subject: Methadone Maintenance [print this page] Methadone maintenance is the term that is applied to a particular form of medication-assisted addiction recovery.
Methadone maintenance patients receive daily doses of methadone, a drug that frees them from opiate cravings while also preventing the onset of withdrawal symptoms. Opiates (including prescription pills, opium, and heroin) are highly addictive substances, and attempting to end ones dependence upon opiates can cause physical and emotional anguish.
Methadone maintenance gives opiate addicts the opportunity to free themselves from their drug dependence, and to address other issues in their lives that may have led to, been caused by, or been exacerbated by their substance abuse and addiction.
Methadone maintenance works because methadone is synthetic substance that essentially tricks the brain into thinking that the user has ingested an intoxicating opiate. When methadone maintenance patients take methadone, the drug interacts with the same receptors in their brain that opiates do. However, methadone does not cause the disorienting high that opiates do.
Thus, methadone maintenance patients can get through the day without craving drugs (because their brains have been fed by the methadone) and without experiencing withdrawal symptoms (again, because their bodys drug-craving needs have been met.)
Methadone maintenance is not a cure for addiction to heroin, prescription painkillers, or other opiates. Rather, methadone maintenance frees the patient from the physical and mental impact of both drug abuse and drug withdrawal, so that they can begin to learn how to live a drug-free life again. And though methadone is clearly a an essential component of methadone maintenance program, an effective methadone maintenance program will provide patients with more than merely their daily dose.
Many methadone maintenance programs provide a wide range of ancillary services designed to help patients end their drug dependence and resume their pursuit of a healthy drug-free future. Because many opiate addicts are also struggling with co-occurring conditions, employment problems, legal issues, family conflicts, and other challenges, an effective methadone maintenance program will provide services designed to help with these problems.
The following are among the many services that may be available to methadone maintenance patients:
Individual, group, and family counseling
Job training
Career search assistance
Legal help
Help regaining professional licensure
Though methadone maintenance remains the most common form of medication-assisted addiction recovery, methadone is not the only drug that is used to help patients overcome an addiction to opiates. Suboxone/Subutex, buprenorphine, and Vivitrol are also available to be used in opiate addiction treatment under qualified medical supervision.
