CATAR
Clinic

    MMT helps normalize your body’s neurological and hormonal functions that have been impaired by the use of heroin or misuse of other short-acting opioids. Opioids are a group of drugs that act on the central nervous system. They include opiates such as codeine, morphine, and heroin as well as synthetic drugs such as oxycodone, oxycontin, hydrocodone, and methadone. Appropriate MMT provides several benefits:  

• Reduces or eliminates craving for opioid drugs
• Prevents the onset of withdrawal for 24 hours or more
• Blocks the effects of other opioids
• Promotes increased physical and emotional health
• Raises the overall quality of life of the patient.

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    Have you been through detoxification and found you couldn’t feel normal? MMT can allow you to regain a sense of normalcy.   Have you been using opioids such as heroin, codeine, or oxycodone but can’t seem to stop? MMT can help you quit using those drugs and focus your life.

Are you pregnant and using heroin? Seek MMT right away to prevent miscarriage and protect your baby from life-threatening withdrawal.

Have you tested positive for HIV or Hepatitis C? If you have tested positive, MMT can allow you to regain your quality of life and begin essential treatment of your viral infection. If you have not tested positive, MMT can help you stop using needles, which is the primary route of infection for drug users.

Beginning MMT can help stabilize and improve your health and can move you toward getting the care you need. Read More ...

    Depending on where you live, you may have a choice of methadone providers, or you may live in an area where methadone treatment is not available. If you have not already made contact with a doctor or clinic that treats opioid addiction, find out whether treatment is available nearby.  

• Talk with your family doctor. Generally, your doctor is not authorized to prescribe methadone for addiction treatment or withdrawal management purposes. Ask to be referred to an authorized doctor or a methadone clinic, or ask whether other treatment options such as buprenorphine are available.
• Contact a referral service. To find the treatment provider closest to you, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP at any time of the day or night, or search online for a treatment facility at www.findtreatment.samhsa.gov.

Assessment Assessment includes determining your history with drug use as well as a physical examination by a doctor. You should be asked about medical problems that are commonly associated with opioid addictions, and you may be asked to consent to a blood test to check for HIV, Hepatitis, and other infectious or sexually transmitted diseases.   Expect questions. You may be asked about your drug use, your physical and mental health, your home and family, and your employment.   Ask questions. What are you being tested for? What other services are available? Remember, knowledge is power.   You may be assessed again during treatment to review your progress.
Dosing For safety, your first dose of methadone will be low or moderate. New patients usually start at a dose not to exceed 30 to 40 mgs. A larger dose of 60 to 120 mgs a day may be required for long-term maintenance. You and your physician should determine what dose works best for you.   Your dose is right when withdrawal symptoms, drug cravings, drowsiness, and side effects fade. With a correct dose, you should feel more energetic, clearheaded, and able to do the things that matter in your life. Until you have adjusted, make sure not to drive a car or operate heavy machinery.   You should discuss a dose adjustment with your doctor if you still are experiencing drug cravings. The majority of properly dosed patients have no physical desire to use other drugs.
Drug Testing Routine tests of urine or oral fluids will show whether you have been using other illicit or inappropriate drugs and whether you have been taking your methadone. You may have to give supervised samples to ensure they are yours. With continual negative results, you’ll be asked to take drug tests less often.   If you test positive for other drugs, it may hold up your schedule for taking home doses, and your provider may ask that you take drug tests more often.   Some providers expect zero drug use while others are more tolerant.* If you test positive for a drug when you know you haven’t used, you can request to be retested.
Confidentiality Drug treatment patients are protected by special Federal confidentiality regulations. No one will be told you are in treatment or what you talk about in treatment, except for certain situations:  

• Information about a client often is shared within a treatment team in the clinic.
• You may consent in writing that your information be shared under certain specified conditions—for example, to forward your records to another doctor or clinic.
• If your doctor or counselor has reason to think you might hurt yourself or others, he or she must inform others.
• If you are facing trial, the court may subpoena your treatment records.
• If you test positive for HIV and other communicable diseases, these facts will be shared with public health officials. In certain States, your intimate partners at risk for these diseases may be told that they have been exposed.

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  Take Home Doses At the start of treatment, you will have to go to the clinic daily to take your dose under observation. This daily contact confirms to the staff that you are taking the dose ordered by the physician. It also helps the staff to see if your dose is enough or too much and whether you are experiencing side effects, in which case an adjustment may be necessary. After a few months, your provider may let you take home or “carry” doses for unsupervised use. Ask to find out when and under what conditions you will be given carry doses.   It is likely that you will be asked to sign an agreement claiming responsibility for using and storing the doses safely. Your provider may take away your take-home privileges if you do not comply with the agreement or if your drug tests are positive for drug use.
Safety and Storage Your maintenance dose of methadone could seriously harm or kill someone who has no tolerance for the drug. Take precautions:  

• Never transfer your medication to a container that might make it easier to mistake what’s inside.
• Keep your doses in a locked box, such as one sold for fishing tackle or cash.

Hospital Stays If you are admitted to the hospital, let the staff there know that you are a methadone patient. This is vital so that you can receive your dose and because other drugs can be dangerous if combined with methadone. Urge the hospital staff to talk with your MMT doctor about your medication and care.
Dealing With Side Effects Methadone maintenance carries some side effects:  

• Constipation. Eat foods that are high in fiber and drink plenty of water. You also should avoid foods that are high in fat; they are harder to digest and tend to make your system sluggish.
• Excessive sweating. Adjusting the dose may stop the sweating, and there are other medications available to help control this.
• Changes in sex drive. Some people on methadone have little sex drive and are unable to have an orgasm. You may be taking a medication that affects your sex drive. Talk with your doctor about possible treatments that will improve this side effect.

