FACT : Methadone, a synthetic, long acting opioid can cause symptomatic hypoglycemia in patients.
GIVE ME THE DEETS:
Methadone causes glycemic dysregulation
Methadone maintenance patients have blunted prolactin responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia.
Delayed and inhibited insulin responses to food ingestion have been demonstrated in methadone maintenance patients.
Only the l-isomer of methadone causes hypoglycemia while the d-isomer does not.
Commercially available methadone is a racemic mixture of the l and d isomers.
Mouse models have demonstrated that the hypoglycemia can occur one hour after methadone ingestion.
The hypoglycemic effects of methadone are reversed by naloxone and mu selective antagonists β-funaltrexamine and naloxonazine.
Propoxyphene, an opioid drug structurally related to methadone, causes hypoglycemia, especially in patients with renal failure.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Educate all patients about the risk of hypoglycemia when starting them on methadone.
2. Watch for unexplained sweating, palpitations, or lethargy in patients on methadone.
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