Juneau doctors add new approach to opiate addiction treatment<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\nThe approach uses a drug called Suboxone to help balance brain chemistry to clear the mind. This allows recovering addicts to focus on the task at hand, whether it\u2019s applying for jobs, interacting with family or going to counseling sessions at Rainforest Recovery Center. The treatment allows addicts to go through recovery program without being admitted to an inpatient facility.<\/p>\n
The hospital received a grant in December 2016 to start the program, which ended up getting off the ground in April of this year.<\/p>\n
Word of the new treatment method reached Dayton and Waterhouse, and they jumped at the opportunity. Dayton was immediately accepted into the program, while Waterhouse had to wait a couple weeks before he was accepted.<\/p>\n
Almost immediately, they began making progress. Waterhouse said the Suboxone was even more effective than he thought it would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a million and one excuses not to take it,\u201d Waterhouse said, \u201cbut as soon as we started taking it, that was the \u2018ah\u2019 moment for me, realizing how much it was helping. Like, I felt normal again.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were days when cravings were bad, and days when one of them wouldn\u2019t feel great, but they\u2019ve made it through since joining the program earlier this summer. Both said that they feel less tempted to relapse now than they have in past recovery attempts.<\/p>\n
The only critique Waterhouse had about the program is that it took a couple weeks to get in. Both he and Dayton said it\u2019s vital that when an addict is ready to seek treatment that the addict gets into treatment as soon as possible. Otherwise, the desire to get clean might pass.<\/p>\n
Medical Director of Behavioral Health Jenna Hiestand said the program is getting better at this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever you start a new program, you\u2019re kind of working out the kinks and trying to figure out what\u2019s necessary and what isn\u2019t necessary with regulations and what paperwork and what forms need to be done,\u201d Hiestand said. \u201cAs time has gone on, we\u2019ve been trying to remove unnecessary hurdles.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve eliminated requirements and steps to getting into the program, Hiestand said, such as a patient having a primary care physician prior to starting the program.<\/p>\n
Hiestand said that more and more people are joining the program, as she\u2019s written almost 100 prescriptions for the treatment since April. Not every treatment will work for every patient, and some have struggled with the program, but there are success stories such as Dayton and Waterhouse.<\/p>\n
If people are seeking help, Hiestand said, getting started in the program is as easy as calling 796-8690 and in some cases she can meet with prospective patients the very same day.<\/p>\n
Hiestand said patients start off by meeting with a doctor once a week, and then as the program goes along the meetings spread out a little. Dayton and Waterhouse said their meetings are about once every two or three weeks at the moment. They\u2019re still in the program and continuing to take Suboxone every morning.<\/p>\n
Life began to get a little easier for Dayton and Waterhouse after entering the program. Instead of getting turned down for jobs, Waterhouse got multiple offers. They both want to tell others struggling with addiction that if they\u2019re ready to seek treatment, this program works.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been iffy about treatment,\u201d Dayton said. \u201cI\u2019ve always felt like, if you wanna quit, it\u2019s gonna happen because you want to. I\u2019ve never really believed in treatment, but this program\u2019s completely different to me than \u2018treatment,\u2019 I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018My one reason\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nDayton and Waterhouse were telling their story in the parking lot at Rainforest Recovery Center on Wednesday afternoon, speaking during a rare half hour when the rain wasn\u2019t falling.<\/p>\n
Wearing a white fleece jacket, Dayton held a heavily-decorated car seat by its handle. In it, Brooklynn slept calmly, wrapped in a blanket. As if staying sober weren\u2019t incentive enough, Dayton acknowledged that she has an even bigger motivator to stay clean now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s different for each person,\u201d Dayton said. \u201cYou find that one reason to get sober and I found my one reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dayton said she\u2019s hit rock bottom a number of times, but now she\u2019s at the opposite end of the spectrum. Waterhouse, even after serving two years in Afghanistan, said he\u2019s prouder of himself than he\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n
To cap it all off, Brooklynn\u2019s healthy and happy. Taking Suboxone every morning helps them go about their day with a clearer mind, but they have another source of motivation every morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to find happiness not revolved around something,\u201d Dayton said. \u201cBefore, it was like, you were happy when you had drugs in your hand and you were feeling OK, and happiness came after that. Now it\u2019s like, the simplest little thing of waking up and \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHer smiling,\u201d Waterhouse said, looking down at Brooklynn.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026seeing your baby and her smiling,\u201d Dayton finished, \u201cor being in a really good relationship. Little things make you happy again that didn\u2019t before.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com.<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Their days aren\u2019t as exciting as they used to be, and that\u2019s exactly how they want it. Finishing a morning shift as a barista\/bartender at the Juneau International Airport, Nick Waterhouse got home a little after noon on Wednesday. His girlfriend Meagan Dayton was there, spending time with their baby daughter Brooklynn. Their schedule was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":428,"featured_media":15228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15227"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}