A Guide to Opioid Addiction Treatment Using Medication
More and more people are still getting addicted to opioid today. Thousands of lives have been lost to opioid overdoes and thousands more will be taken if people don’t stop their practice. Even if you are not getting overdosed with it, sooner or later, the possibility of overdose will be greater as you use it longer. You cannot feel the same effects with the same dose of opioid each time and the brain will require a higher dosage if you want to have the same feeling of euphoria every time. This makes it necessary to treat opioid addiction. In drug rehab centers, opioid addicts are given medication as part of their treatment program.
People get addicted to opioid for many reasons. Some consider it a genetic thing. Addiction can run in the family. Some start taking drugs to relieve pain but with regular use, it leads to drug addiction. Others use opioid not because of anything but the sheer results of taking it.
Here are some of the medications used in opioid addiction treatment.
Buprenorphine, which is also an opioid, is used for treating opioid addicts. During detox at a rehab center, opioid addicts can experience difficult withdrawal symptoms and Buprenorphine is used to help reduce these symptoms. This drug is less likely to be abused because it does not give that same sense of euphoria that other drugs give. So it blocks the effects of other opioids.
Another drug used together with Buprenorphine is Naloxone, which helps prevent and reverse opioid overdose. Patients are not able to abuse Buprenorphine when Naloxone is taken.
Another opioid called Methadone is used similar to buprenorphine. Taking this drug will help prevent withdrawal symptoms from attacking the patient. Use Methadone to keep a patient from relapsing when experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Maintenance is needed after rehab and Methadone is the recommended opioid for this. Using this drug daily can help prevent a patient from relapsing back to addition. Methadone is highly controlled as a drug so you need to consult with your doctor on dosage.
After the person has completed rehab, doctors recommend Naltrexone that is an opioid antagonist. Opioids cannot affect your brain if you take Naltroxone.. It blocks brain receptors from reacting to opioids. While on naltrexone and you take opioid, then you will not get pain relief or experience euphoria. However if you take Naltroxone with opioids in your system, then withdrawals will be triggered. You will not be in danger of relapsing into addition again if you take Naltroxone because it will kill your desire for it.
So, bad withdrawal symptoms are prevented with the use of Methadone and Buprenorpine. You can keep yourself clean of opioids if you take Methadone for maitnenace.
Naloxone and Buprenorphine taken together helps prevent overdose. It reduces the risk of Buprenorphine abuse.
A person’s desire for opioids is cut down by Naltrexone. It is used post-detox but will trigger withdrawals to individuals who uses it with opioids in their system.
blog read more Addiction Treatment Services
the best treatment option methods learn why
aa meetings read more here this online blog
symptoms
Supporting reference: basics