Can methadone cause excess Calcium
 

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knew any facts about how methadone affects teeth. I have heard that it can cause all sorts of problems, like rotting and falling out of teeth. I have been on methadone for a bit over 3 years, and I haven’t had any big problems yet. But the other week I got a real sore aching jaw, which I ended up being caused from the bottom wisdom teeth, which I will get pulled soon. But while I was at the dentist they organized for me to have my teeth cleaned. This is when I found out something strange. Apparently my teeth had an unusually large amount of calcium build up on them. She said there wasn’t much plaque, which is good cause I clean my teeth a lot. But the calcium build up can cause the same problems as a lot of plague if it isn’t scraped of and cleaned by the dentists, especially cause it can build up below the gum line and cause irritation around the tooth. She said it can cause teeth to raise and fall out and gums to get infected and end up receding. And I have noticed a fair few of the people at my clinic have these sorts of problems.
I was wondering if anyone knows if it is possible for methadone to cause excess calcium in the body. Cause my diet is fairly stable, and the amount of calcium on my teeth was even more than usual than someone with an unhealthy diet would get. I have also heard that methadone effects the bones, which to much calcium can cause. Like when it builds up on the joints and causes stiffness (arthritis).

So I was just wondering if anyone else here on methadone had been having the types of problems that are cause from to much calcium. Like Arthritis, kidney stones, varicose veins, high blood pressure or calcium build up on their teeth. I know from now on though I will be getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist, and look into way to reduce calcium in the body.
I would really appreciate to hear if anyone had heard about excess calcium from methadone, or has got any symtoms of to much calcium, just to to be sure. so I know weather its worth looking into further or not, thanks.

I have been searching on the net for aritcles on Calcium build up and opiae (instead on methadone) and I have found there has been a few study dont that seem to show opiates can cause calcium binding and excess calcium, alot of it is to confusing for me to understand though.

This was one article about test done on rats.

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The effects of opiates on calcium accumulation on rat peritoneal mast cells.

Liu JS, Garrett KM, Lin SC, Way EL.

Opiate agonists, morphine, levorphanol and beta-endorphin increased calcium accumulation in rat peritoneal mast cells. This effect was dose dependent and beta-endorphin was 10 times more potent than morphine. The stimulation was stereospecific and inhibited by naloxone. The site of the opiate action appears to be on the outer surface of the plasma membrane since lysis of the mast cell did not alter the response to morphine. Tolerance to the opiate effect was not seen after chronic morphine administration. Morphine did not stimulate histamine release even at relatively high doses in vivo or high concentrations in vitro. It is reasoned that the enhancing effects on external calcium accumulation may reduce the critical cytosol calcium level for effecting histamine release


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this one was how vitamin C can help

http://www.springboard4health.com/no..._buffered.html


Buffered Vitamin C to the Rescue
Stephen Levine, Ph.D.

How one simple supplement may have a dramatic effect on weight control?

Science News (Vol. 157, No. 18, p. 277, April 29, 2000) recently reported on findings presented at the Experimental Biology 2000 meeting in San Diego, California which demonstrated that high dietary calcium may play a huge role in weight control.

Researchers from the University of Tennessee used mice genetically engineered to express agouti, a gene found in human fat cells which strongly influences whether fat cells burn or store molecules as fat, and model human patterns of obesity.

One group of mice was put on a 6 week, low calorie diet (30% reduction in maintenance calories) and given the human equivalent of 500 mg* of dietary calcium per day. These mice lost 8% of their body fat and 11% of their weight. (*500 mg is the average amount of dietary calcium an American woman gets in her diet, the RDA is 1,000 mg).

Another group of mice from the same strain, on identical diets but with increased calcium (carbonate) - equivalent to about 1,600 mg for adults - lost 42% of their body fat and 19% of their body weight.

A third group of mice consumed the extra calcium as nonfat dry milk and lost 60% of their body fat and 25% of their weight. A fourth group consuming twice as much dairy source calcium as the third showed little increased benefit.

These are astounding numbers The researchers found that in the low calcium diets, the agouti gene causes the calcium channel to open and stimulate fat synthesis, while suppressing fat breakdown.

These new findings prompted endocrinologist Robert P. Heaney of Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska to reanalyze data from 5 calcium-supplementation studies that he had conducted in people over the years. Heaney states: "In all five studies we found a significant weight effect that we had ignored. In these studies they found that women consuming the lowest amounts of calcium weighed the most."

“I believe that Buffered Vitamin C, with 350 mg of elemental calcium and 190 mg of magnesium, is a valuable tool for weight control due to its anti-addictive properties and high calcium levels” Stephen A. Levine, Ph.D.

Lower levels of calcium increase the storage of fat rather than the burning. This conclusion is strengthened by the finding that the high calcium rats maintained core body temperature while low calcium mice exhibited a dramatic reduction in core body temperature.

The high calcium diet may cue the body that nutrition is adequate and that storage for famine is unnecessary. That would be a very good thing for dieters and for all of us who want to experience optimal energy and weight control.

I believe that Buffered Vitamin C, with 350 mg of elemental calcium and 1 90mg of magnesium, is a valuable tool for weight control due to its anti-addictive properties and high calcium levels.

I have thought about weight problems and obesity and related these in part to food allergy, and chemical allergy (hypersensitivity), inability to stop eating, craving for specific foods and other diverse symptoms that are often related to "food and chemical hypersensitivity" and "addictive hypersensitivity". AM~

The concepts can be explained with what we all know about cigarette smoking or alcohol problems. When people are able to truly quit for a period of time, they may then exhibit more acute sensitivity to and intolerance for those very substances. The addictive phenomenon and adaptive phenomenon can all be tied together. From what I knew about

addictive chemistry I developed the Buffered Vitamin C, which I used to offset my own such symptoms due to food reactions, and/or emotionally induced pathology The Buffered Vitamin C has been used clinically for offsetting acute hypersensitivity reactions and the addictive craving for foods, cigarettes and other withdrawal states from stimulants and alcohol.

A study at the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic in San Francisco demonstrated that Buffered Vitamin C could offset withdrawal symptoms for stimulants and opiates and reduce withdrawal symptoms by 90% in outpatients. They took a teaspoon of Buffered Vitamin C whenever they felt a craving.

Why is Buffered Vitamin C so effective at relieving these diverse symptoms?

1. It has strong buffering actions to offset hyperacidity associated with cell pathology.

2. Vitamin C alone has some mild anti-addictive properties.

3. The ascorbate form of calcium (which forms from the reaction of the calcium carbonate and ascorbates) appears to be very well absorbed. High levels of calcium with additional magnesium and potassium provide a balancing and alkalizing effect.

Why does Buffered Vitamin C so dramatically control addictive and hypersensitive symptomatology, including blood sugar alterations?

The high calcium body fat and weight loss effect may well be connected with offsetting the effects of insulin in fat storage and creating abnormal appetite. Low calcium then may allow insulin to do its work, lowering blood sugar for storage. There may also be a neurological stimulation by addictive and hypersensitizing chemicals which is then offset by the high ionized calcium and other alkalinizing substances in the Buffered C. Tying together these observations with the corresponding allergy, hypersensitivity and addiction-blood sugar aberrations in environmental illness and drug addiction would explain the effectiveness of the Buffered Vitamin C.

The statements made herein have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This product is sold as a nutritional supplement. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.