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Addiction medicine doctors consider heroin and opiate addiction to
be a chronic disease and they treat it accordingly. Buprenorphine is a
medication used to treat opioid addiction. Opioids include heroin,
opium, morphine, codeine, oxycodone, and Hydrocodone. Opioids are also
drugs which can be abused and lead to tolerance and dependence. Your
body becomes accustomed to ever-higher amounts so that when the drug is
stopped you go into withdrawal. Even after the physical phase of
withdrawal is over, you still might not feel right, and may relapse
just to “feel normal.”
Medical research shows that
after abusing heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone and other opiates that the
brain is thrown off balance, making the goals of drug treatment to
encourage stability, both in your body and in your life.
Not
everyone who abuses opiates needs medication to treat their addiction.
Many addicted persons do well with counseling, outpatient treatment, or
in 12 Step groups like Narcotics Anonymous. In other cases these
approaches are not enough to keep the addicted person stable, and
maintenance medication is used. Maintenance medication is slower and
longer acting in its effects on the brain than heroin, hydrocodone or
other drugs of abuse. Medication allows for a steadying of brain
functions, a major part of addiction treatment. When beginning detox
with Suboxone or Subutex, determining the correct dose is crucial; one
of the many reasons that make the first 24-48 hours of detox so
important.
Before Buprenorphine, there were two other
medications used to treat opiate addiction: Methadone and LAAM. These
medications are also long acting and work by stabilizing the brain.
Methadone and LAAM are prescribed and administered in specially
licensed clinics called Opioid Treatment Programs, and their use is
regulated by federal and state agencies.
While
Suboxone and Subutex are also bound by regulations, they can be
administered at your Doctors office. Detoxification from even large
doses of opiates like oxycodone and heroin can now be accomplished
safely in an Outpatient setting in a relatively short period of time.
And the cost of Outpatient Detox is far less than an Inpatient Hospital
Program. Outpatient Detox also allows you a much faster return to work
or school.
A Suboxone or Subutex detox treatment is
best started once withdrawal has begun, and your dose is adjusted over
several days. Suboxone and Subutex are given as a pill which dissolves
under the tongue. After the initial level is reached, typical
withdrawal symptoms normally associated with Hydrocodne, Oxycodone,
Heroin and other Opiates rarely occur. When administered and monitored
correctly, Suboxone and Subutex offer a fast, pain-free, withdrawal
from highly addictive drugs.
In cases when the patient decides to stop taking Suboxone or Subutex, He or she finds it nearly impossible to quit. At Summer House we offer a quick and painless detox method aimed at getting the patient away from dependance on medication and back to their normal lives as soon as possible.
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