Having an opiate addiction is awful. It’s expensive, secretive and vicious. It takes over your life. Countless hours are spent looking for pills, trying to find new sources to get pills from, figuring out ways to pay for the pills and coming up with lies to cover your addiction. There sometimes seems to be no hope. Let me assure you that there is hope. One relatively inexpensive option is Methadone.
In this article you will find ordered steps to get to a Methadone clinic and what you can expect when you get there. All clinics differ somewhat but they all run on the same premise with set guidelines. The following is a very general outline of what you might expect, to take some of the anxiety out of a new and drastic experience.
First be discreet. This is territory that scares many people. Most people are scared of the unknown. You came to this decision after much thought and many sleepless, hopeless hours of feeling there is no hope. You owe it to yourself to find out first hand if this is a form of treatment that can help you. Without hearing a hundred second hand horror stories and the prejudices of the uninformed.
The phone book is a good start in your search to find a reputable clinic. You can look under addiction, methadone or mental health services. Ask questions! If you don’t find what you’re looking for right away ask whoever you get on the phone if they know of a resource to aid in your search.
Call! When you find a clinic pick up the phone and call. The person on the other end is trained to talk to you. You may want to start your conversation very directly, something like I’m trying to deal with an opiate problem and am interested in some information about your clinic and treatment. They can’t help until you get up the nerve to call!
If you decide this is the treatment for you they will set up an intake appointment. From the research I have done so far it seems there are two modes of operation for intake.
1) In this first example you will be told to come to the clinic very early in the morning. They will tell you not to use the night before, thus the need for an early morning appointment. These are people that know you will be in great discomfort in a very short time. At this type of clinic you will get your first dose of methadone that very same day. If however you do use any drugs the night before, within 12 hours, they will tell you you must leave, and be assured, THEY WILL KNOW. You will not be able to dose. Not to be mean or make you suffer but the treatment center must take your safety into account. They have no way of knowing what you have taken or how much. The clinic can’t risk overdosing you by adding a very strong medication, Methadone, on top of what you’ve already taken.
You will go thru paperwork, probably with a group, intake is not usually a one on one experience at this type of clinic. You will be directed to go to a lab to have blood work drawn, some clinics send you that same day before you can dose, some give you until the following day, before you can dose again. You will see the doctor that works on site with the clinic. You will be assigned and meet your counselor, whom you will most likely see once a week for several months. You will also pay your fees on this day. Dosing is paid for daily, you can put more than the daily fee into your account but you have to pay for at least the days dose before you get it. The lab fee will be included in the charge you were told on the phone during your first call with the clinic, so no surprises. The fee is nominal compared to what most opiate addicts are used to spending. For instance the daily dose fee is usually between $11 and $13, for my part of the country. Lab fees are only charged on the initial visit and can run anywhere from $25 to $50. Also keep in mind that for the daily fee you not only get the medication but access to a trained addiction counselor. At some point during this process, after you see the clinic doctor you will be taken to get your first dose. The clinic staff knows you are uncomfortable, they will move along as fast as they can to get you your dose. Afterward you will be monitored for up to an hour to make sure your dose stays down and you have no unusual side effects and out the door you go!
2) This second clinic example doesn’t move as quickly. During your initial phone call you will be directed to an intake appointment but not told to refrain from use. When you arrive at your appointment you will do your paperwork, be directed to a lab for blood work and set a time and date to see their doctor, finally being assigned a time and place to go for dosing after your appointment with the doctor. This process is much like the first example except for the time involved. This whole process after the initial intake appointment may take up to 5 days. Obviously if you live in or near a large city you have a better chance of having both clinic options. Ask when you call the first time if the clinic does same day as intake dosing.
You will go to the clinic every day for dosing in the beginning. You stand in line just like a check out counter, and just like any other business there are peek hours of business. You can use this time to find the best hours to come for the least wait time. In this beginning phase you will adjust your dose to become comfortable, asked questions about how you are feeling daily and be paid close attention to at the dosing window. You will be drug tested once a month. You can earn “take home” privileges with clean drug tests. For example after the first month you may receive a take home privilege of one per week with your clean drug test. Depending on your clinics take home policy you may have several take homes in your first year. From what I’ve been told and read about other clinics it seems that 1 in your first month, 1 in the second month, 1 in the 5 month and another at the year mark seems to be about average. All depending on testing clean thru this period of course so that at your year mark you’ll only be going to the clinic to dose three times a week and probably seeing your counselor once a month.
All in all the time and monetary investment is well worth it. This form of treatment is incredibly effective for those really ready to quit and absolutely useless for those just looking for another way to get high. It just doesn’t work like that. After you are stable and ready to go to the next phase of treatment you will be guided thru Medically Supervised Withdrawal. This however may take a while to get to, after all you didn’t get to this state overnight, the treatment for it isn’t overnight either.
