Opioid Addiction and Opiate Dependence

If you have found yourself in the grips of an Opioid addiction, do not wait to get help. If you have no idea where to start, locating and researching all the available options for Opiate addiction recovery centers in your area is a good start. You do not want to find yourself in a rehab center that is not fully equipped to handle the complexity of an Opioid addiction. Receiving specialized treatment for an Opioid addiction will better your chances for long-lasting recovery.

Please give us a call if this is an emergency and do not try to stop your medications on your own. Some medication withdrawal and detoxification can be life-threatening. We will make sure that your detox is done safely and medically supervised.

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Opioids/ Opiates

Opiates are drugs derived from opium. At one time “opioids” referred to synthetic opiates only (drugs created to emulate opium, however different chemically). Now the term Opioid is used for the entire family of opiates including natural, synthetic and semi-synthetic. The scope of abuse and the availability of opioid-based drugs has skyrocketed out of control in recent years. There have been drastic increases in the number of prescriptions written and dispensed in the United States, partly due to the social acceptance growing for people who use medications for different conditions, and partly due to the aggressive ad campaigns and marketing strategies deployed by pharmaceutical companies. This has laid the foundation that created a broad availability of prescription drugs in general and opioid analgesics.

Opioid prescription medications dispensed in 1991, was over 71 million prescriptions and peaked to 219 million in 2011 due to pain management clinics closing in Florida and around the country. The prescriptions dispensed in 2013 showed a steady decline to 207 million. The United States accounts for almost 100% of the Hydrocodone world total and about 81% of the world’s supply of Oxycodone.
addiction to pills

Effects of Opiate Abuse on the brain and body

Opioids are usually prescribed to relieve some sort of pain, from moderate to severe. The most commonly prescribed pain medications are Vicodin and Oxycodone. These drugs can come in varying dosages and names depending on the manufacturer. They act on the opioid receptors, which can be found on the nerve cells in the brain, spinal cord, gastric intestinal tract, and other organs in the body. When you introduce these drugs into the bloodstream, they attach themselves to the receptors throughout the body to give us relief from pain and a sense of well-being. There can be mild to severe side effects and most commonly reported was itching, nausea, drowsiness, mental confusion, and constipation.

The availability of opiate prescription drugs has had several negative impacts on society. The negative consequences of opioid abuse include increases in medical intervention due to non-medical opioid abuse, increasing from 144,600 in 2004 to a staggering 305,900 intakes for 2008.

Opioids are listed more often than heroin or cocaine, as the cause of death, by 2002 and have more than tripled in the last 20 years.

opioid types

List of Common Opiates in Increasing Strength

These are some of the common opiates and their generic names. They are listed in order of increasing strength.

Codeine
Vicodin, (Hydrocodone)
MS Contin Kadian (Morphine)
Oxycontin, Percocet (Oxycodone)
Dilaudid (Hydromorphone)
Duragesic (Fentanyl)

Co-occurring Disorders

Some people who develop an opioid addiction can experience other mental and physical conditions alongside the dependency issue. Over 40% of people who are diagnosed with opioid addiction have an underlying mental condition or substance abuse-related disorder. The most common of these types of disorders are:

Depressive disorder
Insomnia
Antisocial personality disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Anxiety
Bipolar disorder
Dysthymia
Benzodiazepine abuse
Stimulant abuse
Alcohol abuse
Marijuana abuse

People who inject opioids make themselves more sustainable to co-occurring medical conditions including viral ailments and infections like HIV-hepatitis C and B or bacterial infection.

Why do you have to continue to take more opioids to get the same effect as before?

Due to the properties of opioids, they have a tendency, over time, to build up a tolerance to the drug being taken. Tolerance can occur when a person no longer responds to the medication they are taking, the same as they did before, leading the person to take more of the drug to induce the same desired effect. Tolerance can lead to overdoses, usually after a period of abstinence, then trying to use the same amount as they used to, with a tolerance. As time went on, their tolerance has changed or reverted back to a lower tolerance leading to overdoses. The combined use of opioids and Benzodiazepines can cause a fatal overdose scenario, especially if mixed with alcohol. Although more men die from prescription drug overdoses than women; deaths from opioids have increased 5 times between the years of 1999 and 2010 for women and 3.5 times for men in the same years. If you or a loved one needs help with opioid addiction, call us today.

1-800-513-5423

Is there a relationship between heroin abuse and opioid addiction?

Abusers of opioids are shifting to using heroin as there is more availability of the drug on the street. It has become increasingly harder to abuse pill-form opioids due to cost constraints and availability on the streets. Following the abuse-deterrent formulation of Oxycontin, making it more difficult to find on the street, abusers have little choice to stay away from withdrawal symptoms, but to cross over to the more readily available and cheaper drug, heroin.

