Recognizing the Need for Opiate Addiction Treatment
An addiction to opiates is very strong, and takes a lot of perseverance, support, and understanding to overcome.
Opiate drugs do a good job at relieving most all types of pain, be it from an injury or from chronic conditions like cancer. Drugs, such as codeine, Demerol and Dilaudid offer effective pain relief properties unlike any other types of medication. Unfortunately, these drugs carry the same addictive potential as heroin, another opiate drug.
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, over 12 million adults reported using opiate drugs for non-medical purposes in 2010. Those who use opiates for long periods of time eventually lose the ability to stop using the drug. Once a person reaches this point, thereās a definite need for opiate addiction treatment.
Opiate Dependence vs. Opiate Addiction
While the terms āopiate dependenceā and āopiate addictionā are often used interchangeably, they do differ in significant ways. Someone whoās been prescribed pain pills for a back injury can become physically dependent on the drugās effects.
People who get to the point where they āfeelā they canāt make it through the day without the drugās effects are dealing with an addiction. Opiate addiction treatment helps addicts deal with both the physical and mental components of addiction.
Tolerance Level Increases
Over time, the brain naturally develops a tolerance for opiate effects. When this happens, a person must take larger doses of the drug to experience the same desired effects. The brain then develops a higher tolerance level, which in turn drives users to take even larger doses.
The longer a person uses the weaker brain functions become as tolerance levels continue to rise. This cycle will continue indefinitely unless a person receives needed opiate addiction treatment.
Psychological Changes
With ongoing exposure to opiateās effects, the brain inevitably starts to develop chemical imbalances that affect a personās emotions and perceptions. By the time most people enter opiate addiction treatment, other psychological disorders have begun to take root.
Psychological changes associated with opiate abuse include:
Mood swings
Problems concentrating
Depression
Confusion
Opiate addiction treatment helps a person replace addiction-type thinking and perceptions with a healthy outlook on life.
Changes in Behavior
As opiate addiction progresses, the drug takes on greater and greater importance in a personās life. Eventually, a personās motivations and actions will revolve around getting and using drugs. Unusual behaviors will surface on a more frequent basis to the point where a personās personality and morals have changed completely.
Changes in behavior make take the form of:
Missing work
Lying
Stealing
Isolating
Changing social circles
Opiate addiction treatment helps recovering addicts regain their sense of self and re-establish normal, everyday lives.
Opiate Addiction Treatment
The physical and psychological pull of opiates can quickly overwhelm a personās ability to cut back or stop using. Opiate addiction treatment programs employ a wide range of techniques for helping recovering addicts take back control of their lives.
Recognizing the need for opiate addiction treatment is the first step towards recovery. Without needed treatment the ongoing cycle of addiction will make it all but impossible for a person to break the drugās hold on his or her life.
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