Category Archives: Recovery

Opioid Treatment Program Rules

Methadone programs and doctors who prescribe buprenorphine serve a very important function in helping the country cope with the opioid crisis. They are also a life-saving link for patients who have suffered for years with an overwhelming addiction.

Operating a methadone clinic or buprenorphine/suboxone practice is typically a complex endeavor. Clinics that offer medication-assisted treatment (MAT) must comply with a myriad of mandates and policy requirements from the DEA, the local State Methadone Authority, accreditation organizations like CARF and JCAH, SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration}, and 3rd party payers who help fund treatment services.

Patients understand that a well-run treatment clinic offers many benefits. Quality services are only delivered when there is an organizational commitment to helping people while also being able to meet all of the operational requirements such as timely documentation of services (paperwork) and appropriate support of staff & counselors,

Sometimes patients will complain about “so many clinic rules” although many patients appreciate their clinic’s dedication to professionalism and its ability to meet the standards of good quality care. Within most treatment facilities are several key staff who oversee its daily operation and the provision of services. These are the Clinical Director, the Medical Director or primary prescribing physician, the Nurse Supervisor, and possibly clinical staff Team Leaders who do the work of coordinating the clinics many daily activities.

While the list of clinic rules can seem long, there is nearly always an important underlying reason for that rule to exist. Most methadone clinics distribute a Handbook for clients that outlines their rights as an opioid treatment patient as well as guidelines for obtaining dosage adjustments and progressing successfully through treatment.

Opioid treatment, and medication-assistance in particular, must be carefully monitored. This is to insure patient safety and to minimize the risk of medication errors. Please support your local methadone or suboxone clinic with words of encouragement and positive feedback when it is earned. Conversely, it is important to speak up as well if serious problems are occurring. Always make an effort to communicate first with the clinic’s clinical and administrative staff if experiencing a problem. If an honest effort to resolve an issue in this manner is not productive, then contacting one’s local State Methadone Authority is sometimes a logical next step for addressing an important concern.

Ohio Town Hall on Opioid Addiction

Several organizations in Ohio recently hosted a town hall discussion on the opioid crisis still occurring there and across the country. News commentator, Eric Bolling, was a moderator of the event which was held at Cedarville University.

Eric and his wife, Adrienne, lost their 19 year old son in 2017 due to an accidental overdose with the powerful opioid, fentanyl.

This town hall discussion was designed to continue raising public awareness on the danger of opioid misuse and the continuing need for treatment and recovery support services to help families deal with this perpetual problem.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that there were 70,237 drug overdoses in 2017 with 47,600 involving opioids specifically. The article linked above states that the state of Ohio ranked 2nd in overdose deaths only behind West Virginia.

There is promising news in that more Americans are now being educated on opioid risks, and consequently are taking better precautions as well as actively accessing methadone & suboxone programs offering helpful medication-assistance and behavioral counseling. Saving lives and offering recovery are messages that are being heard.

Youth and Opioid Addiction

In past decades, opioid addiction was skewed more heavily toward an older generation of adults. But today we have larger numbers of youth using opioids and experiencing addiction-related problems at earlier ages. Importantly, research has demonstrated conclusively that those who remain engaged in treatment for six months or more are much more likely to stabilize and to enjoy sustained success with recovery.

A recent Reuters Health article highlights the fact that many opioid-addicted youth are either not yet engaging in treatment or are exiting treatment too early. While more youth are being saved through the overdose reversal drug naloxone, a majority of addicted youth are still not receiving medicated-assisted treatments such as buprenorphine or methadone.

More work is necessary to open up treatment avenues for young adults across America, and to both educate & compel youth to seek MAT (medication-assisted treatment) as soon as possible.

The opioid addiction problem in America will not soon disappear. Drugs continue to find their way across the U.S. border through multiple avenues. Positive efforts are indeed bringing needed change, but the complexity and extent of opioid addiction in the U.S. will require a long-term, sustained commitment throughout the country. We must get the message out – especially to young people who may not fully grasp the power of addiction!

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.

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.