Take Successful Steps to Drug Addiction Recovery

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July 14, 2022 at 10:00 a.m

Author:
Huntsman Mental Health Institute

Information in Spanish

If you are starting or thinking about recovery, you need to understand why you became addicted to drugs and how they changed your behavior. You’ll also want to know what to expect from drug addiction recovery and how to avoid relapse.

Drug addiction can affect many aspects of your life. “When using drugs or drinking becomes your goal, you’re tempted to pull yourself away from the things you enjoy and the people you love to pursue your addiction,” says Rebecca Hyde, MA, service manager at recovery at Huntsman Mental Health Institute (HMHI). ). “The most important thing to remember is that asking for help makes you strong: you have the strength to want more and to see a better future.”

Why did you become addicted to drugs?

Your road to drug addiction probably began by taking drugs for recreational use or using a prescription for an illness. Over time, your ability to choose not to take drugs became compromised. Seeking and depending on drugs became compulsive. Long-term exposure to drugs changes your brain and can have harmful and long-lasting consequences.

How have drugs changed your behavior?

Addiction affects the parts of the brain involved in reward and motivation, learning and memory, and behavioral control. Addiction can lead to negative behaviors such as:

• Inability to stop
• Changes in mood, appetite and sleep
• Continued drug use despite negative consequences
• Denial
• Participate in risky behaviors
• Legal and financial problems
• Losing interest in previously enjoyed activities
• Putting the substance or use ahead of other parts of your life, such as family, work, and other responsibilities
• the secret
• Using ever-increasing amounts of substances
• Take more substance than you wanted
• Withdrawal symptoms

What can you expect from drug addiction recovery?

“A lot of people think they can stop using them and stay sober on their own,” says Hyde. “They may have periods of sobriety, but then find themselves falling back into their old patterns. Recovery programs provide the skills, support and accountability that allow people to succeed.”

By complying with behavioral therapies, appropriate medication management, experiential therapies, family therapy, and aftercare, participants can acquire skills to manage and balance family, community, and work situations and help prevent relapse.

Treatment is usually intensive at first, with frequent and long sessions. After completing the initial, intensive treatment, patients move on to less frequent sessions and weekly check-ins to help maintain recovery.

Successful treatment includes:

• Medically assisted detoxification (if needed)
• Medicines to reduce cravings, control withdrawal symptoms and prevent relapse
• Assessment and treatment of co-occurring mental health problems such as depression and anxiety
• Behavioral therapies to modify attitudes and behaviors related to drug use, increase healthy life skills, and improve relationships.
• Education about healthy relationships, boundaries and other life skills
• Long-term follow-up to avoid relapses

Patients can receive treatment in many different settings and approaches:

External clinics

• Management of substance use medications and co-occurring conditions
• Individual and group counseling

Intensive outpatient programs

• Group therapy sessions
• Family support groups
• Educational groups for patients and their loved ones
• Art therapy/recreation
• Relapse prevention groups

Recovery housing

• Short-term accommodation for supervised patients, following hospital or residential treatment
• Support for the transition to independent living

Residential treatment

• Licensed residential treatment facilities that provide intensive, structured 24-hour care, including safe housing and medical care (programs typically last 30 days)
• Various therapeutic approaches to help patients develop sobriety

Hospital medical detoxification

• Medically supervised detox from alcohol and other drugs (usually takes two to five days)
• Staff-assisted development of effective treatment continuation plans for patients

How will you avoid a relapse?

It is essential that you maintain the treatment for a prescribed and appropriate time. Drug abuse can change the function of your brain, and many things can “trigger” your drug cravings after drug addiction recovery. Learning to recognize, avoid, and deal with triggers is key to maintaining sobriety.

Emotional and mental relapse can begin weeks or even months before the physical relapse event. During treatment, you will learn the early warning signs of relapse and specific prevention techniques for each stage of relapse. You’ll also have systems and people you can reach out to to support your continued sobriety.

“People with addiction find themselves in a world that’s getting smaller and more isolated,” says Hyde. “The opposite of addiction is connection. If you have substance abuse problems, reach out for treatment. This first step will ultimately allow you to build a world of healthy relationships with family, friends, and yourself themselves”.

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Pharmacy researcher wins $2.3 million NIH award to study opioid addiction

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LAWRENCE – A University of Kansas researcher is taking a new approach to America’s prolific opioid addiction problem. With a $2.3 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Zijun Wang will investigate the implications of the DNA breakage and repair process in opioid use disorder.

Wang’s work is based on the premise that opioid addiction is a psychiatric disorder caused by molecular changes in the brain that alter behavior.

“Drug addiction is not a moral wrong,” said Wang, assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology. “In terms of addiction, the reward pathway in the brain is hijacked by repeated exposure to drugs. Drug-induced structural changes result in many abnormal behaviors, including reduced inhibitory control that prevents someone from avoiding behaviors with consequences negative”.

The human genome consists of more than 3 billion base pairs of DNA, containing more than 20,000 genes. This genetic material is used in complex biochemical processes in the function, development and replication of human cells. Wang said the genome is under attack from several sources. Normally, the DNA repair process can overcome these attacks, but repeated drug exposure can disrupt this process, “changing gene expression, cell function, and causing abnormal behaviors linked to drug addiction.” drugs”.

