Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), like all addictions, is a chronic disease.
Just like other chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, there are genetic, social, and personal components of OUD. Some people will watch their diet and exercise their whole lives and develop diabetes because of factors outside their control. The same can happen with addiction. Someone may be prescribed an opiate after being in an accident. Due to their genetic makeup, they may become hooked after one dose, while others may never want to try it again. It is important to recognize this so we can perform early interventions.
Opiate/Opioid Addiction Treatment Services
At Glencoe Regional Health (GRH), we’re here to help patients receive care for their opiate/opioid addictions in an understanding, shame-free environment. For patients who are dependent on opiates/opioids, such as codeine, heroin, oxycodone, and fentanyl, withdrawal can be very painful and uncomfortable.
GRH has providers who are trained in Medication Assisted Therapy (MAT) for gentle and gradual withdrawal from opiates/opioids. Most commonly, patients are started on buprenorphine, a medication that helps prevent withdrawal without causing the euphoria associated with other opioids. This alleviates withdrawal symptoms and helps prevent relapse. In this way, it allows patients to go back to living their everyday lives without concern for withdrawal. This can be used for people who are using substances from the street, like heroin and fentanyl, but can also help improve the lives of those who feel these withdrawal symptoms from commonly-prescribed medications like oxycodone, dilaudid, and hydrocodone.
It is important to note that there is oftentimes a great deal of overlap between OUD and chronic pain. GRH has services to help wean people off opiates/opioids. Please note: GRH is unable to order refills for chronic pain medicines that have been prescribed by other providers.
Our Treating Physicians
While GRH has multiple providers who are skilled in the use of MAT, there are two physicians, Jake Traxler, MD, and Cody W. Wendlandt, MD, FAAFP, who have spearheaded our opiate/opioid treatment programs in the clinic and hospital.
How do I get started?
If you are interested in discontinuing use of opiates/opioids, the best way to get started is to call us at 320-864-7816 and schedule an appointment in the clinic to see Dr. Traxler for MAT services. Hear from one of our patients who successfully completed MAT.
If you are in active, severe withdrawal and are interested in discontinuing use of opiates/opioids, you may visit the Emergency Department, which is open 24/7, to see Dr. Wendlandt or one of his partners. Following your Emergency Department visit, you will be scheduled for a follow-up appointment in the clinic.
When thinking about this disease, it’s important to distinguish the difference between dependence and addiction.
Someone may have a dependence on a substance without an addiction. While many feel like they need caffeine to get through the day, and may have headaches if they don’t have it, they would be considered to have a dependence on it, not an addiction. Because the absence of the substance does not put themselves or their health at risk or prohibit them from performing their daily obligations, it’s not seen as an addiction.
Dependence on a substance is defined as a chronic disease of the brain which causes reward, motivation, and memory dysfunction that leads to biological, psychological, social, and spiritual manifestations. Basically, you need a substance in order to feel normal and without it you may go through symptoms of withdrawal.
Addiction is a dependence on a substance, but it also involves pathologically pursuing rewards or relief by substance-use and other behaviors. This includes loss of control in using the object (taking larger amounts, trying to quit and not being able to), not being able to fulfill daily activities (using despite it causing trouble at work, school, or at home) or putting yourself in risky situations to use such substances or engage in such behaviors.
