{"id":118354,"date":"2025-08-29T12:34:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/118354\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T12:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:34:08","slug":"drug-addiction-counselors-share-treatment-philosophies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/118354\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug addiction counselors share treatment philosophies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NIH reported last year, 16 million people worldwide are dealing with opioid use disorder, including 2.1 million living in the United States.<\/p>\n

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 An exclusive Washington Post report claims some people were concerned about a doctor\u2019s willingness to prescribe Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay<\/a> opioid pills with hydrocodone and oxycodone, rather than other medications commonly used in addiction treatment.<\/p>\n

Substance abuse is an addiction millions are battling. The NIH reported last year, 16 million people worldwide<\/a> are dealing with opioid use disorder, including 2.1 million living in the United States.<\/p>\n

Jim Ryser has been fighting addiction his whole life. He’ll mark 26 years sober on Sept. 11. It led to a career in addiction counseling. He specialized in chronic pain and chemical dependency before retiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started my practice, you know, 20 some years ago, it was like a sin to say that you could get addicted if you were treating pain,\u201d Ryser said. \u201cAnd that was not my experience, both personally and professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to treating addiction, Ryser described his opinion as \u201can old school of thought,\u201d where less medication is better.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that doesn\u2019t apply to everybody, and I\u2019m not na\u00efve enough to believe that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think strong accountability is a very important thing. Pill counts, getting urine, drug screens, making sure that family members are involved, especially with some of these really, really addictive drugs like ketamine.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fiscal year 2025, Meridian Health treated more than 3,300 people for addiction in Indiana. It added up to more than 44,000 appointments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lifelong journey, because relapse can always occur,\u201d said Lisa Suttle, the regional vice president of clinical services. She\u2019s also a registered nurse of 30 years.<\/p>\n


\n \"\"<\/p>\n

Meridian Health focuses on therapy, peer support and teaching coping skills. It also does provide some medication-assisted treatment, such as Vivitrol, Sublocade and Suboxone. Suttle emphasized the importance of having support to go along with any medication therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cVivitrol was used for a long time for alcohol addiction, but has changed to where it can be used for other addictions, too,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a once-a-month injection. So, the person gets the injection in a medical office, we watch them for a little while just to make sure everything\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meridian Health does not give patients ketamine, the drug a doctor was allegedly giving Irsay.<\/p>\n

Ketamine has FDA approval to be used as a general anesthetic, while recent research suggests it could be a treatment for depression.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt always has to be monitored very closely,\u201d Suttle said. \u201cWe work in outpatient settings, so that\u2019s a big reason why we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryser believes using it as an anesthetic should be the only use.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing a drug like that unmonitored? It would be malpractice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NIH reported last year, 16 million people worldwide are dealing with opioid use disorder, including 2.1 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-118354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}