Methadone Is An Opioid Addiction Treatment You Might Take When You're Ready To Stop Using Drugs
Being addicted to opioids has many negative consequences. The drugs take a toll on your health, you may struggle to support your habit, and your relationships are affected and often ruined. It's difficult to stop using the drugs on your own since the addiction is both physical and mental.
If you want to get your life back, look into getting help from an opioid addiction treatment center. One treatment they may offer is methadone. Here's how methadone works to help you beat opioid addiction.
Methadone Helps With Withdrawal Symptoms
When you stop taking opioids, your body is thrown into turmoil. You'll probably have anxiety, nausea, chills, and feel like you have the flu. The withdrawal symptoms can be so bad that you start doing drugs again just to make the withdrawal symptoms stop.
A primary benefit of methadone is that it prevents withdrawal symptoms. You can take methadone when you stop taking drugs in a treatment facility, and you won't have to go through several days of suffering withdrawals. This can help you stick with the program long enough to make progress.
Methadone Doesn't Get You High
Methadone works because it activates the opioid receptors in your brain just like heroin does. This tricks your brain into thinking you're doing heroin so there are no withdrawal symptoms. Methadone doesn't get you high, and it blocks the effects of euphoria if you take heroin or another opioid.
Methadone is a narcotic that is sometimes prescribed for pain relief. Even though it doesn't get you high, it's dangerous to combine methadone with other opioids or to take too much methadone, as that could cause you to overdose.
You Usually Get Your Daily Dose From A Clinic
When you're in an opioid addiction treatment center, you'll be given methadone a day at a time. When you're released, you'll probably need to keep picking up your dose every day from a clinic where you can be supervised while you take it, and for a short while afterward.
Once you're in recovery, you might be given a prescription so you can take the pills at home without supervision, but that depends on your progress with your recovery program.
Methadone Is Given With Counseling
Methadone isn't usually given by itself. Instead, it's part of a treatment plan that also includes counseling and other forms of opioid addiction treatments. Methadone just makes it easier to comply with the program so you have a better chance of beating your addiction. You may be on methadone for a long time, but you'll be able to work, go to school, drive, and do other activities of daily life since the drug doesn't get you high or impair your abilities.
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