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Tools Reversing the opiate e ! ect

Ball took an indirect route into the practice of addiction medicine. ! e family practice specialist became interested in the addiction medicine sub specialty when he was providing primary care to patients infected with HIV at Whitman Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C. A high percentage of those patients were intravenous drug users who contracted the virus from using contaminated needles. Intravenous drug users tend to be a challenging population to treat, for several reasons, says Ball, a graduate of Howard University College of Medicine. Non-compliance is a complicating factor, with the di " cult, addict lifestyle o # en causing patients to miss medical appointments and neglect taking prescribed medication. And, intravenous drug users o # en have other health problems, such as high blood pressure and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), putting them at-risk of heart attack and strokes, says Ball.

Robert J. Ball, M.D., an addiction medicine specialist at All Joshua, provides medication-assisted treatment – in the form of suboxone and vivitrol – to clients who are in the early stages of recovery from opiate addiction. ! e two FDA-approved medications are designed to ease opiate withdrawal symptoms and prevent cravings that can lead to relapse. Suboxone (generic name buprenorphine) is widely used as a replacement for methadone. Vivitrol is an injectable form of naltrexone.

“It’s a big-time advantage that our medication clients can get counseling while they are waiting.” - Robert J. Ball, M.D., sta $ physician, All Joshua

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