How can I get medication for opioid use disorder?
Your treatment court counselor can help you find a doctor who can prescribe medication. This may be a physician, psychiatrist, or nurse. (Please see the Resources section for provider directories.)
What do I need to tell the doctor?
Deciding to seek help is an important early step to recovery. To decide if medication is right for you, the first step is either to meet with a counselor who can connect you to a qualified prescriber or to seek one out yourself. This first meeting is called an assessment. The goal of this meeting is to help the care team understand you and your situation so that they can work with you to develop a treatment plan that best matches your needs.
To avoid health problems, your medical provider must know if you are taking any other medications or if you regularly drink alcohol or use any other drugs. Certain medications and regular alcohol or other drug use can cause major problems with some treatment medications.
Below are some common questions you may be asked by a medical provider:
- How long have you been using alcohol or other drugs?
- What medications are you taking?
- Are there special social or financial circumstances or needs?
- Is there a family history of addiction?
- Are there any mental, emotional, or health problems that you may want help with?
The next step is a complete a physical examination to check your overall health, which includes checking for mental health problems. It also means checking for other conditions that can result from drug use, such as HIV, hepatitis, and other infections, which are important to consider during treatment planning.
The physical examination will include tests to find both health problems and drugs in your body. The most common drug test uses your urine and is called a urinalysis or urine drug screen. If you are in treatment court, you are accustomed to these tests. However, these tests will be performed by your medical provider. The tests are not to punish you; they are a tool to help your treatment team work with you and help you succeed in treatment.
