Getting Started - A Guide to Treatment at Clinic 528 in London, Ontario

“This addiction has taken over my life.

I need a way out - and I don't ever want to end up back here again.”

Attending for addiction treatment is not anyone's first choice in life. But if you are addicted to opiate drugs - if these drugs are taking control of your life - the treatment program at Clinic 528 can offer you a way out.

This article will briefly inform you about the problem of Opiate Drug Addiction - about Methadone Maintenance Treatment - How to Get Started in treatment - and how to make this program Work for You.

About Opiate Drug Addiction
There are two sides to the problem of opiate drug addiction - like two sides of the same coin.

The first side of the problem is Addiction - a compulsive craving to escape into the feelings produced by opiate and other drugs.

The other side of the problem is Physical Dependence - the need to take an increasing amount of opiate drugs - at first to find relief from pain or to produce feelings of euphoria - and later just to get through the day.

As you continue to take an opiate drug every day, your brain responds by making an increased number of receptors for these drugs. In order to obtain effect, these receptors must be filled with an opiate drug. You are required to take more and more of the drug as the receptor numbers increase.

When you do try to stop - you face the fact that the regular use of these drugs has over time changed your brain and its chemistry. An increased number of opiate receptors have become used to the continued presence of these drugs. You experience withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop.

These two issues of opiate drugs - Addiction and Physical Dependence - eventually create a downward spiral of worsening consequences. Along the way, they can consume your finances, family, work and health.

Different people seem to be at different risk for addiction and/or physical dependence to occur. Many are able to take these drugs for a medical indication - and to then stop when the treatment is no longer needed.

Others will very quickly become addicted - or physically dependent - to the daily use of these drugs. Genetic, family and many other factors seem to be involved in the risk of these drugs to different people.

The bottom line is that if you are applying for treatment at Clinic 528 - you realize by now that the use of opiate drugs has taken your life in directions that you had not intended - either through addiction, physical dependence or both.

About Methadone Maintenance Treatment
Methadone is an opiate drug that relieves the physical need to take other opiate drugs.

Under proper supervision, methadone does not change how you think or feel - and does not produce euphoria or a 'high.' As such, it does not encourage tendency to further addiction.

In fact, methadone is mostly useful for the many things that it does not do. It sticks to the opiate drug receptors in your brain - and does not do a great deal else.

You are physically dependent on taking a dose of methadone each day while you are in treatment. But without the physical need to take other drugs - methadone treatment allows you to regain some control over your life.

Methadone Maintenance Treatment may be thought of in three phases.

During Phase I of treatment, your doctors will help you to find a safe and effective dose of methadone - one that will relieve your need to take other opiate drugs.

We encourage and will help all clients to learn about the condition of addiction - and to use the opportunity of this program to recover from the use of all drugs of intoxication.

During Phase II of treatment, you remain on a moderate dosage of methadone - without experiencing either euphoria or withdrawal each day. Your brain is allowed time to heal. You have opportunity to stabilize your lifestyle and to regain your health.

Phase II is a time to address the issues of your life - medical, psychiatric or stress related conditions - and to apply the principles of recovery to your everyday life. We recommend a minimum of one year in Phase II of treatment.

After an extended period of time in Phase II of treatment, you may consider that you are ready to begin a gradual taper of your methadone dose. This is Phase III of treatment.

The decision to taper your dosage requires rigorous honesty on your part. Can you deal with the issues of your daily life - without restarting to use opiate drugs? Have you learned to apply other ways to cope? Have you found stability in your recovery from addiction?

We encourage you to carefully discuss this decision with your doctor.

Methadone treatment for opiate drug addiction is not much different than a nicotine patch to stop smoking cigarettes.

The patch temporarily relieves the physical need to smoke. You take time to learn how to let go of the habit of smoking. It is the same two sides to the coin - the physical dependence and the addiction.

The difference is that opiate drugs affect our brain in ways that do not quickly return to normal. True recovery from opiate drug addiction may take a very long time - as long as it may take your brain to heal from repeated cycles of use, intoxication and withdrawal.

