Treatment For Opiate Addiction
There are many treatment options to choose from, but research suggests the most effective form of treatment for Opiate addiction is inpatient detox followed by inpatient rehab. Inpatient rehab centers have specialized programs for individuals suffering from this type of substance use disorder. These programs help patients dig deep within themselves to uncover the root cause of their drug use. Knowing what caused patients to use drugs or alcohol in the first place will help prevent future triggers while in recovery.
Many individuals quickly find that the rewards of progressing through a treatment program far outweigh the high they formerly gained from drug use.
Effective forms of therapy used during treatment often include cognitive behavioral therapy, individual and group counseling, and 12-step programs.
Featured Centers Offering Opiate Addiction Treatment
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Jeffrey Juergens earned his Bachelors and Juris Doctor from the University of Florida. Jeffreys desire to help others led him to focus on economic and social development and policy making. After graduation, he decided to pursue his passion of writing and editing. Jeffreys mission is to educate and inform the public on addiction issues and help those in need of treatment find the best option for them.
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All of the information on this page has been reviewed and verified by a certified addiction professional.
Types Of Treatment Centers For Opioid Addiction
When you think about drug treatment, do you see yourself living at the facility for the duration of your treatment program or visiting the center for a certain number of hours each day? The answer to this question will tell you what type of treatment program you need, including inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment and partial hospitalization.
Signs Of Opioid Addiction
But how do you know if you have a struggle with opioid addiction? There are a few common symptoms and signs of opioid addiction to be aware of, though its important to remember that addiction impacts different people in different ways.
The most obvious signs of opioid addiction is that sense of euphoria that we mentionedand a loss of that euphoric feeling when you stop using opioids. If you need to take opioids to feel happy or secure, thats a sure sign of addiction. Likewise, if you discontinue taking the drugs but experience intense paint or sadness, thats also a symptom of opioid addiction.
Some additional physical signs of opioid addiction include:
- Sedation or drowsiness
- Nodding off, or even loss of consciousness
- Constipation
- Inability to sleep
- Overwhelming anxiety
If you or a loved one exhibit any of these symptoms, it could mean that theres an opioid addiction problem. The good news is, opioid treatment can effectively break addictions bond, and restore physical and mental health.
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Treatment Approaches For Drug Addiction Drugfacts
NOTE: This fact sheet discusses research findings on effective treatment approaches for drug abuse and addiction. If youre seeking treatment, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP or go to for information on hotlines, counseling services, or treatment options in your state.
How Does Counseling Treat Opioid Misuse And Addiction
Counseling for opioid misuse and addiction can help you:
- Change your attitudes and behaviors related to drug use
- Build healthy life skills
- Stick with other forms of treatment, such as medicines
There are different types of counseling to treat opioid misuse and addiction, including:
- Individual counseling, which may include setting goals, talking about setbacks, and celebrating progress. You may also talk about legal concerns and family problems. Counseling often includes specific behavioral therapies, such as
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps you recognize and stop negative patterns of thinking and behavior. It teaches you coping skills, including how to manage stress and change the thoughts that cause you to want to misuse opioids.
- Motivational enhancement therapy helps you build up motivation to stick with your treatment plan
- Contingency management focuses on giving you incentives for positive behaviors such as staying off the opioids
- Group counseling, which can help you feel that you are not alone with your issues. You get a chance to hear about the difficulties and successes of others who have the same challenges. This can help you to learn new strategies for dealing with the situations you may come across.
- Family counseling/ includes partners or spouses and other family members who are close to you. It can help to repair and improve your family relationships.
Counselors can also refer you to other resources that you might need, such as:
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What Is Drug Addiction
Drug addiction is a chronic disease characterized by compulsive, or uncontrollable, drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences and changes in the brain, which can be long-lasting. These changes in the brain can lead to the harmful behaviors seen in people who use drugs. Drug addiction is also a relapsing disease. Relapse is the return to drug use after an attempt to stop.
The path to drug addiction begins with the voluntary act of taking drugs. But over time, a person’s ability to choose not to do so becomes compromised. Seeking and taking the drug becomes compulsive. This is mostly due to the effects of long-term drug exposure on brain function. Addiction affects parts of the brain involved in reward and motivation, learning and memory, and control over behavior.
Addiction is a disease that affects both the brain and behavior.
Which Medicines Treat Opioid Misuse And Addiction
The medicines used to treat opioid misuse and addiction are methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone.
Methadone and buprenorphine can decrease withdrawal symptoms and cravings. They work by acting on the same targets in the brain as other opioids, but they do not make you feel high. Some people worry that if they take methadone or buprenorphine, it means that they are substituting one addiction for another. But it is not these medicines are a treatment. They restore balance to the parts of the brain affected by addiction. This allows your brain to heal while you work toward recovery.
