Methadone and Buprenorphine Clients Only - Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programs - Gate City, VA.

There are programs available in or near Gate City that cater to both methadone and buprenorphine clients only, medications which are dispensed in what is known as opioid maintenance therapy. Methadone is a full opioid agonist the same as heroin, and buprenorphine is a partial agonist, which means the same nerve cell receptors which cause an individual to feel high from heroin or prescription pain killers are stimulated by these two drugs so therefore an opiate dependent client will instead no longer become involved in drug seeking behavior and won't experience withdrawal symptoms. There are risks of side effects, drug interactions, and even addiction and overdose with both buprenorphine and methadone, which is why they are heavily controlled and can only be prescribed in a clinical setting.

Methadone and buprenorphine clients are on these medications consistently so they don't experience cravings, withdrawal, etc. but hopefully at a dose which isn't also causing them to feel euphoria. Euphoria occurs at a high dosage, more significantly with methadone than buprenorphine. At programs which treat methadone and buprenorphine clients only, actual rehabilitation activities and therapies are limited beyond managing the medication and the main treatment goal is to manage the physical symptoms of their dependence. Some clinics do provide a small amount of counseling and group therapy as secondary treatment, and this is encouraged.

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