Young people are especially at risk for heroin and opiate abuse. Opiate addictions are chronic conditions that can impair your decision-making and cause significant changes to your personality, mood, and behaviors. Managing symptoms can become difficult, especially in early recovery. Treatments like methadone maintenance can help you remain abstinent from opiates and decrease your cravings, which is especially useful during early recovery after a medication therapy management program in Crystal Lake IL.

Opiate abuse has reached epidemic levels in the United States, leading to President Trump declaring a public health emergency in 2017 in response to opiate abuse 2017. Use and abuse of opiates, which include prescription painkillers and illicit drugs like heroin, more than doubled since 2002 among young adults. Opiate and heroin overdoses have increased by more than 400% in the last decade, which has caused drug overdoses to become a leading cause of death among people ages 12-35 years old in the country.

What is Opiate Addiction?

Opiates are prescription and illegal drugs, coming from the opium plant. Prescription opiates are typically used to treat severe and chronic pain. Opiate painkillers are commonly gateway drugs, with more than 40% of heroin addicts transitioning to heroin after abusing prescription opiates. Both prescription and illicit opiates cause your brain to release a rush of dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter. Opiates are also central nervous system depressants which cause calming and pleasurable feelings.

Opiates are prone to abuse and are both physically and psychologically addicting. Prescription opiates are usually inhaled or smoked by users, while heroin is commonly injected. Injecting opiates or heroin is extremely dangerous and can increase your risk of overdosing or contracting an infection. Opiate withdrawal makes it difficult to stop using without help. Withdrawal symptoms can become intense, and can cause:

• Anxiety and depression
• Aches and pains
• Tremors, sweats and restless legs
• Nausea, vomiting and stomach cramps
• Insomnia and exhaustion
• Seizures, disorientation, and dehydration

Methadone Maintenance?

So, what is methadone maintenance? Doctors use methadone maintenance to treat opiate addictions. Methadone decreases cravings and is time-released. While methadone does not produce a strong high, it is an opiate. During recovery, methadone maintenance can help improve recovery outcomes and decrease your risk of relapsing. Since nearly half of all people in recovery relapse at least once, methadone maintenance is an effective way to strengthen your ability to remain abstinent.

We distribute methadone daily in a clinical setting. It comes in a liquid or pill form but is typically given in a liquid form. It is effective for 24-36 hours and diminishes the effects of other opiates. We also use methadone to help treat opiate and heroin withdrawal.

Methadone maintenance can be for short-term or long-term treatment and used in conjunction with other evidence-based and holistic treatments.

Finding Treatment Today 

For those battling an opiate addiction, methadone maintenance can help improve your ability to remain clean and sober during recovery. Northern Illinois Recovery Center, which has the best medication therapy management program Crystal Lake Il offers, understands what it takes to recover from addiction. Call us today at 855.786.1978 to find out more about our programs.