Rapid Methadone Detoxification using Morphine to Reduce Severity of Withdrawal

This paper describes the use of morphine to reduce severity and duration of withdrawal symptoms while undergoing rapid opiate detoxification (ROD) from methadone under medical supervision. A pilot study of 24 randomly selected patients, some using heroin and others being dosed on methadone were surveyed between two months and three months from the time of their detoxification to gauge subjective ratings of satisfaction and the severity of the detoxification. In the later main study, the medical records of 75 patients, who were detoxified from methadone or morphine over a period of nearly two years from two different time periods were randomly selected from the files: 32 methadone dosed patients were from a period (Time 1) when morphine (MS Contin) was not prescribed prior to ROD, 33 methadone patients from a recent period (Time 2) when morphine was routinely prescribed prior to ROD and 10 were chronic pain patients from each time period, (5 from Time 1 and 5 from Time 2) who had been detoxified directly from morphine. Patients were monitored for withdrawal symptoms during and after the