Pacific
Addiction
Center
Medically Assisted Treatment
Addiction can be scary. It can make you feel out of control. It can threaten your relationships and interfere with your work and every aspect of your life. When it does, you can become anxious, ashamed, angry and guilt-ridden. Feeling this way can make addictive behaviors even more likely - creating an endless cycle of pain and even death.
Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) is the use of medications in combination with counseling. MAT is an effective medical treatment option that can help you break this cycle. In addition, our goal is to provide you with tools you can use on your own to cope with intense emotional experiences, stressful situations, and tough interpersonal problems in the future. We move beyond symptom relief and often target productivity, life satisfaction, goal achievement, and improved relationships.
At Pacific Addiction Center, our services allow you the freedom to begin rebuilding your life within your recovery while remaining under the care of Dr. Larry Snyder, MD and Addiction Medical Specialist. Your first visit will consist of a comprehensive exam and consultation along with a thorough medical and addiction history assessment. Once completed, Dr. Snyder will customize your treatment plan and prescribe what best suits your need and lifestyle.
About
Larry Snyder, MD
Twenty one million Americans suffer from addiction. Yet, only 3000 physicians are specially trained to treat them. Larry Snyder, MD is a family physician and an addiction medical specialist in Dana Point, California.
He is one of the 3000.
Dr. Snyder is also a lifelong practitioner of mindfulness meditation. He brings the practice of meditation to the forefront of health and wellness as a balance to the stress of modern life, and he has introduced this to his patients over his 40-plus years of medical practice. As an addiction medicine specialist, he teaches mindfulness meditation as the foundation for recovery.
01.
Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin and prescription painkillers, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine. These drugs are typically used to treat pain, but they can also produce feelings of euphoria and relaxation.
Opioids work by binding to receptors in the brain that are responsible for controlling pain and emotions. When used correctly, opioids can be an effective way to manage pain. However, they also come with a risk of addiction and overdose.
Opioid has a destructive effect on the brain and body, and withdrawal can be excruciating. But even though it's difficult, quitting opioids is possible with the help of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT). In addition, medications can be an incredibly effective part of a MAT treatment program and can help people find healing from addiction.
There are three drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of opioid dependence: buprenorphine (suboxone), methadone, and naltrexone. All three of these treatments have been demonstrated to be safe and effective in combination with counseling and psychosocial support.
Buprenorphine is an opioid. First approved for clinical use to treat acute and post-operative pain, buprenorphine was approved for use in the United States in 1985. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an office-based outpatient treatment for opioid use disorder in 2002. Buprenorphine contains neurophysiological properties that make it a good treatment for long-term maintenance of opioid addiction.
During detox, buprenorphine can be used to reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms when a patient suffering from an opioid use disorder stops using opioids. Buprenorphine can also be prescribed as part of a comprehensive opioid addiction treatment plan. Medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, includes opioid replacement therapy. These plans typically include counseling and other behavioral therapies.
Patients commonly take buprenorphine as a dissolving film. The film is placed underneath the tongue. This method of administering the drug is referred to as sublingual. It’s available as plain buprenorphine (Subutex) or mixed with naloxone (Suboxone).
02.
Many people are unable to cut down or stop drinking on their own. There is no shame in that. The chemical reactions that occur in the brain after extended alcohol use can cause alcohol cravings and make it hard to cut back. Fighting cravings all day takes up a lot of energy and headspace. You deserve better resources for how to stop alcohol cravings. Additionally, many people use alcohol as a coping mechanism for depression, anxiety, isolation, trauma, or boredom. These underlying issues are challenging to address when you’re fighting against cravings all day.
That’s where medication can play a powerful role. By reducing cravings with medications, you can focus on addressing the underlying issues that influence your alcohol consumption, and work on creating healthier habits. It’s also possible that you don’t experience alcohol cravings, but do find it especially difficult to stop after your first alcoholic beverage. There are medications that make alcohol less pleasurable, which can be especially helpful for those who identify with that drinking pattern.
There are two primary medication types approved by the FDA used in the treatment of alcohol use disorder; naltrexone and vivitrol.
Naltrexone blocks opioid receptors in the brain, which in turn decrease the pleasure you feel when drinking alcohol, and ultimately helps reduce alcohol cravings. Because naltrexone is an opioid antagonist, it’s also commonly used as part of an opioid treatment program. Naltrexone’s chemical properties can help curb alcohol cravings and opioid cravings.
Vivitrol is a monthly injectable form of naltrexone. This method of taking naltrexone benefits people who have difficulty with having a daily medication.
03.
Nicotine is a highly addictive chemical found in the tobacco plant. The addiction is physical, meaning habitual users come to crave the chemical, and also mental, meaning users consciously desire nicotine’s effects. Nicotine addiction is also behavioral. People become dependent on actions involved with using tobacco. They also become accustomed to using tobacco in certain situations, such as after meals or when under stress.
Nicotine creates pleasant feelings in the body and mind. When you use tobacco, your brain releases neurotransmitters such dopamine, the feel-good chemical. This creates a brief feeling of contentment and pleasure. But besides nicotine, tobacco cigarettes and smokeless tobacco contain many cancer-causing agents and other harmful chemicals. The nearly 4,000 chemicals found in tobacco have physical, mental, and psychological effects. Using tobacco can lead to grave health complications.
FDA-approved medications for tobacco cessation are intended to help individuals quit smoking by either:
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Making the effects of nicotine less pleasurable
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Reducing the negative side-effects of nicotine withdrawal, which may include depression, insomnia, irritability, anxiety, or weight gain.
Currently, there are two FDA approved smoking cessation medications; bupropion and varenicline.
Bupropion (also known as zyban) is an antidepressant drug that can be used to help some people stop smoking. It is taken as a pill and requires a doctor's prescription. Although it does not contain nicotine, it can help people resist the urge to smoke.
Varenicline (also known as Chantix) acts at sites in the brain affected by nicotine by reducing the rewarding effects of nicotine, essentially making cigarettes less enjoyable.
The addictive mind is present in all humans. It manifests in any number of ways. Simply put, addiction is life out of balance. We find balance when we let go of our psychic need for control. This fine balancing is not learned, it is experienced as awakening. "Conscious Breathing" is a series of essays written by Dr. Larry Snyder, MD about mindfulness, meditation, addiction, anxiety and "the deep blue see."
Conscious Breathing is available on Kindle and Paperback.