In a special detox facility, medications may be administered to help you get through the process. Your care team might decide that a substitute opioid drug is appropriate to prevent the worst of the withdrawals. If so, a drug such as buprenorphine could be administered as the methadone is slowly removed. Because buprenorphine also acts on the brain’s opioid receptors, it helps lessen the impact and gives your body a chance to get used to the withdrawal of the methadone.