Find Methadone Treatment Near Whiteland IN
Only 56,000 of the nation’s over a million doctors are licensed to prescribe buprenorphine in opioid addiction treatment. Last year, however, 112,000 people received the medication according to SAMHSA.
So far, the majority of buprenorphine licensed doctors have only prescribed it to a small number of patients. Primary care physicians state that they have the license because they are able to treat existing opioid addicts.
Despite spending millions of dollars to encourage buprenorphine prescriptions, particularly by primary physicians, the numbers of prescribers that have completed the required eight-hour DEA course and the number patients they are treating has been lower than expected.
In medication-assisted therapy for opioid addiction, methadone or buprenorphine are used to reduce withdrawal symptoms before they become severe enough to induce relapse. These two substances are partial opioid agonists, binding to the same receptors as heroin and prescription medicines. Instead of inducing a feeling of euphoria, however, they only help individuals feel normal enough to conduct their lives without experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms.
Over time, the brain ceases to produce these molecules because the opioids provide them. However, this implies that when opioids are withdrawn, the brain cannot function normally, causing withdrawal symptoms.
When an individual takes opioids, the medicines pass the blood-brain barrier and bind to brain receptors. This results in a rapid release of neurotransmitters that cause the euphoria associated with opiate use. The high interacts with the brain's reward system and promotes the activity that first triggered the release of feel-good chemicals. Every time someone uses opioids, their brain produces its own reward compounds more slowly and inefficiently.