Methadone Clinic Near Me: How to Find It and How Does It Work?

Table Of Contents:

• What Is a Methadone Clinic?
• How to Find a Methadone Clinic Near Me?
• How Does it Treat Opioid Addiction?
• How Does it Compare to Suboxone?
• What Are the Advantages?
• What Are the Disadvantages?
• Will It Help Manage Opioid Addiction?

What Is a Methadone Clinic?

A Methadone clinic is a form of a treatment center for patients who are dealing with opioid addiction. While the dispensing of Dolophine is the primary purpose of these clinics, many offer additional services such as counseling and drug tests. They stick to drug therapy, with the use of drugs like Dolophine and Suboxone, to manage withdrawal symptoms in opioid addicts and aim towards recovery.

There are different kinds of such clinics based on ownership. These can be either private or public clinics. Public clinics are funded by the government, and costs are generally lower or entirely free. As a result of this, demand is higher, and waiting lists are longer. In contrast, private clinics are owned by private entities, and payment is up to the patient. Of course, this makes it easier to gain admission to their care.

All clinics must be certified by SAMHSA to be able to treat opioid use disorders. This will involve following a set of federal guidelines regarding Methadone maintenance treatment. In addition to that, they will also need to comply with specific state requirements. These criteria can involve the staff-to-patient ratio, duration of Methadone treatment, dosing limits, and more. These will differ based on the state the patient resides in.

Methadone Clinics Provide Different Services, Such As:

• Inpatient services: One can get the Methadone program in an inpatient setting with Methadone doctors around.
• Outpatient services: If a person is looking for the maintenance therapy of heroin addiction, one can get it in an outpatient setting.
• Consultation services: These are for patients who want to receive health advice and know the next step to take regarding their opioid addiction.
• Naloxone distribution: Naloxone, or Narcan, is a drug used to reverse the health effects of an opioid overdose. This drug can be obtained at these centers.
• Drug tests: Some of these centers may allow for urine drug tests to be done as well.

How to Find Methadone Clinics Near Me

If you or your loved one is suffering from addiction to opioids, a methadone clinic might be a good solution. Looking for a methadone clinic near me can be challenging, as there is a variety of them across the United States. Methadone clinics near me locator is designed to assist with this. The locator can help not only find the treatment center, but also provides navigation and directions based on your current location.

The process of getting into such a facility is rather straightforward. After finding the appropriate Methadone clinic near me the individual can simply call the clinic to request Methadone treatment, at which point they need to go through a screening process to determine their eligibility. The criteria for admission include being addicted to an opioid for over a year, being over 18, coming voluntarily for Methadone treatment, and having the relevant information and facts regarding the drug.

If the patient satisfies these criteria, they must sign to give consent and proceed into the program. During the first visit, a history of the patient’s substance abuse will be gathered by Methadone doctors to determine the treatments. These Methadone doctors will then medically assess the patient to ensure that they aren’t susceptible to any side effects, and then they can begin to use the substance.

How Methadone Treatment Works

Opioid abuse and dependence is a huge problem in the United States. It was found that opioid abuse is seen in anywhere between 21% to 29% of patients who were prescribed such drugs for pain. Some of these patients then move to the abuse of heroin. In 2019, over 10 million people in the country misused opioid medications in the previous year. It shows the prevalence of this health issue.

Dolophine is used in the treatment of opioid use disorders. The mechanism by which it works is quite interesting. It is an opioid agonist, which means that it attaches to the same receptors in the CNS as opioids do. It satisfies the cravings for the substance, but it does not have the same effects that addicts typically abuse their opioids for.

Methadone maintenance treatment involves a daily dose of this drug, which is available as a tablet or liquid. Using it once a day reduces the risk of users abusing their typical opioids, which are more dangerous.

Besides this one, other drugs are used for the same purpose. This includes buprenorphine and Suboxone, which is a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone. Naltrexone is another option, though this drug completely blocks opioid receptors.

Methadone vs. Suboxone for Opioid Addiction

These drugs are both used to manage opioid addiction, so it is natural to want to know whether there are any advantages to using either or differences between these two. Suboxone essentially works identically to it. They are both used for opioid abuse treatment.

