Opioids are classified as powerful drugs derived from poppy plants that block the pain signals between the brain and the body. Opiates release the neurochemicals primarily responsible for feelings of euphoria, happiness, and block pain signals throughout the body.
Opioids have a half life, meaning that they remain in the system for longer periods of time than other medications, with opioid half life being the longest of these. The dangers of these medications remaining in the body for extended days is that they can create dangerous and even deadly interactions with other medications without the user knowing. As such, opiates can become highly addictive and are extremely difficult to recover from on their own, in which clinically supervised Medication-Assisted Treatment becomes the option for recovery. For an addict, getting help and finding the right medication-assisted treatment in Los Angeles may be needed for recovery and a healthy life.
What is Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)?
Medication-Assisted Treatment, or MAT, is a form of recovery for addiction that utilizes medications to relieve withdrawal symptoms and psychological cravings caused by addictions to opiates. Medications that are used in MAT treatments are researched and evidence-based treatment options. At Spark to Recovery, our Los Angeles medication assisted treatment center will customize a recovery and treatment option designed for your specific needs.
How Medication-Assisted Treatment Works
MATs is a form of treatment that utilizes FDA approved medications that help alleviate painful withdrawal symptoms for severe alcohol-use disorder, opioid dependency, and opioid overdose medications.
Who is a Candidate for MAT?
MATs are not for everyone. They are a type of treatment designed for people that have tried and failed with abstinence-based therapies and relapsed multiple times with severe addictions.
Addiction Medications Used at Our MAT Program
At our medication-assisted treatment in Los Angeles, we utilize multiple levels of therapy in our recovery program that includes cognitive-behavioral, holistic healing, life skills, relapse prevention, as well as MATs in our addiction therapies.
For alcohol-use disorders, the most common medications include;
- Acamprosate
- Disulfiram
- Naltrexone
Opioid-use disorder will utilize MATs for short-acting opioids such as heroin, morphine, and codeine as well as for synthetic opioids such as hydrocodone and oxycodone. Common MATs for these types of opioid-use disorders include;
- Methadone
- Buprenorphine
- Naltrexone
In cases of opioid overdose, Naloxone is used to prevent overdose that acts by reversing the toxic effects of the opioid overdose.
The Benefits of Medication-Assisted Treatment
Severe addiction can lead to numerous health issues and may have the potential of early death in the addict. Recovery and therapy are necessary to provide a healthy life and to provide a foundation for recovery to prevent relapse.
For severe addiction, MATs may be the only way to aid in recovery and prevent relapse. MAT effectiveness and the benefits behind the usage of MATs in recovery include:
- Increase patient’s ability to live a healthy life
- Gain and maintain employment and other functions of a normal life
- Decrease opiate use
- Lower criminal activity, typical of people with severe substance abuse disorders
- Improve birth rates and outcomes for women with substance abuse disorders that become pregnant
- Improve patient’s survival
The primary benefit of MATs is that it helps relieve the pain of withdrawal, improves patient survival rates, lowers the rate of relapse, and gives the patient the best opportunity at a normal functioning life.
Success Rate of MAT
MATs have been shown to give severe addiction disorders the best rate of recovery but are used as an option when other treatments have failed. In general, patients that have gone on MATs have shown a 90% success rate of sobriety after 2-years. Getting the help you need at our MAT rehab in Los Angeles will set you on the road to recovery sooner than other forms of treatment.
Medication-Assisted Treatment at Spark To Recovery
Our medication-assisted treatment in Los Angeles will provide all the tools to help in recovery from cognitive-behavioral, group, family, and individual therapy, as well as utilizing MATs to alleviate the pain of withdrawal.
Get Medication-Assisted Treatment in Los Angeles
Spark provides treatment therapies for addiction related disorders. If you’re based in the area, getting to a local, Los Angeles medication assisted treatment center is crucial for the recovery of the patient. We make it simple to connect with our treatment and addiction counselors so that you can begin recovery quickly.
Medication-Assisted Treatment FAQs
When Did Medication-Assisted Treatment Begin?
Medication-Assisted Treatment, or MATs, began with the approval of methadone in 1974. Since 2020, Spark to Recovery has provided a medication-assisted treatment program in Los Angeles to aid in recovery and to alleviate the potential for relapse.
How Long Should You Be on MAT?
MATs are used as long as there are cravings and desires for opioids and alcohol, or until opioid use has not occurred for an extended period of time. Typically, in the case of methadone treatment, usage may last for at least 12-months or longer.
Is MAT Evidence-Based?
The FDA has researched and approved a class of medications to aid in treatment and recovery for severe addiction disorders related to opioids. These therapeutics, known as Medication-Assisted Treatments, alleviate the symptoms of withdrawal and the psychological cravings opioids create in the body and are evidence-based to provide treatment.
Why is MAT Important?
Medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, as a form of recovery therapy options are important because research strongly suggests that a combination of mediation and therapy can aid and enhance recovery efforts. Sustained recovery and preventing relapse is a primary benefit associated with MAT.
