Methadone and Women

At the beginning of the 1900s, the United States was in the middle of an epidemic of morphine and codeine addictions – drugs that are similar to today’s heroin and OxyContin. Back then, two-thirds of the addicts were women who were abusing over-the-counter medications with names like Lady Gooding’s Soothing Syrup or Dr. Lydia Pinkham’s Remedy for Females.

Today, tens of thousands of women are illegally using prescription opiates such as Percocet, Lortab, Vicodin, and OxyContin in an attempt to calm themselves and get through their day. In addition, one in three of today’s heroin abusers are women. The vast majority of these women do not feel “normal” without their drugs.

Women and Addiction
Women often become addicted to prescription painkillers after a doctor prescribes them for treatment of migraines, slipped disks, menstrual pain, or post-surgical complications.

Some women use drugs as a way of rebelling against their parents or society’s view of what a “good girl” is. In their book Surviving Heroin: Interviews with Women in Methadone Clinics, Jennifer Friedman and Alicea Marixsa write about on college senior who told her counselor, “I wanted to transgress those lily white norms, break those rules designed to make me a good little Doris Day. The badness of shooting heroin was precisely why I did not hesitate to use it.”

Addicts like this student often feel they do not measure up to societal standards of femininity, especially when they engage in behaviors such as lying, stealing, selling sex, and not taking care of their bodies.

Many women become addicts because of underlying psychological disorders, especially depression. Doctors believe that because women are twice as likely to be depressed than males, they may also be more prone to addictions and substance abuse. When women tend to “hold in” their emotional pain, they often attempt to self-medicate with illicit drugs.

In her book, Trauma and Addiction, Dr. Tian Dayton writes about adult women in drug and alcohol treatment who have childhood histories of being physically, verbally, and sexually abused. While little boys often act out their anger toward abusive adults by becoming aggressive, many little girls are taught to “numb” themselves to the pain of their ongoing trauma.

Using drugs, smoking, overeating, and engaging in risky sex are all methods that women use to avoid feeling emotional pain.

The effects of opiate abuse
There is some evidence that heroin and other drugs in the opiate family affect women more strongly than men:

• Because women are smaller than men, they need smaller doses to get high, and are more likely to overdose.
• Opiates also interfere with the normal balance of female hormones, and often cause a woman to stop menstruating.
• Another problem for women who use opiates is that these drugs create mood disorders. For example, they develop problems sleeping – either they sleep too much or too little, or they have nightmares. This, in turn, leads to anxiety and depression.
• Also, opiates create “highs” that make them feel as if they are on top of the world, and then “crashes” or lows that make life impossible to bear. They are often accused of being “moody” or “hormonal,” when they are actually in need of professional assistance for substance abuse.

How to get help
Several scientific studies indicate that men are more likely to go into drug rehabilitation and women are more likely to seek help from their doctors. These same studies show that doctors usually know very little about substance abuse or how to guide their patients into treatment.

If you are a woman who is ready to stop using opiate drugs, 866.575.8187.
Methadone treatment does not involve unpleasant withdrawal. It puts an end to cravings and dramatic mood swings. There will be much less drama in your life as your drug use ends. No longer will you have to worry about money, about finding sources for drugs, and about keeping up a secret life.

Once you enter a methadone treatment program, you will be able to hold down a job, go to school, become a better mother, and operate in the “straight” world.

In combination with cognitive behavior therapy, methadone treatment can end your dependence on drugs. Through counseling, you will understand the causes of your problems, and gain a new and more positive way of thinking about your life.

Others have done it – and so can you. Call 866.575.8187 today and start to take back control of your life.