly similar: both have an effect on many areas of the mind and body. But everyone is different. So when someone says 'Methadone makes you sick/ tired/itchy' etc, what they mean is that methadone has that effect on them - it may or may not have a similar effect on you.

Methadone does not damage the body as it passes through. The liver easily breaks down methadone into a form which can pass harmlessly through your kidneys into your urine. For most people this is a harmless process but the extra work for the liver can cause overdose or liver failure in people who have livers that are very seriously damaged (by illness such as hepatitis B or C or by Alcohol) The danger is greatest at the start of a script, when the dose increases or if the condition of the liver deteriorates further