specializing in addiction recovery
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5983 Hwy 53E Suite 100 Dawsonville, GA 30534
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Dr. T, as he likes to be known, and his sta pride themselves on providing care with respect, compassion and understanding. All patients will receive a detailed hands on physical exam. As an osteopathic physician Dr. T’s, clinical assessment of musculoskeletal disorders is very advanced and most likely more detailed than you have experienced in the past. We welcome you to our practice and we strive to see all patients within 24hrs. We will do our best to accommodate walk-in patients needed to be seen. However, understand that your visit may not be covered by insurance without a medical referral. Dr. T is readily available to answer all questions during your visit. Professional medical care and expertise set Dr. T apart as Atlanta’s premier Pain Intervention & Integrative Medicine specialist. “My goal is to optimize your health via Integrative Medicine techniques that harnesses the body’s unique ability to heal itself, while eliminating the causes of pain”. ARILEX Medical practices a unique approach in combining Osteopathic Medicine with Integrative Medicine which utilizes aspects of traditional medicine, holistic medicine, nutrition and physical training programs to optimize the body’s unique ability to heal itself. ARILEX Medical achieves these goal through the following: Medicated & Nutritional Weight Management Testosterone erapy Regenerative Medicine for the treatment of Degenerative Joint Disease using PRP and Stem Cell Regenerative Medicine for Male & Female Hair Replacement using PRP
and Stem Cell Chelation erapy and Vitamin Infusion erapy Interventional Pain Management Addiction erapy Medication Management & Psychological Counseling Medically focused Physical erapy and Training. Some of the types of syndromes and disorders treated in our clinic consist of the following: Integrative Medicine Male & Female Hair Loss via the use of PRP and Stem Cell erapy Male Low-Testosterone Syndrome Erectile Dysfunction Adult ADD & ADHD Fibromyalgia Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Chronic Migraine Atypical Face Pain & Trigeminal Neuralgia Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome Connective Tissue Disorders Dysautonomia Syndrome Addiction Disorders Post-Herpetic (Shingles) Pain Syndrome
I can not express enough how this
doctor is changing my life!! He listens to you about your situation and works to help you. His bedside manner is impeccable and his staff are so willing and gracious to help in anyway they can!! Thank you Dr. Theofilis!!
-J.K. in Alpharetta, GA | May 11, 2017
-CHRISTA BERNARD IN LAWRENCEVILLE, GA | MAY 12, 2017 I can not express enough how this doctor is changing my life!! He listens to you about your situation and works to help you. His bedside manner is impeccable and his staff are so willing and gracious to help in anyway they can!! Thank you Dr. Theofilis!! -J.K. IN ALPHARETTA, GA | MAY 11, 2017 I am so blessed to have finally found Dr. Theofilis. Dr. T truly cares about his patients and he is the only doctor that has helped relieve my chronic pain. He always takes time to listen and never rushes you through. He is kind, caring and has excellent diagnostic skills. I can honestly say that with Dr. T and his wonderful staff I feel that I am in safe hands. -A.S.O. IN ATLANTA, GA | APR 24, 2017 Dr. T has performed 2 Radio Frequency Ablations in my low back and neck providing me with greater than 65% pain relief. -FLOWERY BRANCH, GA | APR 20, 2017 Dr. Theofilis treats me for my chronic neuropathic pain caused by Dysautonomia. I have always had severe pain, and Dr. theofilis is amazing at helping with pain. -SEM IN LAWRENCEVILLE, GA | APR 17, 201 Dr. Theofilis helped me tremendously with female problems that had been chronic pain issues for me for years. He was attentive and sensitive to my questions, concerns and complaints regarding my chronic pain. I HIGHLY recommend him for chronic female pain disorders. Excellent doctor, staff and practice. -CHARLIE H. IN BUFORD, GA | APR 15, 2017 I have multiple medical conditions that cause me to have chronic pain. After being referred to Dr. T he was able to identify the cause of my pain and successfully treat my ailments. The most helpful therapy has been for my Crohn’s disease. Its been truly life changing. The constant pain and discomfort is gone. I can’t thank Dr. T enough. -TERESA THOMAS IN CUMMING, GA | APR 14, 2017 I cnnot express the gratitude I have for the care and compassion Dr. Gary Theofilis has given me over the last couple months. After experiencing excruciating pain in my feet since December and getting several different diagnosis’s I feel like he has finally given me hope and figured out the right path to having a good quality of life and moving forward in healing my pain and feeling better. He truly cares about his patient’s well-being and I am truly grateful for all his help. -CRYSTAL IN GAINESVILLE, GA | APR 14, 2017 He and his staff is an amazing crew I couldn’t ask for a better team. Ever operation I’ve ever had has been very successful. I would highly recommended him if you need pain management
Are you missing 18%* of your Patients’ Positive Opioid Test Results? You may be without High Sensitivity Definitive Testing.