Methadone and Employment Once you’re on a stable dose of methadone, it shouldn’t affect the work you do or how well you do your job. For most jobs, there’s no need to mention that you take methadone. Your employer has no right to know.
HIV, Hepatitis, and Methadone Methadone can be a great benefit if you are HIV/ AIDS or Hepatitis B (HBV) or C (HCV) positive. Methadone allows you to lead a “normal” life so it’s easier to take care of yourself, to eat better, and to take your medication at the right times. However, prescription drugs for your HIV/ AIDS or HBV/HCV may interfere with methadone, and your dose may need to be changed. Talk with the program doctor about other drugs you have been prescribed.
Patient Rights and Responsibilities If you are unhappy with your treatment— for example, you feel your dose has not been adjusted correctly— talk it over with your doctor or counselor. If a treatment problem hasn’t been fixed to your satisfaction by talking with your doctor or counselor, you may consider changing your provider.   You also can anonymously report problems with your treatment provider to his/her accrediting agency. To learn more about grievance procedures, you can visit the Patient Support and Community Education Project online at www.dpt.samhsa.gov/patient/index.htm.   As a patient in treatment, you are protected by a set of Medication-Assisted Treatment Patient Rights and Responsibilities. You can see the SAMHSA Guidelines for the Accreditation of Opioid Treatment Programs online at www.dpt.samhsa.gov/guidelines.pdf.
Methadone and Pain Relief Methadone can provide effective pain relief. Yet, once you are on a stable dose of methadone, you may be tolerant to its pain-relieving effects and may require additional pain medication. Some MMT patients need more pain medication than patients who are not a part of MMT.
Mixing Methadone With Other Drugs Can Be Dangerous Methadone interacts with many medications. This can change the safety of the methadone you are taking and potentially can cause withdrawal. It is important to tell your doctor about all of the drugs you take.
Combinations With Methadone That Can Result in Withdrawal Syndrome

• Opiate analogs such as:
  • Nubain
  • Talwin
  • Stadol
• Opiate antagonists such as:
  • Naloxone
  • Naltrexone
• Partial agonists such as:
  • Buprenorphine
  • Alcohol

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    The longer you’ve been dependent on opioids, the more likely it is that you would benefit from being on methadone. Those who withdraw from methadone after short-term treatment are more likely to return to drug use than those who stay in treatment until they have obtained the optimal benefits.   Remember the risks that come with drug use: high rates of HIV and Hepatitis C infection among people who inject drugs, greater odds of committing crimes and going to prison, and possible death from overdose.   Recovery to a normal life is possible. You should stay in treatment as long as you are benefiting from it. The length of time you stay in MMT is an issue that should be decided solely by you and your physician. Some people are in MMT only for a few weeks, while others choose to stay in MMT indefinitely.   Read More ...

Our Guest Medication fee is $20 per day, no teblets - liquid dosing only. There is also a $20 setup fee if we do not recieve your paperwork at least one-day in advance or if you have never been entered into our system.
Note on Take-Homes or Carry-Outs:

Arkansas is what is known as a "pre-pour" state and has additional take-home regulations in addition to the federal requirements .  This means a pharmacist must make up any requested carry-outs.  Our pharmacist is scheduled to make up the take home medication for the following week each Monday.

If you are coming into town and would like to guest dose and receive carry-outs or take-homes you will need to ensure your paperwork has been processed before 11:00am on the Monday the week before you schedule transient dosing.  If you are in the area we can arrange daily medication, but would be unable to make any carry-out arrangements for Sunday when we are closed or other allowed days from your home clinic.   Read More ...

There is an admit charge and a weekly fee.

Exact charges and any additional fees are available at the clinic.

Payment is expected prior to service.  Cash only.  We do not take any form of insurance or accept checks or credit cards. Read More ...

One year of continuous or episodic addiction to opiate/opioid substances immediately prior to application for treatment by the Clinic treatment program for maintenance.

Doc umentation will consist of the applicant’s past abuse history, past treatment history, the presence of physical signs and symptoms of withdrawal, as well as scarring from old I.V. use, and/or recent or fresh needle marks, and vital signs indicative of opiate/opioid withdrawal.
A urine opiate/opioid screen test will be performed. Opiates can be detected in urine for several days after opiate ingestion.

In the event that the client has been using opiates primarily by the oral route, the withdrawal symptoms are weak and the urine opiate screen is negative; a third party verification will be required. The person signing the opiate/opiate abuse and dependence attestation form will be a responsible adult with proper identification.

Pregnant women will be given priority for admission. Women of childbearing age will be tested for pregnancy at the time of admission unless the medical director determines that the test is not necessary such as available doc umentation of hysterectomy or tubal ligation or clients of post- menopausal age.

If female client is found to be pregnant, doc umentation of medical care during pregnancy will be required from client's obstetrician. In the event the client has not been receiving any pre-natal care, an appropriate referral will be made and verification that the client is receiving ongoing care as planned will be required in the form of periodic reports from her physician after each visit.

EXCEPTIONS TO MINIMUM ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
A person who has been incarcerated in a correctional institution for one (1) month or longer, may enroll in treatment within fourteen (14) days prior to their release or discharge; or within six (6) months after release from incarceration without evidence of current physiologic dependence on opiates, provided that prior to incarceration the client would have met the one (1) year admission criteria.    

A pregnant applicant may be admitted to methadone maintenance treatment regardless of age, if the applicant has had doc umented opiate/opioid dependency in the past and may be in direct jeopardy of returning to opiate use and dependency, with its attendant dangers during pregnancy. The client need not show evidence of current addiction to opiates, if pregnancy can be verified by laboratory tests, and the medical director, in his or her medical judgment, justifies medical treatment.   Read More ...