There are other ways to more rapidly withdraw from opiate drugs. You are best to consider all options with a counselor or doctor - before considering the commitment to Methadone Maintenance Treatment.

But while other means may work for some people - the risk of relapsed use of opiate drugs is very high for those not engaged in an ongoing program of treatment.

It is one thing to stop using opiate drugs for a while. It is another to 'not start' to use them again at a later time.

If you have tried to stop using opiate drugs - if you have found that you either cannot stop - or you continue to relapse - Methadone Maintenance Treatment is a safe and reliable way to recover your life from the turmoil of opiate drug addiction.

Getting Started in Treatment
After you register with our program, you will be scheduled for a few blood tests - and for an interview with one of our doctors.

Following your meeting with the doctor, there are only two things that you need to do to start getting well in this treatment program.

First, you will need to attend twice weekly to meet with a doctor and to leave a urine sample for toxicology testing. You must attend to these appointments in order to receive a new methadone prescription.

Regular attendance is required for us to safely monitor your clinical condition. The twice weekly meeting with a doctor is your time to ask any questions that you may have.

Second, you will need to attend to the pharmacy each day of the week. Our program does not demand abstinence from any client. But we encourage your recovery - and Clinic 528 does not otherwise provide for methadone carry dosages.

Methadone is a dangerous drug when used outside of proper medical supervision - or when taken by someone who is not accustomed to it.
You will require three months of consecutive toxicology samples - clear of substances of intoxication - before transfer to one of our private treatment offices and where carry dosages may be provided.

There may be other things that you will need to do over time - to stabilize your health, family and lifestyle. But a common error is to try and fix these things all at once - or to allow the pressures of your current life to distract you from your treatment.

Our experience is clear. Those clients who put their treatment and recovery first in their day - tend to do well. Those who allow other pressures and distractions to interfere with their treatment - do not do as well. Addiction thrives in a pressured and chaotic life.

We don’t ask you to do one hundred things to start getting well in this treatment program. We ask you to do two things at first - as a new and regular routine in your daily life. Attend to clinic twice weekly - and to the pharmacy each day.

Opiate drug addiction may be at the root of more issues in your life than you are aware.

Put your recovery treatment first in your day - and you will be amazed at how many other issues of your life will gradually settle over time.

Making it Work for You
There are several ‘Principles of Recovery’ from addiction - and that will help you to make the most of your treatment at Clinic 528.

Honesty - Progression through our program is determined by toxicology testing. There is no healthy reason to tell us other than the truth about your self.

When you talk to us about what is really going on in your life - we are better able to help you.

Addiction thrives on denial, secrets and shame. Honest talk is the best way to counteract these damaging emotional symptoms.

First Things First and One Step at a Time - Take some time to get familiar with the ways of clinic. Make it a part of your daily routine - or use our schedule to put some routine in your day.

Don't try to fix everything at once - or to race through your treatment. These are common ways that well meaning clients set them selves up for problems to occur.

‘Keep it Simple' is another principle of recovery. We encourage you to apply this to your day today.

Listen and Learn - There is more to learn about addiction and recovery than you may first realize.

Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome - Relapse Prevention - the dangers of Self Treatment and more. Opiate addiction is a deeper and more complicated problem than most seem to understand.

Our wait room is filled with educational literature for you to read. We also offer a twice weekly Recovery Support Group.

New clients are given a copy of ‘Handbook of Recovery’ written directly to those in Methadone Maintenance Treatment.

Our web site at www.SupportNet.ca offers extensive recovery resources including the Recovery Learning Series and Anonymous Recovery Stories - as told by other clients of Clinic 528.

Listen to the experience of others - and to professionals who do this work every day. Learn all that you can about your condition - and about the means to get well. Your health and life may depend on what you learn while you are here.

Boundaries - There are many good people who attend to this program. But that does not mean that clinic is a good place to make new friends.

New friendships tend to go well - until they do not. Issues between your self and another client may come to interfere with your attendance to clinic and with your recovery.

Attendance to clinic is a good opportunity to learn healthy boundaries. Be respectful - but keep your focus to why you are here - your recovery and your health.