Dr. T, as he likes to be known, and his staff pride themselves on providing care with respect, compassion and understanding.
ARILEX Medical is the leading provider of Pain Intervention & Integrative Medicine.
Gary G. Theofilis DO, MBA, DABAM, DAAIM has successfully treated thousands of patients across the United States. As an Anesthesiologist, Fellowship trained in Interventional Pain Medicine, he actively publishes and presents on Pain Management topics internationally. Dr. T is dedicated to providing quality care that harnesses the body’s unique ability to heal and treat itself. “I don’t want my patients on pain medication forever. That’s no way to live. I treat my patients in a manner that enables them to live active lifestyles, enjoying all that life has to offer. This can only be achieved through Integrative Medicine which combines traditional & holistic medicine with nutrition, physical training and rehabilitation while treating the causes of pain”.
Dr. Theofilis is an active member of the following organizations:
• American Academy of Pain Medicine • American Society of Integrative Medicine
• Diplomate American Academy of Integrative Medicine • Diplomate American Board of Addiction Medicine • American Osteopathic Association
Dead people don’t get into recovery
D. Waters Is Suboxone a Reasonable Treatment Option for Opioid Addicts? After twenty years of providing substance abuse treatment I can tell you that the ultimate goal of anyone battling an addiction is total abstinence. Every addict and alcoholic eventually figures out they can not control their usage, and moderation is unrealistic. Learning to live life on life’s terms is part of the process of learning to live abstinent. Self-help programs like Alcoholics Anonymous(AA) and Narcotics Anonymous(NA) do a great job of helping people understand their addiction, themselves, and effective solutions for coping with their disease. Dead people don’t get into recovery Opioid addicts are not terribly different from any other addict or alcoholic, except the risk of death by accidental overdose is huge. People are dying in droves from opioid overdose. The current heroin epidemic is even more dangerous than the pain killer epidemic it replaced. Relapse rates are tremendous. Unfortunately, it may take years before an individual addict is ready to give the 12-Step AA/NA
I’ve truly never seen anything work better, and when it works it’s a beautiful thing.
process the thorough try it requires to be effective. Therefore, Suboxone is a terrific option for chronic relapsers. You can’t generally get high from it, unless you haven’t used in awhile, or never used in the first place. You can’t overdose on it from use or abuse, and any other opioid you take while it’s in your system will be nullified and wasted.
Not the solution, but maybe a good step forward Suboxone is not the solution, but in many cases it’s better than nothing, and a good response for chronic relapsers who are risking death from overdose. At least the addict is getting some exposure to treatment which is more likely to lead to recovery in the long run. Suboxone buys people time and keeps them alive. There are quite a few people who’s funerals I’ve attended that I wish had gotten on Suboxone. You can’t treat the dead.
