About Methadone Treatment for Opiate Addiction

Opiates, which include drugs like heroin, opium, morphine, codeine, and synthetic drugs like OxyContin and Percocet, are painkillers that negatively affect the lives of millions of Americans each year. Opiate addiction has drastically increased throughout the years and is the number one drug, aside from alcohol, that people receive help for through treatment centers.

When you decide to stop taking an opiate drug that you have formed an addiction to, you will experience withdrawal symptoms. Many people, probably including you, drastically fear going through these withdrawal symptoms. The physical withdrawal symptoms have been compared to symptoms that are similar to having the flu, but they can be more severe if your body has developed a strong and long-lived dependency to the drug.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, methadone is an effective medication for the treatment of opiate addiction. Methadone affects the same targets in the brain as other opiates so the withdrawal symptoms will not be as present, and because of this, methadone will relieve cravings and suppress withdrawal symptoms. Methadone will help patients disengage from drug seeking behavior and related criminal behavior, if applicable, and help a person to become more receptive to behavioral treatments.

Methadone is a viable option for the treatment of opiate addiction.

Although it may seem as though you will be substituting one drug for another, methadone treatment is effective, because it will slowly wean you off of opiates, and the effects of methadone are not as strong as opiates. You will slowly be taken off of methadone by your doses being constantly decreased to the point where you will no longer take methadone. This will prevent you from experiencing any intense withdrawal symptoms.

Is Methadone Treatment for Opiate Addiction Right for You?

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, treatment has been proven to help individuals addicted to drugs stop using and successfully regain control their lives. However, there are key principles that should form the basis of any effective treatment and one of these principals is the use of medication in treatment. Medications are an effective and important factor in treatment for a large portion of people, especially when it is combined with counseling.

Questions to ask yourself to determine if methadone treatment for opiate addiction is right for you…

Is the main reason you do not stop taking opiates because you fear the pain from the withdraw symptoms?

If yes, then methadone treatment can help you get through the withdrawals.

Have you tried to stop taking opiates before and failed to do so because of the withdrawals?

If yes, then methadone treatment may be right for you.

Do you have the extra money to spend on methadone treatment?

If yes, then you should give methadone treatment a chance due to the effectiveness of the treatment has in helping people overcome their addictions. If your answer is no, you should know that many rehabs work with people on price, and many methadone treatment centers use a sliding scale when admitting people into their programs.

Methadone treatment for opiate addiction can be a huge help and can help you focus on other methods of treatment, such as therapy, without dealing with the intense physical withdrawals; which ultimately will provide you with the most effective treatment to help you conquer your addiction.