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Evidence-based treatment is essential for people seeking a Suboxone clinic in Red Bank, NJ, because over a million people have died as a result of the Opioid Crisis in the United States – including members of the Red Bank community.
What is a Suboxone Clinic?
A suboxone clinic is an addiction treatment facility that offers medication-assisted treatment with Suboxone, which is a combination of two medications: buprenorphine and naltrexone. In the U.S., heroin treatment centers like the suboxone clinic we operate in Red Bank, NJ – Middletown Medical – meet all the requirements established by federal, state, and local regulating agencies to dispense medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).
About the Medications in Suboxone Clinics in Red Bank, NJ
Buprenorphine
Buprenorphine can occupy opioid receptors in the brain, but only partially, which means buprenorphine is considered a partial opioid agonist. When buprenorphine attaches to an opioid receptor, it means other opioids can’t, which helps people seeking opioid or heroin treatment manage symptoms of withdrawal.
Naltrexone
Suboxone clinics administer buprenorphine in combination with naltrexone. Naltrexone is different than buprenorphine. It’s an opioid antagonist. The combination of buprenorphine and naltrexone is called Suboxone, where Suboxone Clinics get their name. In Suboxone, the addition of naltrexone to buprenorphine stops the euphoria associated with opioids, which deters the misuse of Suboxone. In addition, if a person misuses Suboxone, the presence of naltrexone can cause opioid withdrawal, which also deters the misuse of Suboxone.
Harm Reduction in New Jersey
Our Suboxone Clinic in Red Bank, NJ, is one part of a larger approach to the opioid crisis in the U.S. known as harm reduction. This systematic method for heroin treatment and opioid addiction treatment received funding the State of New Jersey when lawmakers passed four new laws to address the opioid overdose crisis.
Here’s how New Jersey Senator Joe Vitale explains the value of harm reduction:
“The principles of harm reduction are simple. We must accept that there is drug use in our communities. Some ways of using drugs are more dangerous than other ways. We need to meet people where they are, rather than forcing on them some preconceived notion of what their life should look like.”
Since Suboxone contains buprenorphine – itself an opioid – many people criticize MAT for substituting one addiction for another. That’s the type of resistance Senato Vitale addresses in the statement above. Because of the wide variety of people who use drugs and the various ways they’ll accept treatment, it’s important to understand that hardcore abstinence – which would exclude MAT – is not the only solution to the opioid crisis.
In fact, evidence shows that treatment for prescription opioid or heroin addiction at a Suboxone helps people by:
- Preventing the ability of opioids to act on the brain
- Resetting brain chemistry back to a typical baseline
- Preventing the pleasure/euphoria associated with opioids
- Reducing the amount and severity of cravings
- Decreasing opioid withdrawal symptoms
Also, evidence shows Suboxone treatment can:
- Improve treatment adherence
- Reduce drug use
- Reduce illegal activity
- Help improve work and academic performance
- Help improve relationships
- Reduce overdose rates
- Save lives
Evidence-based treatment for addiction treatment is available – but what do you look for if you think a friend or loved one is addicted to heroin or opioids?
Warning Signs of Heroin Addiction, Opioid Use Disorder
If you’re concerned that you or a family member needs addiction treatment at a Suboxone clinic in Red Bank, it’s important to understand what to look for. People who need heroin treatment or opioid addiction treatment will show two types of warning signs: physical and behavioral.
Physical Warning Signs Include:
- Nausea
- Tremors in hands or limbs
- Slow breathing
- Constricted pupils
- Incoherent speech
- Uncharacteristic gain or loss of weight
- Bloodshot eyes
- Poor physical coordination
- Evidence of syringe use on body, specifically inner arm or feet
Behavioral Warning Signs Include:
- Spending excess time seeking opioids
- Trying but failing to stop using opioids
- Mood swings
- Withdrawal from friends and family
- Lying to family about money
- Stealing to finance drug use
- Changes in character or personality
- Decline in work performance
- Decline in school performance
- Anger/irritability
- Problems concentrating
- Difficulty meeting responsibilities
When these warning signs are present, the best course of action is to arrange a professional assessment for opioid use disorder administered by qualified treatment provider. Based on the results, a provider can recommend treatment at a suboxone clinic in Red Bank, NJ.
Treatment for Addiction at Pinnacle Treatment Centers
Receiving support at a Pinnacle Suboxone clinic is about more than taking Suboxone. At Middletown Medical, our Suboxone Clinic in Red Bank, NJ, we use an integrated approach to treatment. After a full biopsychosocial evaluation, our clinical team designs an individualized plan, tailored to meet the needs of each individual patient.
Treatment plans at our clinic in Red Bank include:
- Therapy and counseling:
- This may be one-on-one, in groups, or with family members
- Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD):
- Depending on the individual, a plan may include Suboxone, methadone, or naltrexone
- Training to change daily habits from unhealthy to healthy:
- Help with diet, exercise, stress reduction, and sleep hygiene
- Helpful workshops on how to manage the recovery process:
- Relapse prevention, relationship support, conflict resolution, setting boundaries in relationships
- Complementary modalities:
- We help patients with practices like mindfulness, meditation, or yoga
- 12-Step/Peer support:
- During treatment, we connect patients with peer support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), or SMART Recovery
- Case Management:
- Throughout treatment we help patients access various resources, such as social support programs for medical treatment, food instability, housing instability, and vocational/education support
A foundational principle of harm reduction is to meet people where they are and offer treatment in a manner they can accept.
Treatment Locators for Red Bank, NJ
If you or a loved one needs addiction treatment at a Suboxone Clinic in Red Bank, NJ please call us at Middletown Medical. If our clinic in Red Bank is not appropriate, we encourage you to take advantage of the following treatment locators:
- In New Jersey: Addiction Treatment Providers -Treatment Directory Application (rutgers.edu)
- In New Jersy, for uninsured patients: 1-844 ReachNJ.GOV at (844) 732-2465
- IME Addiction Access Center: call (844) 276-2777 for 24/7/365 referral support
- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) online treatment locator
The Opioid Overdose Crisis in Monmouth County, NJ
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that in 2001 in the U.S., close to 20,00 people died of drug overdose – 19,394, to be precise. In 2022, over 100,000 people died of drug overdose – a startling figure of 108,388. That’s an increase of over 450 percent. Data from the New Jersey Opioid Dashboard and the NJ Cares Opioid-Related Data resource page show that the opioid crisis reached Monmouth County, too.
Overdose Fatalities, Opioids, Monmouth County 2018-2023
- 2018: 215
- 2019: 187
- 2020: 186
- 2021: 174
- 2022: 151
- 2023: 135
When we see those numbers, we have two reactions. The first is that even one overdose fatality is one too many. The second is that those numbers are falling, year-over-year. That means our harm reduction efforts are improving the lives of people in New Jersey – one day, one month, and one year at a time.