There is also a combination drug that includes buprenorphine and naloxone. Naloxone is a drug to treat an opioid overdose. If you take it along with buprenorphine, you will be less likely to misuse the buprenorphine.
You may safely take these medicines for months, years, or even a lifetime. If you want to stop taking them, do not do it on your own. You should contact your health care provider first, and work out a plan for stopping.
Naltrexone works differently than methadone and buprenorphine. It does not help you with withdrawal symptoms or cravings. Instead, it takes away the high that you would normally get when you take opioids. Because of this, you would take naltrexone to prevent a relapse, not to try to get off opioids. You have to be off opioids for at least 7-10 days before you can take naltrexone. Otherwise you could have bad withdrawal symptoms.
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Opioid Overdose Symptoms & What To Do
An opioid overdose can occur whether a person is using a prescription medication or illicit drugs.6An opioid overdose can be life-threatening.6 One of the side effects of opioids is slowed breathing when a person overdoses, breathing can stop, reducing oxygen to the brain, which can result in a coma, irreversible brain damage, or death.6, 17
Opioid overdoses are causing significant deaths in the United States, as these statistics from 2018 show:9, 18, 19, 20
- There were 128 deaths attributed to opioid overdoses each day.
- Of the 67,367 overdose deaths that occurred, 46,802 involved an opioid.
- Of all opioid-related overdose deaths , two-thirds were attributed to synthetic opioids.
- Nearly one-third of opioid-involved overdose deaths were due to prescription opioids.
- There were 14,996 deaths due to heroin.
If someone is experiencing an overdose, it is important to recognize the signs so you can get help. Signs that a person has overdosed on opioids include:3, 21, 22
You can help someone experiencing an opioid overdose. You should immediately call 911 for assistance6 to ensure that the person receives medical attention as soon as possible.
Communication And Supportive Community
A big part of overcoming an addiction is about talking about your problems and working through them. Therapists can help with this and some facilities have people like that you can talk to while you also get help for the physical aspects of your opioid addiction. Talking can help you in your recovery more than you think. A lot of people can find it hard to open up and talk about their problems and what theyve been through in the past, but you should at least try to give it a chance if you get the chance to.
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Is Treatment Different For Criminal Justice Populations
Scientific research since the mid-1970s shows that drug abuse treatment can help many drug-using offenders change their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors towards drug abuse avoid relapse and successfully remove themselves from a life of substance abuse and crime. Many of the principles of treating drug addiction are similar for people within the criminal justice system as for those in the general population. However, many offenders dont have access to the types of services they need. Treatment that is of poor quality or is not well suited to the needs of offenders may not be effective at reducing drug use and criminal behavior.
In addition to the general principles of treatment, some considerations specific to offenders include the following:
- Treatment should include development of specific cognitive skills to help the offender adjust attitudes and beliefs that lead to drug abuse and crime, such as feeling entitled to have things ones own way or not understanding the consequences of ones behavior. This includes skills related to thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering.
- Treatment planning should include tailored services within the correctional facility as well as transition to community-based treatment after release.
- Ongoing coordination between treatment providers and courts or parole and probation officers is important in addressing the complex needs of offenders re-entering society.
What Is Opioid Addiction
Opioids are a drug often found in many painkillers. These opioids are known for protecting the patient from certain pain stimulators. Basically, they numb them, and mentally the effect could be a little hallucinogenic, giving the patient a feeling of euphoria. There are scenario places in which opioids are prescribed.
- Opioids are prescribed after a painful surgery.
- They can also be prescribed when you have a toothache or getting your teeth extracted you will be prescribed opioids.
- Many elderly people are given opioids due to joint pain.
The difference is they are prescribed in very limited, low doses. So, when it comes to addiction, you will either see.
- People refill the prescription a little too frequently.
- They are using different drug stores to fill prescriptions.
- They refuse to go to the doctors, even after serious ailments.
- The pill bottle is always empty.
These are some of the common signs to detect opioid addiction. If you are suspicious about someone suffering from this addiction, then finding these signs is the queue to either talk to them or get some external help.
What Is The Method Of Treatment For Opioid Addiction
These are some of the common signs which can help you understand the different treatments that a person will go through when it comes to opioid addiction.
Note: These are only applicable for the people who are getting inpatient treatment and not detox.
1. Medical Detox
2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
3. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
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Ways To Get In Contact With Us
If you believe you or someone you love may be struggling with addiction, let us hear your story and help you determine a path to treatment.
There are a variety of confidential, free, and no obligation ways to get in contact with us to learn more about treatment.
