Haart

They only worked w/​me a short time because I had a bad reaction to methadone. Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe a bad thing. But as for the staff at HAART, everyone there, from the intake workers, counselors, and nurses to their excellent doctor, were not only nice, but FRIENDLY. They treated me w/​respect. They were helpful. In short, it was night and day from the treatment I have come to expect from our horrible, broken, medical system.

Great place to get control over your substance problems. They use real methadone. What is awesome is that they offer both liquid and pill form. They also offer Suboxone (buprenorphine) which unfortunately insurance often does not cover. I would think that this would be the better option for opiate addiction maintenance or detox.
But, I have Medi-​Medi insurance, and Medicare part D used to pay for Suboxone. I just learned that as of Jan 1, 2011, that Suboxone under part D would no longer be covered without a Prior Authorization (PA), which sucks. I always figured Suboxone would be the stepping stone off.
Anyway, the maintenance, which everyone seems to be on, is covered 100% by Medi-​Cal (Medicaid). It seems like the best option, but when I first came to sign up, they didn’t even ask me what I wanted — whether to just detox or to get on maintenance. They just signed me up for the maintenance.
I also would prefer to see a doctor who was more of an advocate for better opiate addiction treatment for all clients, and one who is willing to sit down and advocate for us and tell us the dirty truth.
I started out okay, but have had to go up and up on my dose, because it feels like despite it being «real methadone» liquid (as apposed to methadose, another generic brand), it does not hold me the entire day. By the evening I am feeling anxiety, nervous, irritable, unable to pay attention, and just having strong cravings to get the hell out of wherever I am, which isn’t always an option. I just feel uncomfortable, and I can’t sleep at night either. This is a nightmare.
Then I read online that there is something in the pill form, like 2 ingredients, that is NOT in the liquid form. The liquid form is NOT good for pain management, which is something I really need. So I switched to the pill form and instantly, all those negative symptoms went away. I feel much better and great, more energetic, happier, no withdrawal symptoms, all day long. But why didn’t the doctor tell me about this? Why let me suffer and keep increasing my dose and in turn, my addiction to this stuff?
I like my counselor. He has me come in for a way-​to-​early weekly check-​in, which I think is a bit excessive. But he does advocate more for me and has gotten me some good things, like because I am on disability, I got my first take-​home early due to hardship. I appreciate that.
But I want options. I want to know where I am going from here. There is no direction, it seems. I see old people coming with huge bags of take-​home bottles when it’s their time to refill. I don’t want to be like that. This is not the rest of my life. They don’t seem to offer me any direction or help in learning how to cope without any medication or this «crutch,» as I see it. But they really think that this is something like insulin, something that you have to take the rest of your life once you become diabetic. Well, why not teach us how to eat better to get rid of the diabetes so we don’t need the insulin? That’s a comparison, a metaphor. But seriously…

Great place to work and wonderful population to work with.