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Suboxone Treatments
How Does it Actually Help Patients?
Suboxone treatment is a specific clinical process provided by suboxone doctors to help combat the body’s chemical needs for opioids. Learn about how suboxone treatment can help you or a family member beat the opioid dependence and withdrawal period for a better life.
Counseling: When it comes to Suboxone treatment, there is not a “one size fits all” solution for our patients. Each patient and their counseling needs are different.
We believe that the optimal management of the disease of addiction should include some level of formal therapy/counseling. This helps develop a therapeutic working relationship between our patients and counselors. This helps determine exactly what our patients need and the full spectrum of their situation.
We created a patient’s guide on what to expect from counseling that you can view.
Methadone Maintenance: Methadone is a medication used with a treatment program called Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) to help our patients reduce or quit their use of opioids.
When taken as prescribed, methadone is safe and effective. It allows our patients to recover from their addiction and reclaim their lives. The effects that methadone has is by lessening the painful symptoms of withdrawal and blocks the euphoric feelings that come from opioids. Offered as a pill, liquid or in water-based form, this treatment is taken once a day.
For optimal results, we suggest that our patients also participate in a comprehensive MAT program that includes our counseling team and social support.
Office-Based Medication-Assisted Treatment: Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) refers to the combined use of opioid addiction medication with counseling and behavioral therapies. One of the medications that we provide with this treatment option is buprenorphine.
Buprenorphine acts to mimic the behavior of opioids in the brain by attaching itself to the receptors. We prescribe this medication in our clinic to help track the correct dosage in the intake of the medication. Much like the other treatment options, too much of this can be detrimental for our patients.
The Process of the Suboxone Treatment
1. After binding onto the brain’s opioid receptors, suboxone satisfies the dependent’s need for opioids. This suppresses withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings.
2. Because suboxone excites the brain’s opioid receptor by a little bit – Suboxone is a partial agonist – the patient does not receive the same strong effects that are caused by full agonists. These full agonists are prescription painkillers, heroin, and methadone. Another way to think about it is that buprenorphine takes the physical aspects (the brain’s needs for drugs to feel satisfied) of dependence off the table.
3. Suboxone sticks to the brain’s receptors so that other opioids have a hard time connecting to it. The duration that suboxone stays on the receptors lasts 2-3 days.
4. Suboxone has a limit on how much it can reduce breathing. When taking opioids, it has a tendency to lower breathing. However, because suboxone is not a full agonist, patients will not have to worry about having any breathing difficulties.
