In-Person Addiction Medicine in St. Louis County
Addictionology Center treats St. Louis, MO patients in person for opioid, alcohol and drug addiction, including buprenorphine/naloxone for opioid use disorder. Our one clinic sits inside St. Louis County next to Lambert International Airport.
St. Louis County is the practice’s home base and where most of our patients come from. Addiction medicine with buprenorphine/naloxone is given face to face. The doctor is board certified in addiction medicine and holds hospital privileges across the region.
Because this is home base, most St. Louis County patients get a schedule that fits around work, not around the clinic. Medicine is reviewed face to face at every visit. In-clinic screening happens at the same visit, not as a separate trip.
The clinic sits inside St. Louis County on Woodson Rd. You can reach it from I-70, I-170 and Lindbergh, with parking at the door. The clinic is at 4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 101, St. Louis, MO 63134, next to St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
What St. Louis County patients are treated for
Three programs, all delivered in person at the Woodson Rd clinic:
Opioid Addiction Treatment
Buprenorphine/naloxone started and reviewed in the room, not over a screen. What this involves.
Alcohol Addiction Treatment
Alcohol use disorder treated as the medical condition it is. What this involves.
Drug Addiction Treatment
Stimulants, use of more than one drug, and the conditions under them. What this involves.
How is outpatient treatment different from a rehab program?
Most people looking for help in St. Louis County picture a facility — a live-in stay, a schedule of groups, time away from work and family. That model exists, and it serves some patients well. It is not what happens here.
Office-based addiction treatment means the medical part of your care happens in a clinic, at an appointment, with a doctor. You are examined, medicine is started, and you go home. There is no live-in stay and no leave from work. For most people with opioid or alcohol use disorder, that is the right level of care. The evidence for medicine given this way is stronger than for anything that needs a bed.
So treatment fits around a job instead of replacing one. That matters more than it sounds. Losing work is one of the surest ways a recovery falls apart. The people most likely to lose it are the ones who cannot explain a month away. Opioid addiction treatment covers the medicine side in detail.
Is addiction medication just trading one drug for another?
People often describe buprenorphine and naltrexone as trading one drug for another. Sometimes they are even trying to help. That view is wrong in a way that costs lives. It is worth facing head-on, not politely.
Opioid use disorder causes lasting changes in the brain’s reward and stress systems. Those changes last long after the last dose. Medicine steadies those systems. That makes the rest of recovery — the behavioral work, the relationships, the rebuilding — possible at all. Patients kept on buprenorphine die at much lower rates than patients who are not. The risk climbs again when the medicine stops. That finding should settle the debate, and in the research it largely has.
What medicine does not do is fix everything alone, and we do not claim it does. It ends the daily emergency so everything else can be worked on. The clinic’s article archive collects the research as it comes out. That includes the repeated finding that most people with opioid use disorder never get medicine at all.
Can pain and addiction be treated together?
Many patients who come here became dependent on opioids while being treated for pain that was fully real. The pain did not go away when the dependence started. Treating the addiction while ignoring the pain is how people end up back where they started within a year.
This practice treats both. That is rare, and it is the reason the practice exists in this form. Dr. Padda is an interventional pain physician and a diplomate in addiction medicine. So the pain that started it all can be treated with procedures and a plan, not with more opioids.
It is also why the metabolic and behavioral side gets attention now, not later. Sleep, blood sugar, inflammation and mood feed both problems at once. None of them gets better on its own while the other two are ignored. Pain and addiction are related explains how we treat the two together.
What happens at the first appointment?
A history, a physical exam, and an honest account of what you use and how much. Nothing about it is meant to catch anyone out. The exam matters because a starting dose is a guess until a doctor has looked at you. It also matters because the problems that come with long-term use — liver, heart, infection, untreated mental illness — are found by examining, not by asking.
Where it is medically right, medicine starts that day. Where something needs to be checked first, we say what and why. We do not book a second visit out of habit.
You will also leave knowing what the next few weeks look like. That means how often you are seen, what the screening involves, and who to call when something goes wrong after hours. Enrolling covers what to bring.
What St. Louis patients ask
Do I need a referral to be seen?
No. St. Louis County patients can book directly. Treatment starts once you have been examined in person.
Will I have to take medication forever?
That is a choice you make with your doctor, not a condition of being treated here. Some patients taper off after a stretch of stability. Others do better staying on medicine long term. There is no medical reason to force an end. When you do taper, we set the pace so your risk of overdose stays as low as it can.
Is any of this handled over the phone?
The medical visit — evaluation, exam and prescribing — is in person, every time. Phone contact is kept for urgent support between visits, because patients in this group can get unsteady and need someone to reach them. But the phone checks in and never prescribes. See the clinic FAQ.
Does outpatient addiction treatment exist in St. Louis?
Yes. Addictionology Center is office-based. The medical part of your care happens at a clinic appointment with a doctor at 4477 Woodson Rd, next to Lambert Airport. You are examined, medicine is started, and you go home the same day. There is no live-in stay and no leave from work. So treatment fits around your job instead of replacing it.
How successful is outpatient addiction treatment?
For most people with opioid or alcohol use disorder, office-based care is the right level of treatment. The evidence for medicine given this way is stronger than for anything that needs a bed. Patients kept on buprenorphine die at much lower rates than patients who are not. The risk climbs again when the medicine stops. Medicine ends the daily emergency so the rest of recovery can be worked on.
Finding the clinic from St. Louis County
Addictionology Center
4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 101
St. Louis, MO 63134
Next to St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
Phone: +1 (314) 463-0100
Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM