Tapering off long-term methadone: A case study

Kehua Zhou, MD, DPT, LAc; Leslie Frankish, BS; Gary G. Wang, MD, PhD

doi:10.5055/jom.2019.0520

Authors

Kehua Zhou, MD, DPT, LAc
Leslie Frankish, BS
Gary G. Wang, MD, PhD

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jom.2019.0520

Keywords:

methadone tapering, opioid addiction, chronic pain, tapering

Abstract

Opioid tapering may be necessary for patients on long-term opioids. Here, the authors presented a patient who had uncontrolled chronic musculoskeletal pain while on chronic methadone. Upon methadone tapering, the patient had been taking methadone for longer than six years and had severe methadone-related adverse effects. Using multidisciplinary interventions of patient education and counseling, physical interventions, and nonopioid medications, patient’s methadone was discontinued after longer than one year tapering with relatively good pain control. The tapering process highlights the importance of pain management during opioid tapering using multidisciplinary interventions to prevent and treat opioid withdrawal and pain relapses.

Author Biographies

Kehua Zhou, MD, DPT, LAc

Catholic Health System Internal Medicine Training Program, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York

Leslie Frankish, BS

College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Sanmin District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, Republic of China

Gary G. Wang, MD, PhD

Catholic Health System Internal Medicine Training Program, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York; Academic Buffalonias in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Buffalo, New York

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