Methadone maintenance is a type of treatment for clients in Ryan who are dependent and addicted to heroin or prescription pain killers. This method of treatment has been in existence for a very long time, and the overall idea is that clients are no longer involved in the drug abusing activities that was driven by their addiction since the methadone they are taking satiates cravings and prevents withdrawal. Like heroin, methadone is a full opioid agonist which stimulates the same neurons in the brain as heroin. This is what makes methadone so powerful as a replacement for heroin and other prescription opioids.
Clients enrolled in methadone maintenance therapy have to take it daily to avoid withdrawal symptoms from the methadone itself. This may be financially and logistically challenging, but some people find it a better alternative to a heroin addiction. Nevertheless, people beginning methadone maintenance ought to know that methadone detoxification is known to be far more challenging than even heroin detox and withdrawal. Once on a certain dosage of methadone, there are some detoxification programs that will not accept methadone maintenance clients seeing that detoxification can be very difficult and relapse rates are considerably high.