Detox facility brings new form of addiction treatment to Southern Illinois

A promising new treatment for opioid addiction is coming to Southern Illinois at a rehabilitation facility in Carbondale.

RecoverUS, which opened its doors to those with drug and alcohol addictions this spring, uses a detox process they call “Release-Recover-Restore,” a treatment that serves as an alternative to suboxone and methadone, both of which are narcotics.

Typically, the narcotics are given to help ease withdrawal symptoms, but that often doesn’t do enough to break the cycle, said Kelly Reed, a partner at RecoverUS.

Instead, the clinic uses Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD), an enzyme that naturally occurs in the body, to help restore proper cellular brain function. It is given via an IV. Along with NAD, patients are given Naltrexone, a blocker, that keeps opioids from acting on the brain.

According to Addiction Center, a global referral service for those with drug and alcohol dependencies, excessive use of drugs and alcohol depletes the body’s natural stores of NAD. When this happens, the brain cannot receive the same energy it usually would from breaking down food. NAD therapy floods the brain with the co-enzyme to replenish its stores. The co-enzyme flushes out all of the drugs that are still in the user’s system, curbs cravings for alcohol and opioids and lessens the pain of withdrawal and allows the body to produce energy more naturally.

Research by clinicians at Harvard Medical School in 2017 found that NAD plays a key role in repairing and restoring DNA.

When it comes to using NAD as addiction therapy, addiction is viewed as a chronic illness, which relapses and recurs, and NAD can be used to disrupt the cycle by restoring health at the cellular level.

Patients at RecoverUS are also given a stringent supplement routine, targeted nutrition plans and have the option of undergoing psychotherapy, anxiety reduction technology, neurofeedback and other wellness programs.

“In looking to the source of an addiction, we have found it is rooted in both psychological and physiological responses to deeply ingrained brain patterns,” said Dr. Ted Mortar, a co-owner of the clinic. “Included in those patterns are anxiety, depression, grief, biome changes in the gut, poor nutrition and resultant health issues, the degradation of the body from prolonged exposure to the addictive drug itself. And most importantly, core beliefs not being addressed which trigger the drug use.”

RecoverUS was born out of a personal connection to Reed.

About six years ago, her family started noticing changes in her younger brother, who had been in a serious car accident and was given a prescription for Percocet for the pain. Reed said that just a few months later, he came to his family and told them he was addicted.

“Everyone in the family was in shock,” she said. “You hear these type of things but you never think of your own family.”

Reed, who worked in the medical field prior to opening the clinic, began doing research. Her brother had gone to a facility in Michigan that used “rapid detox” and then had him use a blocker, like Naltrexone. A blocker generally lasts 45 to 60 days. And, because the process is done under anesthesia in just 20 minutes, it’s a great physical shock to the body, Reed said.

“It’s hard on the body,” she said. “There was no aftercare after that either. We started researching what you need to do to aid in long-term sobriety and that’s when (her brother) said, ‘Why is there no facility that will tell you all of these things that we’re finding out now from our own research?’”

Long-term effects of treatment have not been tested

According to Addiction Center, NAD therapy has not been on the market long, and leaves much to the unknown, as long-term effects have yet to be tested. The service suggests NAD be used in combination with regular therapy to help someone stay on the path to recovery.

“While this treatment may seem miraculous, you can’t count on it to be your one-and-done cure,” Addiction Center’s website states. “True recovery can only be achieved by getting to the root of the problem and working at it every day. While NAD could be a strong beginning, it is just that: a beginning. The long-term effects have yet to be well documented, so use caution in choosing a clinic.”

At RecoverUS, a patient is on the IV therapy for 10 days, or if they’re extremely addicted, or coming from use of suboxone or methadone, that is stretched to 14 days, Reed said. The service is for out-patients only.

Staff work in shifts and can help 8 to 10 people at a time, Reed said.

The aftercare portion is the key difference between other detox clinics and RecoverUS, Reed said. According to her, their clinic is the only one in Illinois to use the NAD IV therapy.

“My understanding is that the person will not continue to use the drug because they want to, like many people think,” she said. “It’s because of how horrendously sick they feel when they don’t. And if you’re able to tell them ‘we can take you through withdrawals and we can do so comfortably,’ the more people want to do detox at a rehab facility.”

Reed said she and other partners are trying their best to think of everything that will help drug and alcohol addicts come to the facility for help. Part of that includes arranging transportation and housing for those who come from surrounding areas and finding payment options that work for individual patients, since the clinic is a private pay facility.

“We will help make accommodations,” Reed said. “I know how it felt with my family members... if someone had helped us go through these steps, it would have made the process so much easier. Anything we can possibly do to make it easier for the family or the client, we want to do that.”

The Release-Recover-Restore program at RecoverUS lasts anywhere from six months to a year, and after patients leave, the clinic reaches out to their nearest physicians to work out plans that will help them continue with sobriety.

With the rise of the opioid epidemic in recent years, Reed said RecoverUS comes at an important time. The clinic has plans to work with different communities, like churches, law enforcement and business, to educate people more and help break away from the stigma that comes with addiction.

“Years and years ago, you could kind of see who the addict was,” Reed said. “Now, it’s a soccer mom, it’s a physician ... you never know when a friend of a friend or a family member is suffering in silence because of the stigma that’s attached to the issue.”

This story was originally published August 5, 2019 at 5:00 AM.