Your healthcare provider may prescribe
methadone hydrochloride (Diskets
®, Dolophine
®, Methadose
®) 10 mg tablets one to three times a day to treat pain or addiction problems. However, your dosage will depend on several factors, such as whether the methadone is for pain or addiction, how you respond to it, other medical conditions you may have, and other medications you are taking.
For people who are not currently taking any opioid pain relievers, the starting recommended dose for treating pain is 2.5 mg to 10 mg
methadone tablets every 8 to 12 hours, slowly increased to an effective dose. The amount for addiction treatment is typically higher and will be determined on whether you are using methadone for detoxification or for maintenance treatment.
People who are first staring methadone should be aware that doses will "hold" for longer periods of time as tissue levels of the drug accumulate.
(Click Methadone Dosage for more information on using methadone 10 mg tablets for treating pain or addiction. This article also offers tips on when and how to take this medication and describes more specific dosing guidelines for treating pain and addiction.)