However, there Are Some Differences Between the Two:

• Suboxone can be used instead for patients who may be susceptible to Dolophine side effects, which are primarily cardiac.
• Also, Suboxone is a Schedule III substance while the other is a Schedule II substance, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
• Suboxone is more expensive but can be gotten as a prescription and can be used at home in some cases. Dolophine must be obtained from the clinics.
• Suboxone is generally considered safer than Dolophine, so there aren’t as many concerns with use at home.

Comparing Dolophine to Suboxone, the latter is generally considered to be the safer drug. This is because it consists of buprenorphine with naloxone. While buprenorphine acts similar to Dolophine, naloxone provides a form of safety barrier as an opioid antagonist. It makes overdose and any euphoric effects unlikely to occur. Moreover, Methadone half-life can be as long as 55 hours. It makes an overdose a possibility in case several drugs are mixed or in the case of inadequate dosage.

Dolophine has been found in many studies to be more effective in providing a better outcome for treatment. If a patient finds it hard to attend the clinic every day, Suboxone is preferred as it is more flexible in its treatment. However, in terms of absolute efficacy, Dolophine is the preferred choice. However, patients with heart issues should avoid it.

Benefits Of Staying at a Clinic

It is difficult to obtain exact numbers on how many patients undergo Methadone maintenance treatment yearly. However, it has been used and FDA-approved since the 1970s for the treatment of opioid dependence, which is something of a testament to its reliability in this regard.

A study found that people who used this substance were over four times more likely to stay in treatment. It has been proven to improve the outcome. They also had 33% less positive opioid tests than those who were not on the substance.

These Are Some of the Benefits of Staying at a Methadone Clinic:

• Staying in an inpatient clinic reduces the exposure to external stressors and sources of the substance, making a recovery easier.
• Methadone clinics have been proven to improve the chances of recovery as they reduce the risk of relapse.
• Counseling services are available, which can help the addict gain better control of their life and health on the road to recovery.
• Outpatients in these clinics can receive care that reduces their harmful drug use without giving up too much of their time or putting their life on hold.

Potential Disadvantages of Methadone Maintenance

There are quite a few potential disadvantages that people can expose themselves to when using this substance.

It binds to opioid receptors, and as a result of this, with repeated doses, this drug can eventually cause Methadone addiction to develop. Tolerance will develop as well. It is possible to have withdrawal symptoms after stopping the medication.

There can also be several side effects, quite similar to those of opioids in general. However, perhaps the most important of them are the cardiac ones. This includes arrhythmias, chest pain, and quickened heartbeat. Patients with any cardiac conditions should use Suboxone instead.

The cost of Dolophine in private clinics is another potential disadvantage. Public clinics have long waiting lists, so they are not the most accessible options for many. Some opioid addicts on Methadone maintenance may eventually become addicted to it in place of the drug they were using previously.

Not all opioid addicts are eligible to join a clinic. It is because they don’t recommend using it when people have specific medical or health conditions.

They Include:

• Taking other drugs like sleeping pills, antidepressants, or medication to treat anxiety at the same time
• Breathing disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma
• Head injury in the past
• During or shortly before a pregnancy
• Having low blood pressure

Managing Opioid Addiction

Treatment at a Methadone clinic is an approved way to manage opioid addiction and begin recovery. The risks from Methadone treatment, addiction being the most prominent one, are lower than its benefits.

Finding a Methadone clinic near me becomes easier with a locator providing all information about a particular facility. Don’t hesitate to get help.

To make the overall care and recovery more effective and longer-lasting, these clinics have facilities for other treatments. They include counseling, rehabilitation techniques, psychiatric consultation, cognitive behavioral therapy, and other alternative therapies.

One can get the best care for opioid addictions in a Methadone clinic offering both maintenance and supportive treatments.

Page Sources

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About Author

Olivier George, Ph.D.

Olivier George is a medical writer and head manager of the rehab center in California. He spends a lot of time in collecting and analyzing the traditional approaches for substance abuse treatment and assessing their efficiency.

Medically Reviewed by

Michael Espelin APRN

8 years of nursing experience in wide variety of behavioral and addition settings that include adult inpatient and outpatient mental health services with substance use disorders, and geriatric long-term care and hospice care.  He has a particular interest in psychopharmacology, nutritional psychiatry, and alternative treatment options involving particular vitamins, dietary supplements, and administering auricular acupuncture.