Category Archives: Medication Assisted Treatment

Shifting Tide Favors Medication in Opioid Treatment

The nation’s opioid epidemic has reached fever pitch and is now being spotlighted by all levels of local and national media. This is obviously good news.

At the center of this discussion is what can be done to reduce opioid fatalities, and to provide addicted people a real opportunity to regain control over their lives. This discussion inevitably leads to examining the benefit of medication-assisted treatment.

Methadone and buprenorphine are the two leading alternatives for helping patients deal with the perpetual withdrawal sickness that comes from a physiological dependency on opioids. Naloxone is a medication used to reverse opioid overdose.

In recent congressional testimony to members of Congress, Scott Gottlieb (Commissioner of the FDA) specifically heralded the life-saving benefits of methadone and similar medications.

His testimony included comments on the wealth of information behind the effectiveness of medication-assisted treatment. It is vitally important that legislative decision-makers obtain a clear understanding about what works and what does not in regard to coping successfully with this opioid crisis.

Time is of the essence because the present overdose fatality rate in the United States is over 64,000 per year. This number is beyond alarming. Here is an article that points to a possible positive shift in communities’ openness to having local opioid treatment nearby. Hopefully, this becomes a trend.

Acadia Healthcare Experts in Opioid Addiction Treatment

Acadia Healthcare is a leading provider of addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare services in the USA, the UK, and Puerto Rico. Worldwide, they operate a network of 593 facilities with 18,100 beds in 40 U.S. States. Of these locations, Acadia offer medication-assisted opioid treatment in 127 of their facilities.

While Acadia are experts in the treatment of opioid misuse disorders, they treat a wide variety of addiction-related problems utilizing traditional outpatient programs up to inpatient detoxification and residential treatment. You can view Acadia’s Levels of Care on their website to gain a better view of the breadth of their substance abuse services.

Achieving Stability in the Recovery Process

Opioid addiction is one of the more challenging substance use disorders to confront and manage because of its physical dependency characteristics. Once the process of physical addiction has taken hold, avoiding daily withdrawal becomes a high hurdle.

Because of this daily dilemma, it becomes difficult to remain focused on other aspects of recovery. It’s the law of “first things first” that applies when tackling any problem. There is a natural order and sequence which must be followed when trying to solve a complex task. Opioid addiction recovery is no exception.

Obtaining relief from opioid withdrawal symptoms is a very important first step in addressing opioid addiction. This is why medication-assisted treatment is specifically identified as a medical best practice. Science and years of exhaustive research have proven (not just suggested) that treatment coupled with medication-assistance offers the greatest probability of long-term success when trying to overcome moderate to severe opioid addiction.

Fortunately, more people are becoming aware of the need for buprenorphine, methadone, and other medications that can play a vital role in stabilizing an opioid addicted individual at the onset of their personal recovery.

Historically, efforts to come off of opioids in a detox setting have been often unsuccessful because many detoxes used insufficient medications to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. Consequently, patients would typically begin to get sick in 1-2 days with their withdrawal symptoms becoming intolerable. This can lead to patients abandoning the detox effort and a quick return to illicit opiates.

However, the tide is turning. As the American opioid crisis continues to impact families and U.S. society, many more physicians, lawmakers, and government representatives are gaining a quick education on the enormous value of medication-assisted treatment. Methadone is at the forefront of this new awareness as is buprenorphine-based products like Suboxone.

Appropriate medications used responsibly and under a doctor’s supervision provide stability, hope, and opportunity.

21st Century Cures Act

opioid-treatment-fundingThe U.S. House of Representatives just passed a sweeping reform, called the 21st Century Cures Act, that will infuse $1 billion in new funding earmarked for opioid treatment and prevention services.

It has taken several years of alarming statistics on the national opioid epidemic, but Congress has responded. This USA Today article provides an overview of the numbers. In addition to the $1 billion for opioid services will be another $4.8 billion for cutting-edge research around treating Alzheimers, cancer, traumatic brain injury, and other medical issues.

The bill received enormous bipartisan support and passed 392-to-26. In 2016, death by drug overdose surpassed death by car crashes and gun fatalities. The public outcry for government intervention has been steady. With so many families having been affected by addiction issues, the new funding allowance should open doors for opioid treatment particularly in rural areas where opioid services have been severely lacking.

Methadone remains the #1 medication-assisted treatment option. Buprenorphine medications are; however, making a big impact in the treatment field with a wide variety of buprenorphine-based formulations coming to market. In addition to the familiar suboxone film, are probuphine (a buprenorphine implant), subutex (an uncoated buprenorphine tablet), and bunavail.

Buprenorphine Implant for Opioid Addiction

buprenorphine implantThe FDA has approved a new implantable drug called Probuphine. Probuphine contains the partial opioid agonist, buprenorphine, which is used to suppress the opioid withdrawal symptoms that interfere with daily life.

The implant is the size of a matchstick and is inserted under the skin in the forearm area. It steadily releases a dose of buprenorphine which has been scientifically proven an effective treatment for eliminating opiate withdrawal symptoms in a number of people physically dependent on opioids.

With heroin and opioid overdose deaths at an all time high in the United States, this new alternative offers one more beneficial path for anyone struggling with opioid relapse and chronic withdrawal. Importantly, Probuphine only treats the physical withdrawal from opioids such that the underlying psychological factors of addiction must still be treated through counseling and other support approaches.

The Wall Street Journal has an extensive article on this new medication and the historically important role of methadone and oral buprenorphine. In the article, Nora Volkow (director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse) is quoted as saying:

Scientific evidence suggests that maintenance treatment with these medications in the context of behavioral treatment and recovery support are more effective in the treatment of opioid-use disorder than short-term detoxification programs aimed at abstinence.

Over 47,000 people died in the U.S. of drug overdoses in 2014. A majority of these were attributed to heroin and prescription painkillers. With continued coverage in the media and ongoing community discussion, more answers and helpful interventions will hopefully see the light of day.

Methadone Information | Suboxone Information