Overcoming the Obstacles of Adjusting to MMT

Opiate Detox and MMT

Opiate addiction is a chronic disease that has significantly increased throughout the years. Opiate addiction is where a person will compulsively seek out and use opiate drugs. Opiate drugs are powerful painkillers that are derived from opium. The most widely abused opiate drugs are prescription painkillers, which are part of the opioid class of drugs, which is a sub-group of opiates. Prescription painkillers are extremely addictive and more and more people are beginning to abuse these drugs.

According to Harvard Health Publications, opioids impact the same brain receptors as heroin, which causes euphoria. Long term opioid use, whether prescribed or not, can lead to addiction. The rising problem of opioid addiction is receiving more attention because painkiller prescriptions have increased tenfold since 1990. This increase has led to the number of people addicted to opioids to increase as well.

When a person continues to abuse a prescription painkiller or other opiate drug, they risk the chance of their body developing a dependency to the drug. When a person becomes dependent on the drug, they will have to continue to take the drug in order to avoid going through withdrawal. This eventually leads to a person taking more and more of the drug to avoid withdrawal as their tolerance builds up.

There are treatment options available to people to help them get through opiate detox and to help them learn to manage their addiction. One of these treatment options is known as Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT).

Overcoming the Obstacles of Adjusting to MMT

Methadone treatment does not help with some psychological withdrawal symptoms, such as insomnia.

According to Harvard Health Publications, research has shown that methadone maintenance therapy is extremely effective at helping people remain in treatment, probably because of ongoing clinical monitoring. However, people can abuse methadone at higher doses than those used for maintenance, which is why methadone is only available through specialized clinics.

MMT will help a person get through withdrawals by providing them with doses of methadone every day and then gradually lowering them. However, this does not mean that a person will not have any withdrawals. A person may still go through withdrawals even though they are being provided with methadone; this largely depends on the amount of methadone given and the amount of opiates that the person used to abuse daily.

Another obstacle that a person must go through is the psychological withdrawals from opiates, such as anxiety, depression, insomnia and drug cravings. Methadone only helps a person with the physical withdrawals, not the psychological withdrawals.

The final obstacle that a person must overcome is the adjustment to methadone from their prior opiate of choice. Although methadone does impact the same receptors of the brain as other opiates, it is slower acting and lasts longer, but the ‘high’ will be weaker.