Methadone vs. Suboxone Treatment: Part 1

Heroin and opioid addiction has become an epidemic across the United States. As of 2015, a total of 21,000 adolescents used heroin at lease once and 5,000 were frequent users of the drug. Sadly, many of these heroin users start out becoming addicted to prescription painkillers and then eventually progress to larger doses and subsequently moving onto heroin.

Addiction to these drugs often leads to fatal overdoses and is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. There were 52,404 drug overdose fatalities in 2015; 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pail relievers and 12,990 overdue deaths related to heroin use.

Because these drugs are as dangerous as they are addictive, it’s important that users get the right treatments when they are combating their drug abuse.

Methadone and Suboxone are both heroin replacement treatments. Methadone, however, is basically heroin in pill form. Patients go into a methadone clinic every day to receive a dose; this allows them to get their heroin fix but continue to lead a stable life and not rely on crime to get high.

Recently, the medical and recovery industry has started transitioning to Suboxone treatments. With Suboxone, patients fill a prescription and take the drug daily. Suboxone is a “partial opioid agonist,” which means it binds to opioid receptors and activates them partially. For heroin addicts, Suboxone will not get them high, but it will decrease cravings, prevent heroin withdrawal, and acts as an opioid blocker, preventing patients from getting high.

Suboxone treatment is pretty much the standard option for recovering heroin addicts.

Unfortunately, however effective either of these two treatment options are against heroin addiction, they are addictive themselves. These treatments can help users get off heroin, a drug that can take their lives at any moment, but can put them right back on the path of destruction. Learn more about these two drugs in part 2.

If you want to learn more about these treatments, want to find out how much does Suboxone treatment cost, or just want to speak with experienced detox doctors, contact Peace Medical today. Stay tuned for part 2 of Methadone vs. Suboxone Treatment, where we will go into the addictive properties of each.