Wang’s research focuses on the DNA breakage and repair processes altered by addiction. Ultimately, Wang said, he aims to “help the genome maintain a normal or healthy environment in the cell and identify a potential therapy for these patients to prevent them from relapsing into drug use.”

The therapeutic approach needed to target DNA breaks has not yet been developed, but could come in the form of a drug or gene therapy. “Right now, we’re still in the early stages, but ultimately we want to provide new insight for the development of future therapies,” Wang said. “The first thing we want to do is get a clearer idea of ​​the neurobiology underlying this opioid addiction.”

“The work in this grant addresses a critical issue: what causes drug users to relapse into drug use after they successfully stop using drugs,” said Nancy Muma, chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. “Zijun has developed a novel approach to determine whether the problem is damage to the person’s genes. If this is the case, future research can begin to address ways to mitigate gene damage to prevent or reduce relapse.”

“This is new research that no one else has done before,” Wang said. “How does DNA damage contribute to opioid addiction? We’re trying to make a link between them. At the end of the day, we want to find a treatment that can reduce drug-seeking behavior.”

This grant is funded through the Future of Genetics or Epigenetics of Substance Use Disorders program which supports highly creative early-stage researchers who propose innovative studies that open up new areas of research for the genetics or epigenetics of the addiction

Photo: Zijun Wang, assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Kansas.

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Florida Sues Pharmacies Over Opioid Sales

The state of Florida is suing two of the nation’s largest drugstores, Walgreens and CVS, for allegedly contributing to the opioid crisis, reports the Associated Press. The lawsuit argues that these pharmacies have contributed to the opioid crisis in the U.S. by way of inflating the supply and demand for opioids in the state.

This is the latest action the state has taken in the fight against moneyed pharmaceutical interests, and this case will be added to an existing lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the maker of the highly addictive opioid painkiller, OxyContin, and other pharmaceutical companies who have been accused of contributing to the ongoing opioid crisis in the country.

What do Pharmacies have to do with the Opioid Crisis?

Attorney General Pam Bondi said that CVS and Walgreens had failed to halt “suspicious orders of opioids” and the dispensing of “unreasonable quantities” of these drugs. The lawsuit claims that since 2016, Walgreens has dispensed billions of opioids from Floridian pharmacies. As many as 2.2 million opioid prescriptions were dispensed from a store in Hudson, Tampa, a shockingly high number for a city of just 12,000 residents. Some stores saw opioid sales skyrocket, increasing 6-fold in only 2 years.

It is Bondi’s belief that thousands of Floridians have suffered because of the actions of these pharmacies.

This isn’t the first time these pharmacy chains have gotten into trouble. Just 5 years ago, Walgreens was said to have paid $80 million to resolve a federal investigation into violations of record-keeping and dispensing requirements. According to related documents, Walgreens’ negligence resulted in controlled substances such as opioid painkillers being diverted for abuse and for sale on the black market.

What was the Response from the Accused Companies?

Walgreens declined to comment on the lawsuit. CVS, however, pushed back in a recent statement. Spokesperson Mike DeAngelis said the lawsuit was “without merit.” DeAngelis continued, “Over the past several years, CVS has taken numerous actions to strengthen our existing safeguards to help address the nation’s opioid epidemic.”

De Angelis assured the public that CVS trains its pharmacists and assistants how to responsibly dispense controlled substances. He also said that they are trained to detect potentially illegal sales. But is it enough?

While we have seen some progress in Florida—largely focused on the crackdown on pain mills, a system in which drug dealers send people to clinics to get illegitimate prescriptions for opioid painkillers—the opioid crisis shows few signs of relenting. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. continues to rise and is largely driven by opioids. An estimated 130 people die each day from an opioid overdose. We must do more.

The post Florida Sues Pharmacies Over Opioid Sales appeared first on Drug Rehab Options.

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Awareness of Steuben addiction hosts its first signature recovery event

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BATH, NY (WETM): The Steuben County Organization’s Addiction Awareness developed a new event to support people in the community recovering from addiction. The local organization created Speaker Jam to show the importance of recovery in The Southern Tier through the lens of speakers who have struggled with addiction.

“I think addiction is the main public safety problem. And if we look at the ancillary crimes associated with the addiction that drives the criminal justice bus to put it in some way, and how much more can we do to help those who are in a substance use disorder in recover, the healthier we will go to be as a county, the healthier we will be as a community and the better we will be as a society, ”said Jim Allard, Steuben County Sheriff

This event led residents who are in recovery or who have recently recovered to share their story with those in the community who may still need help.

Speaker Jam Recovery Event in Bath, New York

“I want them to know that recovery is possible, that people can get to the other side, be healthy and be productive members of this society and be successful in recovery,” said Jaime Dyke, director, Addiction Knowing the County of Steuben

As a counselor and advocate for recovery, guidance is the best approach when working with people who have addiction problems.

“All you do is guide them, that is, this is my main focus, I always say I can drive the horse in the water, but I can’t make them drink the water, I give them the tools they need, me, I offer them everything I can stand up for them if that’s what they need, you know you’re helping people get the tools they need and the knowledge to get them back and encourage them, that’s a great thing, ”Dyke said

Steuben County staff, aware of the addiction, had various services in sight for anyone seeking help.

They are proud of the event as it offered speakers the opportunity to share their stories that led to the addiction and how they recovered.

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