Managing Chronic Pain in Adults With or in Recovery From ...

Pain patients may take 10 days or longer to stabilize on methadone, so the clinician must titrate very slowly and balance the risk of insufficient dosing with the life- threatening dangers of overdosing (Heit & Gourlay, 2008) (Exhibit 3-5). It is critical for the clinician to advise patients to stop metha­ done treatment if they become sedated. ................
................