Addiction Recovery with Medications-First Person Experiences

Tone Prada, in his early 40s, was recently released from prison after a 25-year sentence. While there, he’d developed an opioid habit. He was shocked when the prison started offering Suboxone, but he decided to take the leap, and he’s glad he did. “My life is just so much better,” he told me. He started on Suboxone , and eventually transitioned to the Sublocade injection, which allowed him to avoi...

Chris (name changed for privacy) first sought treatment for his drug use around age 21 from a local methadone clinic, over ten years ago. This is a long interview, in which Chris describes his experience with methadone, the first medication to help stabilize his life, Kratom, which helped stave off withdrawal but gradually became a problem for him, Suboxone, which helped him through incarceration,...

Kratom is sold as a dietary supplement at stores throughout the U.S. It’s naturally-derived and contains trace amounts of 7-OH, a chemical that works on opioid receptors in your brain. It also contains mitragynine, which becomes 7-OH in your body. (I’m work on an upcoming post that’ll describe the difference between Kratom, 7-OH, and other Kratom derivatives, which are sold in synthetic and concen...

Katie had been prescribed pain medication to manage Lyme disease, but she was cut off from her medication, leading her to seek illicit substances. With the support of her family, she went to rehab and started Suboxone. This is her story. If you’d like to share your own story, please send me a message! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access...

In June 2025, I interviewed Pixie, who told me that methadone helped them recover from heroin addiction. Shortly after starting methadone, Pixie became pregnant. Several years later, Pixie did a gradual methadone taper and managed to avoid any methadone withdrawal symptoms. Here is their story. If you want to share your MAT story, let me know. I’d love to hear it. This is a public episode. If you...

Listen to Jen describe her struggle with prescription pain killers and how she ultimately improved her life with the help of Suboxone, a medication for opioid use disorders. And check out her TikTok here . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailymat.substack.com