Methadone maintenance is a type of treatment for individuals in Odem who are dependent and addicted to heroin or prescription opioid medications. This form of treatment has been in existence for a very long time, and the general concept is that clients are no longer engaged in the drug using behavior that was caused by their addiction because the methadone they are taking satiates cravings and prevents withdrawal. Like heroin, methadone is a full opioid agonist and stimulates the same receptors in the brain as heroin. This is what makes methadone so powerful as a replacement for heroin and prescription pain killers.
Patients involved in methadone maintenance therapy must take it every day to avoid withdrawal from the methadone itself. This may be logistically and financially difficult, but some find it a better alternative to a heroin addiction. Nevertheless, someone beginning methadone maintenance therapy need to realize that methadone detox is known to be far more challenging than even heroin detoxification and withdrawal. Once taking a high dosage of methadone, there are many detoxification facilities that won't even accept methadone maintenance clients seeing that detox can be so difficult and rates of relapse are considerably high.