Treating Substance and Alcohol Abuse

Member of the American Academy of Family Physicians | Se Habla Español | Over 30 Years of Experience

Member of the American Academy of Family Physicians

Se Habla Español

Over 30 Years of Experience

Treatments for Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Dr. Van Hoozen is Board Certified in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine and is a member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. In addition to treating the full scope of Family Practice Medicine, Dr. Van Hoozen is now also treating:

Narcotic addiction
Nicotine addiction
Cocaine addiction
Methamphetamine addiction
Marijuana addiction
Alcoholism
Gambling addiction

Medications are now available that can help with the treatment of alcohol and drug addiction. Along with these prescription medications, patients are also strongly encouraged to have a counselor who deals with drug addiction. Fill out our form today, and we'll call you to schedule your appointment at Valley Family Medicine.

Suboxone

Suboxone (Buprenorphine with Naloxone), which Dr. Van Hoozen has been using to treat narcotic addiction since 2017, is a semi-synthetic opiate with a mixture of agonist and antagonist neuroreceptors.

Its primary use is to treat heroin and other narcotic addictions and has equal effectiveness as Methadone in the treatment of narcotic addiction but doesn’t require daily visits to a Methadone clinic for dosage.

Patients should be warned that they are recommended not to drink alcohol at all or with extreme moderation and should not be taking diazepams while on Buprenorphine. Diazepam’s are anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax (alprazolam) and Ativan (lorazepam and Clorazepam).

The basic idea is to provide a narcotic controlled substance with an antagonist Naloxone to avoid respiratory depression which occurs often with the use of street drugs and overuse of prescription drugs.

Respiratory depression can lead to the patient’s death. Suboxone treatment in conjunction with counseling allows the patient to function normally in our society and not have to be dependent on illicit drugs.

The way this works is that patients with drug addiction problems call our office for an intake call to make sure this type of treatment is appropriate for them and that they understand all the ramifications thereof.

Then they will be set up for an induction appointment. They are asked to come into our office in a state of withdrawal and are given increasing doses of Suboxone until eventually they get to their actual daily dose.

Although this will be done on the first and maybe second visit, it does sometimes take more than 2-3 weeks to have it titrated to the patient’s own specifications.

The patient should expect to spend up to 4 hours of time in our office on the day of the induction appointment. Patient will eventually be sent home and asked to return the next day. Once tittering is completed, usually by the second day, patient will be asked to come in weekly for the first month and then monthly.

Patients will be seen monthly after this to get their prescription of Suboxone and should be aware they will be subjected to random pill and film counts.

Patients who have previously seen other doctors outside our area who wish to see a physician closer to home for treatment should make an initial entrance appointment and decisions will be made based on their previous treatment records as to what phase of the treatment program they should be started at.

Vivitrol

Vivitrol is a medication that is injected monthly to treat both alcoholism and narcotic addiction. This medication is pure opiate antagonist and is supposed to reduce the cravings for narcotics by 75% and the craving for alcohol by 90%.

Patients wishing to use Vivitrol have to be off narcotics for at least 7-10 days and alcohol for at least 24 hours. This is an injection that is given monthly upwards of 6 months to 1 year. After that period, if patients want to go off the injection form of Naloxone, they can do so or be transitioned to an oral form at that time.

Patients will come in and be expected to give a urine drug screen at that time. Liver enzymes will also be monitored initially as well as during the monthly treatment.

The way this medication works is that it decreases the desire to use narcotics and alcohol but patients should be aware that if they do use narcotics, it blunts the effects of the narcotic dose initially, and if the system is overwhelmed (patient takes more narcotics than they usually do), then the patient can go into respiratory distress, and it can be fatal.

Patients can use other medications that are non-narcotics for pain relief. Patients will also be asked to carry a bracelet ID to make sure that medical personnel know that they are on this mediation.

This doesn’t control desires for other drugs such as benzodiazepams, cocaine, marijuana, or amphetamines including meth. It is strictly for opiate and alcohol treatment.

If you have any questions regarding either of these medications or their programs, please feel free to contact our office. Please realize that with Suboxone, we are limited to the amount of patients we can take care of on an active basis, and at times there may be a waiting list.

Urine Drug Tests

While Valley Family Medicine offers in-office urine drug screening that test for 14 different drugs, there are times when Dr. Van Hoozen needs a more detailed test. For these instances, he is able to order a urine drug screen with definitive results and strict forensic standards through LabCorp that will detect the exact amount of a drug in a person's system.