How to Get Addiction Treatment If You Have a Prescription Drug Addiction

These days more and more people are developing a prescription drug addiction from being on Pain Killers. Sometimes people are put on these pain killers for an injury, but accidentally become addicted after taking them for extended periods of time. Here are some steps to help you recover from a prescription drug addiction.

Things You'll Need

• Addiction Specialist or Doctor
• A Psycho-pharmacologist

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Instructions

• 1

  Prescription drug addiction is rampant in the United States and is a huge problem when someone finds themselves addicted. I know, I've been there, I had a Prescription Drug Addiction that almost ruined my marriage, my job and my life. This was an accidental addiction to prescribed medication, I was using the drugs for a back injury. After being on the medication for almost a year I found myself with an addiction to Painkillers. I researched the internet for ways to get off quickly and easily, without the painful opiate withdrawal. I found a new outpatient drug treatment program that used a drug called buprenorphine to help people addicted to pain killers to get off of them.

• 2

  You need to find a doctor who is certified to treat opiate addiction with buprenorphine. These doctors who can prescribe this drug have to be certified by the DEA. Once you have found one, you will start with an "induction" program. This is where you start to take the medication, after going into a mild opiate withdrawal. This is the new way of treating prescription drug addiction, with an in-office, outpatient drug treatment program.

• 3

  Once you have started your withdrawal from the pain killers, you will start to take the buprenorphine to counteract the withdrawal symptoms of the pain killers. This is, again, called induction. Once this is started you will be monitored for a few hours to get the medication dosage correct.

• 4

  Once the medication dosage is determined you are allowed to leave the doctors office to go get your new prescription filled and then go home. After your prescription is filled, you will be taking the buprenorphine for a period of time to counteract your prescription drug addiction, and to detox from the drug you were taking. The buprenorphine is a "partial opiate" and is not as hard to get off of as a "full opiate" is. From my experience, this is so much easier to do than straight withdrawal.

• 5

  During this time of stabilization, it is recommended and sometimes mandatory for the person with the prescription drug addiction to attend some form of counseling or 12 step program. A 12 step program is free and is thereby more affordable to attend than counseling. Ask your doctor if you can attend a 12 step program instead if you are mandated to counseling. During this part of the program the person with the addiction to prescription drugs learns about addiction, post acute withdrawal syndrome, and what keeps people going back to the drugs after they have gotten clean. This step is usually very helpful for long term recovery after being addicted to pain killers.

• 6

  After the person with the addiction to painkillers has been clean for a while, stabilized on buprenorphine and completed some form of counseling, they usually begin the process of weaning off of the medication. This is done slowly over a period of time so the person doesn't go into withdrawal and cause them to relapse. During this process of weaning off the medication used to treat the opiate addiction, the person is encouraged to continue counseling or the 12 step program so they have the help and support of others. The support of others who have been through this is highly encouraged, because one addict can best understand and help another addict.

• 7

  The last part of this process is to completely stop taking the buprenorphine. This is the end stage for the person with the prescription drug addiction. Once this is completed the person who was addicted to painkillers should continue to go to counseling or the 12 step program for support. There are certain triggers the person might experience that could send them back to being addicted to painkillers. This is a good time to have that support, so they don't return to being addiction to prescription drugs.

• 8

  If you wish to seek this type of outpatient drug treatment, there are some things you should ask the doctor before signing any paperwork so as not to incur additional costs or fee's. I will include some of these in the tips at the end. I have also included links to several resources that I highly recommend for finding the help needed to do this type of outpatient drug treatment.