How Opiate Rehab Will Help You Heal

Whether abusing opiates in the form of prescription pain pills or heroin, the potential for addiction runs considerably high. Once addicted, the damaging effects of chronic drug abuse make it all but impossible to stop using on one’s own.

Granted, entering opiate rehab may be the last thing a person wants to do, but after a certain point even the addict can see that something’s got to change and he or she is powerless to make it happen. Fortunately, anyone considering getting help has a range of different opiate rehab programs from which to choose.

While stopping drug use and maintaining abstinence remain the overall goals of opiate rehab treatment, addiction attacks both the mind and the body leaving considerable damage in its wake, so there’s a certain time investment to consider. That being so, opiate rehab programs specialize in supporting the body’s healing mechanisms and strengthening a person’s motivation to stay well.

Ultimately, ensuring a successful recovery starts out by getting the level of opiate rehab treatment that best addresses your specific treatment needs. We can help you make that assessment and find the best treatment for you. Call 800-895-1695 for a free consultation today.

The Damaging Effects of Opiate Addiction

Addictive opiate drugs all work in the same way by slowing down chemical processes in the brain. In general, opiates act as pain-relieving agents in one form or another.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, when ingested, opiates stimulate the production of brain neurotransmitter chemicals from individual cell sites. These neurotransmitters act as the brain’s own “feel good” chemicals, and incidentally share a similar chemical structure as addictive opiate drugs.

Considering how normal brain function relies on a certain balance of neurotransmitters at all times, the effects of ongoing opiate abuse disrupt the brain’s natural chemical balance. In effect, the damage brought on by opiate abuse stems from the chemical imbalances these drugs incite. Without needed opiate rehab treatment, these imbalances will continue to worsen for as long as a person keeps using.

Physical Effects

The physical effects of opiate abuse first take shape in the brain as overworked cell sites start to show signs of wear and tear. Over time, cell structures undergo considerable damage, which makes them less sensitive to the effects of opiate drugs.

This process only worsens chemical imbalances in the brain as cells lose their ability to secrete neurotransmitter chemicals at required levels. In addition, someone who’s trying to get “high” will have to take even larger dosage amounts in order to compensate for weakened cell site structures.

Before long, brain cell secretion processes become totally dependent on opiates to function normally. By the time a person enters opiate rehab, the brain’s chemical pathways and overall structure have undergone considerable change.

How Opiate Rehab Helps

Helping addicts abstain from ongoing drug use and stabilizing brain chemical processes become the two primary goals of opiate rehab treatment. Through detox and medication therapy treatment, addicts can take the first steps towards breaking opiate addiction. We can help you find an opiate addiction treatment program. Call 800-895-1695 today.

While detoxing is an essential first step towards ongoing abstinence, not everyone will require medication therapy treatment. As detox programs do conduct an initial assessment of a person’s condition, any and all treatment provided is based on each person’s individual treatment needs.

Opiate rehab detox programs provide round-the-clock care and monitoring throughout the withdrawal period, which can be quite distressing for people coming off chronic opiate addictions. Detox programs not only help addicts make it through this most difficult stage of recovery, but also treat any medical problems that result from drug use.

For people with a long history of opiate abuse, the widespread damage done to the brain make it all but impossible for a person to maintain abstinence as withdrawal and drug cravings can be unbearable. Under these conditions, opiate rehab programs administer medication therapies specifically designed to help relieve withdrawal and cravings symptoms. Medication therapies commonly used include methadone and buprenorphine.

Psychological Effects

The psychological effects from opiate abuse lie at the heart of addiction. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the effects of opiates on a person’s thinking and emotions can linger for years after he or she stops using drugs. In essence, opiate rehab treatment doesn’t actually begin until a person takes the necessary steps to replace the addiction mindset with a healthy approach to daily living.

How Opiate Rehab Helps

Opiate rehab programs offer a range of treatment interventions designed to help addicts replace addiction-based thinking patterns with a healthy mindset. Interventions used in this regard include –

• Individual psychotherapy
• 12-Step support groups
• Drug education counseling

Also known as behavioral interventions, this line of treatment becomes an essential part of the recovery process regardless of what stage of recovery a person is in.

Lifestyle Effects

Addiction’s hold on the mind inevitably drives a person’s behaviors and dictates what his or her priorities will be. Consequently, someone addicted to opiates will create a lifestyle that caters to getting and using drugs.

These lifestyle effects not only support and encourage continued drug use, but essentially destroy the quality of a person’s life in the process. Job loss, money problems and broken families soon follow as drugs become the top priority in a person’s life.

How Opiate Rehab Helps

Opiate rehab treatment provides recovering addicts with the tools needed to build a healthy lifestyle. This entails helping those in recovery replace the people, places and activities that make up the addiction lifestyle.

Relationship-building skills, developing new interests and setting realistic life goals all play a part in helping addicts rebuild their lives. Treatment interventions used to accomplish these ends include –

• Group therapy
• Family therapy
• Relationship counseling

Within these settings, a person gains real-life experience on how to form healthy relationships with others while developing the types of behaviors and routines that support a drug-free lifestyle.

Considerations

Recovering from an opiate addiction takes time and patience since the damage done by drug abuse, more oftentimes than not, takes longer to heal than expected. More than anything else, the damaging effects of addiction on a person’s sense of self and purpose warrant the time and attention needed to break addiction’s hold over his or her life. Anyone considering opiate rehab treatment may want to keep an open mind as recovery entails learning new ways of thinking and being that may be completely new and different. Don’t let your addiction control your life any longer. Call 800-895-1695 to find the help you need today.