The Subs knock down the monster cravings almost completely, and people don’t go through the nasty withdrawal that’s so painful. Once dysfunctional people who couldn’t hold a job, or were constantly on the obsessive hunt for the next fix suddenly become much more functional, and the addiction looks like it’s in remission. They can work consistently, they stop chasing the drugs, they have more money and can care for themselves and their families, and their addiction doesn’t seem to be ruling their lives. It seems like magic! Very few people actually wean off Suboxone successfully Suboxone users often wrongly think they’re cured because they look and feel more functional. Then they think all they have to do now is wean down, or taper off the medication, which is what the clinic doctors help them manage over a number of months to years. The problem is they’ve done nothing about the underlying addiction and all the addictive thinking and coping that go along with it that drive the addiction from within. They haven’t developed any social support, or learned anything about themselves and their disease. We like to say that using, or putting some chemical into the body, is only a symptom of the underlying disease. Abusing substances is not the actual disease—just a symptom. As soon as they stop using the Subs the addiction is still there and ready to start expressing itself all over again through the many painful ways it does. Chemically addicted people cope with life stressors with chemicals—that is, unless they make some fairly significant changes. Suboxone changes nothing in the end. Suboxone changes nothing A combination of Suboxone treatment coupled with AA/NA (with Sponsor and Step work) is a great thing. At Crossroads Counseling we require anyone with a substance abuse issue
to attend AA/NA, obtain a Sponsor, and work the 12-steps. If they don’t we won’t sign-off on their program. Most Suboxone clinics require their participants to attend at least one counseling meeting a month. Unfortunately, this is almost completely useless unless the individual engages in a personal program of recovery that addresses not only the biological issues, but the social, psychological, and spiritual issues related to the disease, as well.
AFTER THE RAIN COMES THE RAINBOW
ARILEX MEDICAL We’re here for you when you need us! Call (770)889-5590 to schedule an appointment.
5983 Hwy 53E Suite 100 • Dawsonville, GA 30534 | www.arilexpain.com
ARILEXPAIN.COM
“My goal is to optimize your health via Integrative Medicine techniques that harnesses the body’s unique ability to heal itself, while eliminating the causes of pain.”
5983 HWY 53E SUITE 100 • DAWSONVILLE, GA 30534 I PH: (770)889-5590
SAMHSA PUBLISHES BEST PRACTICES ON MEDICATION-ASSISTED TREATMENT FOR OPIOID USE DISORDER Best Practices
Treatment Improvement Protocol 63, “Medications for Opioid Use Disorder,”
reviews the use of methadone, naltrexone, and
buprenorphine, the three FDA-approved medications to treat opioid use disorders.
Data indicate that OUD-treating medications are both cost effective and cost beneficial
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has published new guidance to help health care professionals better understand medications that can be used to treat Americans with opioid use disorder (OUD). Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 63, “Medications for Opioid Use Disorder,” reviews the use of methadone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine, the three FDA-approved medications to treat opioid use disorders. TIP 63 provides guidance for health care professionals and addiction treatment providers on how to appropriately prescribe these medications and effectively support patients using these medications for OUD treatment. “We know that people can and do recover from opioid use disorders when they receive appropriate treatment, and medication-assisted treatment’s success in treating opioid use disorders is well documented,” said Dr. Elinore F. McCance-Katz, assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. “TIP 63 emphasizes that increasing access to medications to treat opioid use disorder will help more people recover, enabling them to improve their health, living full and productive lives.” TIP 63 is part of SAMHSA’s larger response to the opioid crisis. More access to treatment with OUD medications is critical to closing the gap between treatment need and treatment availability and an important public health strategy. Data indicate that OUD-treating medications are both cost effective and cost beneficial.
The highest level of Quality, Customer Service and continuous compliance are always met.
ARILEX MEDICAL
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No matter where it hurts, we can handle it. Our physicians are ready to help you get back into the swing of things.