Signs Of Codeine Addiction
Certain behaviors that may indicate codeine addiction include:16, 17
- Buying codeine illegally or on the street
- Faking symptoms for prescription codeine
- Shopping for doctors to get multiple prescriptions
- Stealing codeine from a healthcare provider
- Stealing money to buy the drug
- An inability to stop taking codeine after unsuccessful attempts
- Taking other opioids if codeine is unavailable
- Experiencing withdrawal symptoms when not taking codeine
Diagnosing any opioid addiction requires a thorough medical evaluation. This includes lab tests and monitoring of prescription medications.
Doctors use the 11 criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition to diagnose opioid use disorder . These criteria include excessive cravings, recurrent use, tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms.9
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Evaluating Safety And Efficacy
Monitoring opioid substitution therapy is part of the management plan. This includes regular assessment for any adverse events and the patient’s progress.
There are many long-term problems and other complications of opioid therapy including gut motility disturbances, hypogonadism, hyperalgesia, osteoporosis, tooth decay, hyperhydrosis, sleep disorder and driving hazards.1520 Monitoring safety includes ensuring safe storage and transport of the medicine by the patient. Buprenorphine film may melt in temperatures above 25°C. Using a lockable box to store take-away doses is essential when children are at home.
As patients see their pharmacist frequently, the pharmacist can give the prescriber further information about the patient’s treatment adherence and daily functioning. Because addiction is associated with significant mental and physical risks and adversely impacts on families, opioid substitution therapy is recommended to be provided in a family inclusive context. This also helps the prescriber obtain further important information about the patient’s functioning. In most states, prescribers and pharmacists need accreditation to provide opioid substitution therapy and there is some state variability in regulations, hence familiarity with state guidelines is necessary. National treatment guidelines are in press5 and Box 3 summarises recommended monitoring.
Opioid Addiction: How It Starts
Weve already hinted at the way opiates work. Essentially, they impact the brains pleasure center, providing an intense rush of happiness, or euphoria. This sense of overall wellbeing mitigates any feeling of pain, which is why opiates have legitimate use as pain management tools.
The problem is that, over time, the brain gets used to that sense of wellbeingand it can become difficult to experience any kind of happiness or euphoria without the assistance of opioids. Therefore, higher and more regular doses are needed just to feel good when this happens, it is not uncommon for an individual to turn to more dangerous drugs, swapping prescription pills for street drugs, or else to misuse those opioid prescriptions.
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What Are Treatments For Drug Addiction
There are many options that have been successful in treating drug addiction, including:
- behavioral counseling
- medical devices and applications used to treat withdrawal symptoms or deliver skills training
- evaluation and treatment for co-occurring mental health issues such as depression and anxiety
- long-term follow-up to prevent relapse
A range of care with a tailored treatment program and follow-up options can be crucial to success. Treatment should include both medical and mental health services as needed. Follow-up care may include community- or family-based recovery support systems.
Do Opiates And Other Opioids Suppress Your Appetite
Opiates and other opioids dont necessarily suppress your appetite directly, but some of the more common side effects can include sleepiness, nausea, and vomiting.10 These side effects can indirectly lead to a decrease in appetite and make it seem like opiates and other opioids suppress the appetite.
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Recovery Is Possible: Treatment For Opioid Addiction
Addiction is a medical condition. Treatment can help. Recovery is possible.
Opioid addiction, also known as opioid use disorder , is a chronic and relapsing disease that can affect anyone. In fact, millions of Americans suffer from opioid addiction.
As with most other chronic diseases, addiction is treatable. If you or someone you know is struggling, treatment is available. While no single treatment method is right for everyone, recovery is possible, and help is available for opioid addiction.
Preventing overdose death and finding treatment options are the first steps to recovery. Treatment may save a life and can help people struggling with opioid addiction get their lives back on track by allowing them to counteract addictions powerful effects on their brain and behavior. The overall goal of treatment is to return people to productive functioning in their family, workplace, and community.
Opioid addiction treatment can vary depending the patients individual needs, occur in a variety of settings, take many different forms, and last for varying lengths of time.
Evidence-based approaches to treating opioid addiction include medications and combining medications with behavioral therapy. A recovery plan that includes medication for opioid addiction increases the chance of success.
SAMHSAs National Helpline is a great resource to share with someone who may have a substance use disorder.
Call 1-800-662-HELP .
Living With Opioid Addiction
The first step toward recovery is recognizing that you have a problem with opioids. If you think you are addicted to them, know that there is help for you. The first step in breaking addiction is realizing that you control your own behavior.
The following steps will help you fight your addiction:
- Commit to quitting. Take control of your behavior and commit to fighting your addictions.
- Get help from your doctor. They can be your biggest ally, even if youre trying to quit a drug they prescribed. Your doctor may be able to prescribe medicine that will help ease your cravings for the addictive drug. Talking with your doctor or a counselor about your problems and your drug use can be helpful, too.
- Get support. Certain organizations are dedicated to helping people who have addictions. They want you to succeed and will give you the tools and support you need to quit and move on with your life. Ask your family and friends for support, too.
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