Can Your Doctor Lead You To Recovery From Opiate Addiction?

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Medically assisted therapy for opiate addiction
has many critics. Some value only specific
counseling treatment programs for opiate
addiction. Many will criticize medically assisted
therapy as simply substituting one drug for
another. The fact of the matter is, there is no
one therapy that works for every patient. One
must understand that the term medically
assisted implies there is more than just the
medication being used to help the patient in
recovery. On the medical side, some facilities
will not differentiate between one opiate
treatment modality and offer a number of
different medications for the treatment of
addiction. Unfortunately, the modality chosen is
often done for monetary reasons and not the
benefit of the patient. As one patient recently
lamented When I started at the Methadone
clinic, another patient told me say goodbye to
the next five years of your life. That was 5
years ago. The statement depicts the actions of
some Opioid Treatment Centers keeping patients on
medication for the sake of repeat visits and
monetary gain without consideration for weaning
the patient off or down from medication. This IS
NOT the way we treat patients at our Opioid
Treatment Center.
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We have discussed the use of Suboxone
(Buprenorphine) as a Methadone alternative in a
previous blog. Methadone has a higher risk
profile and usually requires more frequent
visits. Many patients are prescribed Methadone
and kept on it for long periods of time. This is
done despite the alternative of Suboxone
treatment being available. A Suboxone Treatment
Center like our office can provide Suboxone
treatment and appropriate referrals to counselors
as part of a treatment plan to eventually have
the patient completely opiate free. As
a Subxone treatment doctor, I often tell my
patients that 80 of treating addiction is
counseling the other 20 is monitoring and
adjusting the medication dosage. What often
isnt discussed is How do patients get into
treatment? I have described elsewhere how so few
primary care doctors screen for or make referrals
for opiate addiction. The more complex part of
the problem is how quickly some doctors will
prescribe opiates. For example I once had a
patient referred for pain management stating she
had Rheumatoid arthritis in her hands. She stated
that her primary care doctor told her he could no
longer treat her pain and that she had to go
to pain management. Strangely, she had no
laboratory or X-ray studies done to confirm the
Rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis. When X ray
studies were performed they only revealed mild
osteoarthritis. Lab studies were also negative
for Rheumatoid arthritis but the patient had
already developed addictive behavior! When
doctors are cavalier with the prescribing of
opiates and neglect to screen for opiate or other
addiction, the results are not in the patients
best interest.
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• So the question remains Can your doctor lead
  you to recovery from opiate addiction? That
  question should not be confused with Can a
  doctor lead you to recovery? The difference of
  course is how YOUR doctor handles opiates and
  addiction. You can simply ask your doctor if they
  regularly refer patients for addiction treatment.
  If so, where to? Keep in mind that about one in
  ten patients in a given primary care waiting room
  uses opiates. Is YOUR doctor quick to prescribe
  opiates? Does YOUR doctor routinely refer
  patients for non opiate-based pain treatment
  like acupuncture, physical therapy or
  chiropractic? If not your doctor maybe leading
  patients toward addiction which is opposite to
  the road to recovery! In addition, does YOUR
  doctor advocate for insurance companies providing
  non opiate based coverage for pain management
  when its denied?
• You can learn about your doctors referral habits
  by asking a few simple questions
• Where does he/she refer patient for Addiction
  Treatment in Georgia?
• What methadone alternatives does your doctor
  recommend? Does he/she have a referral
  relationship with a local Suboxone Treatment
  Doctor?
• Knowing your doctors referral habits can give you
  insight as to whether or not they can lead you or
  a loved one to recovery from opiate addiction.

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