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“We were surprised that morphine was able to induce these really long-lasting changes,” says Dr. Peter Grace, the study’s lead author. Dr. Grace says the cause of the chronic pain increase has to do with cells that form part of the immune system. He says if those areas could be isolated or their eects reduced, the resulting pain may not be as great. “If it does turn out to be a relevant issue to patients, then what our study suggests is that targeting the immune system may be the key to avoiding these kinds of eects,” Dr. Grace says. “Opioids could essentially work better if we could shut down the immune system in the spinal cord.” e team’s research only looked at spinal cord injuries and morphine, and did not study other opioids that are commonly prescribed to patients experiencing pain. But he said it’s likely drugs like Vicodin or OxyContin could aect other parts of the body in a similar way. “While we haven't actually tested other opioids in this particular paradigm, we predict that we would see similar eects,” Dr. Grace says.
ain relievers are supposed to relieve pain. It sounds simple enough, but new research suggests a common pain medication may actually be prolonging chronic pain. Morphine is an opioid painkiller commonly prescribed in hospitals and clinics, and while it is eective in the short term, doctors don’t always consider the potential consequences for pain down the road.at’s why a team of researchers based out of the University of Colorado - Boulder set out to study how morphine treatment aects chronic pain, and found some troubling results. e team, which used mice with spinal cord injuries, found that in mice not given morphine, their pain thresholds went back to normal about four to ve weeks after the injury. But mice who were given morphine didn’t see their pain levels return to normal until around 10 to 11 weeks, meaning the use of morphine eectively doubled the length of their chronic pain. P
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Chronic problem Chronic pain can be debilitating for many people facing serious health problems, and it can also be a key factor in substance abuse. Many people report developing a dependence on opioids after having them prescribed for an injury. But new research suggests the number of people who develop dependency issues because of chronic pain may be far higher than people realize. A study from researchers at Boston University looked at a group of nearly 600 people who had either used illicit substances or misused prescription drugs.
ey found that 87 percent reported suering from chronic
pain, with 50 percent of those people rating their pain as severe.ey also found that 51 percent of people who had used illicit drugs like marijuana, cocaine and heroin had done so to treat their pain. While many prevention eorts focus on recreational users, the numbers suggest that chronic pain plays just as prominent a role in substance abuse. “Many patients using illicit drugs, misusing prescription drugs and using alcohol reported doing so in order to self-medicate their pain,” the authors of the study wrote. “Pain needs to be addressed when patients are counseled about their substance use.”
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I N AN EFFORT to encourage new treatments for opioid addiction, the Food and Drug Administration plans to begin permitting pharmaceutical companies to sell medications that help temper cravings, even if they don’t fully stop addiction. The change is part of a wider effort to expand access to so-called medication-assisted treatment, or MAT. The agency will issue draft guidelines in the next few weeks. A senior agency official provided details of the proposal to The New York Times. the agency said it would soon publish two guidances, recommendations for drugmakers, on the issue.
The new approach was signaled Saturday by the health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II, in remarks to the National Governors Association. Mr. Azar said the agency intended “to correct a misconception that patients must achieve total abstinence in order for MAT to be considered effective.” While the Trump administration has generally supported medication-assisted treatment, Mr. Azar’s predecessor, Tom Price, was not completely on board with it. Mr. Price caused an uproar among treatment experts when he dismissed some medications that reduce cravings through synthetic opioids last spring as substituting one opioid for another. He subsequently walked back those comments, saying officials should be open to a broad range of treatment options. Mr. Azar, who took office late last month, said he would work to reduce the stigma associated with addiction and addiction therapy, and would not treat it as a moral failing. The opioid epidemic is considered the most unrelenting drug crisis in United States history. In 2016, roughly 64,000 people were killed by drug overdoses, including from prescription opioid painkillers and heroin. to correct a misconception that patients must achieve total abstinence in order for MAT to be considered effective. Noting federal data showing that only one-third of specialty substance abuse treatment programs offer medication-assisted treatment, Mr. Azar said, “We want to raise that number — in fact, it will be nigh impossible to turn the tide on this epidemic without doing so.” Mr. Azar’s comments echo those of the F.D.A. chief, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who has made battling opioid abuse a priority for his agency. Dr. Gottlieb has moved to reduce opioid prescriptions by doctors and dentists and to promote more medication- assisted treatment, defined as drugs used to stabilize brain chemistry, reduce or block the euphoric effects of opioids, relieve physiological cravings, and normalize body functions. The F.D.A. has approved three drugs for opioid treatment — buprenorphine (often known by the brand name Suboxone), methadone and naltrexone (known by the brand name Vivitrol) — and says they are safe and effective combined with counseling and other support. But the agency said it would soon publish two guidances, recommendations for drugmakers, on the issue.