Due to the availability of heroin, over the last 2 years 2014 -2015, has shown that there is a rise in the crossover addiction trends. Mainly due in part to, the expense associated with maintaining an opioid addiction vs almost 1/3 of the cost to use heroin for the same purpose. There has been a noticeable rise in heroin overdoses and a significant decline in prescription overdoses for the same period 2014-2015.

New overdose prevention methods

The opioid overdose antidote Naloxone, for many years, has been only available for use in an injection form and administered only by medical emergency personnel. Due to the increase of need, there have been significant improvements to the delivery system in the form of a hand-held auto-injection unit, specially designed for family members and caregivers for effective and rapid application of the life-saving drug Naloxone. NIDA is also supporting the research and development of a Naloxone nasal spray a needle-free, unit-dose, ready-to-use opioid antidote that can easily be used by the overdose victim themselves, first responder, or even a friend in case of an emergency.

Opiate Treatment and Detoxification

Opioid addiction treatment programs will usually require some sort of medically assisted detox. Depending on the level of abuse and the types of drugs being abused, will be the determining factor in deciding what type of medication will be best to handle the withdrawal symptoms. Making sure to take into account all the drugs that are being abused will give the detoxification doctors and nurses a good idea as to the duration of time needed to safely detox from the abused opioids.

Recent improvements in detoxification protocols have laid the groundwork for anesthesia-assisted rapid detox. Rapidly flushing the drug of abuse out of the system and inducing withdrawal symptoms, while being put to sleep, to make the detox process last significantly less than a medical detox.

Detox is in no way a treatment for opioid addiction, it is just the first step in a long process of learning and applying what you have learned in order to remain abstinent from the drug. This is done through therapy and activities that promote a healthy lifestyle.

Working with an addiction specialist will help you find the right solution to the opioid addiction that has a grip on your life. Recovery from an opioid addiction starts with detox and therapy and for some cases, there may be a maintenance drug prescribed to help handle the cravings and stabilize the individual so treatment can be done without interruption.

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Signs and symptoms of an opioid addiction

For someone, to continue use despite knowing that the addiction is worsening is an underlying psychological problem.

Anxiety
Poor judgment
Confusion
Memory problems
Poor concentration
Inability to plan
Euphoria

When you take opioids for a longer period of time, you will need to take the drugs at higher doses.

Unsuccessful at CUTTING down or stopping the drug altogether
Spending increased amounts of time finding buying or using opioids
Not meeting your responsibilities
Continued use even after an adverse event
Previously important tasks and obligations take a back seat to the opioid addiction
Continued use in places of situations that could have adverse consequences
Psychological and physical symptoms of abuse
Cravings to make sure that you continue usage
Sleeplessness or sedation
Itching
Nausea vomiting
Rashes or flushed skin
Slurred speech
Pupils constricted
Chest pain
Decreased respiratory system (trouble breathing)
Constipation
Drug is taken to avoid withdrawal symptoms

Recovery From Opioid Addiction

Make sure you have support from people who are going through the same thing. There are many benefits of getting support from peers in a group setting.

When involved in a 12 step program or any support group or system be sure to:

Avoid high-risk areas and situations
Be honest and share how you feel even if it is a feeling of wanting to use
Learn relapse prevention and the early warning signs
Make sure to take your recovery one day at a time
Set reasonable goals and expectations to ensure that you feel progression not regression

Our counselors are standing by, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help.

1-800-513-5423

There are several medications that are used in the treatment of opiate addiction with high success. Suboxone, Subutex, Buprenorphine, are used for withdrawing and detoxification from opioids and also may be used as a maintenance drug to quell the onset of withdrawal and symptoms of detox.

Revia (Naltrexone), belongs to a class of drugs known as opiate antagonists. It works in the brain to prevent opiate effects (e.g., feelings of well-being, pain relief). It also decreases the desire to take opiates. Often used in conjunction with Buprenorphine or Suboxone to reverse the effects of Buprenorphine (blocking the high), ensuring that there is less danger of reversion back to the illegal usage of the drug.

Methadone is also often used in maintenance to stop the onset of withdrawal from an opioid-based drug. Methadone is highly addictive and stopping the use of methadone without medical intervention of weaning down, can cause serious health complications. If you are feeling the onset of withdrawal from opioids and are in need of help finding the appropriate treatment for this addiction, please don’t hesitate to call. The call is free and so is the information. We will help you find the best opioid treatment to fit your needs and budget.