Methadone is a narcotic pain reliever used during detoxification and recovery from illicit drug use such as heroin. Using the drug reduces the amount of withdrawal symptoms such as sweating, insomnia, nausea and shaking that accompany discontinuation of opioids without medication, often called "cold turkey." It reduces the pain without producing the addictive "high" of heroin. Side effects of using methadone include sexual problems.
Delayed Ejaculation
Methadone users have reported delayed ejaculation as a side effect. Such sexual performance delays have been reported with both methadone and the heroin use the methadone replaces. But DrugLibrary.org reported 60 percent of male methadone users reported delayed ejaculation in a 1972 study at the Third National Conference on Methadone Treatment by Dr. Paul Cushman Jr., of St. Luke's Hospital in New York.
Lessened Sexual Dysfunction Among Women
As compared to sexual function while on heroin, female methadone users found methadone increased their sexual function. DrugLibrary.org states that of 15 women asked about their sex drive, activity and enjoyment during heroin use and methadone use, only four had normal function during heroin use. The number rose to 10 after converting from heroin use to methadone use. The 1972 report on the 15 women from the West Philadelphia methadone treatment study was that sexual dysfunction was present with methadone, but worse with heroin use.
Co-ed Sexual Dysfunction
Both men and women showed a significant difficulty with sexual function as a side effect of using methadone. The 2007 report by MethadoneSupport.org stated that of 41 men and women in a methadone maintenance treatment program, 37 reported sexual dysfunction increases while on the drug. These dysfunctions included loss of sexual interest, lessened emotional arousal, difficulty in achieving physiological arousal, poor sexual performance and poor orgasmic satisfaction. The 1995 study by Dr. L. Teusch of the University Hospital in Essen, Germany, showed both male and female dysfunctions such as male inability to maintain an erection and female inability to achieve vaginal lubrication, according to the National Institutes of Health.