Call Us (770)889-5590 5983 Hwy 53E Suite 100 Dawsonville, GA 30534 ARILEXPAIN.COM
We welcome you to our practice and we strive to see all patients
within 24hrs. We will do our best to accommodate walk-in patients needed to be seen. However, understand that your visit may not be covered by insurance without a medical referral.
Life will present different challenges, and the choice to make a change is an active one. When we work together, one step at a time, you can achieve healing.
5983 Hwy 53E Suite 100 • Dawsonville, GA 30534 | PH: (770)889-5590 | www.arilexpain.com
The harsh reality is that opioids are killing thousands of people in this country, many of them young people
State legislators focused on opioid addiction treatment and prevention in schools and prisons Thursday while reviewing bills that would both use medications to thwart overdoses and assist in recovery. A bill making its way through the Legislature would require all schools with grades 9 to 12 to have policies for training nurses on how to administer naloxone. The schools would also have to keep a supply of the medication ready. “The harsh reality is that opioids are killing thousands of people in this country, many of them young people,” Assemblyman Vincent Mazzeo, D-Atlantic, bill sponsor, said in a statement. “Narcan has been proven to save lives. Having it readily available in schools can help ensure that our schools are ready to respond in every emergency situation.” Several South Jersey schools, including Millville, Mainland Regional High School, the Egg Harbor Township School District and the Ocean City School District, already have such policies in place. As of 2017, New Jersey ranked eighth in the nation for drug overdose deaths among people ages 12 to 25, according to the national nonprofit Trust for America’s Health. There have been an estimated 654 overdose deaths in New Jersey since Jan. 1, according to the Department of the Attorney General.
The bill would require that nurses be taught how to use the anti-opioid drug and have a prescription standing order for naloxone to keep it in supply. There were more than 14,300 uses of naloxone in the state last year, state data shows. If passed, the law would also provide immunity from liability for school nurses and other employees when an opioid reversal is performed. Nearby, members of the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee reviewed a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-Burlington, that would require state correctional facilities to offer inmates naltrexone and naloxone just before their release. Naltrexone, known by its brand name Vivitrol, is a type of nonopioid medication- assisted treatment (MAT) for a substance-use disorder. Studies have shown medication-assisted treatments like naltrexone, methadone and buprenorphine have successfully been used to reduce relapse rates and help people maintain recovery from opioid addiction. Vivitrol completely blocks the euphoric and sedative effects of opioids. Recipients often need a monthly shot of the medication administered by a medical professional.
At John Brooks Recovery Centers in Atlantic City and Pleasantville, Vivitrol is just one medication-assisted treatment offered to inpatient and outpatient patients, but it is coupled with counseling and other treatment education. Alan Oberman, CEO of John Brooks Recovery Center, said that while the bill looks well intentioned, giving one shot of Vivitrol, which costs about $1,000, to an outgoing inmate without follow-up or counseling only buys that person about three or four weeks of sobriety before they may use again. “It’s more than just giving an injection, which at least requires a nurse to do it, and many outpatient programs in the community don’t have medical staff there to do it regularly,” he said. While methadone and buprenorphine are MATs that have been on the market for some time, Vivitrol is relatively new. John Brooks and the Atlantic County jail teamed up last summer to create the state’s first mobile methadone program for inmates. Oberman said they now offer inmates Vivitrol, but they haven’t yet had any takers.
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5983 HWY 53E SUITE 100 DAWSONVILLE, GA 30534
(770)889-5590 arilexpain.com
For more information please contact us at 770.889.5590 arilexpain.com
5983 Hwy 53E Suite 100 • Dawsonville, GA 30534 ARILEX MEDICAL
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