What Is Opiate Addiction? What Are The After Care Opiate Treatment Programs?

Opiates are also known as narcotics; it is a type of drug that comprises prescription painkillers and illegal medications. Opiate addiction depresses the central nervous system, lessening pain and giving you emotions of happiness. Opiates are drugs originated from the opium poppy and substances that have identical effects on the brain and the body. Unnatural substances that mimic the effects of the opium poppy are called synthetic opioids. Prescription drugs like fentanyl, codeine, and morphine are all variations of opiates, as are some illicit drugs, including heroin, and overusing these substances could lead to opiate addiction. 

What Are Opiates?

While opiates can be very helpful for a medical opiate treatment center, they are highly addictive medications. If a person repeatedly uses opiates, they may develop a substance abuse disorder, which is difficult for physical and mental health. In addition, being addicted to or abusing opiates boosts your risk of accidental overdose. An opioid overdose may lead to coma, breathing problems, and even death. As per the CDC and Protection data, drug addiction is the leading reason for accidental death in the US, with opiate drugs making up seventy percent of the cases.

If a person has an opiate addiction, it may seem like recovery and normalcy are impossible to attain. But with expert help, assistance, and adequate treatment, anyone can come back to a life without opiates. The treatment program offers a mixture of experiential and behavioral therapies to help people reconnect to life without opiates and guide them to lifelong opioid recovery.

What Are Opiates Prescribed For?

Doctors generally prescribe opiates to help lessen moderate to severe pain. They are frequently used if you are suffering from a severe injury, after surgery, or are encountering chronic pain. Physicians may also prescribe opiates if you have terminal cancer or other terminal disease. CDC research found that physicians distributed 153 million opioid drugs across the US in 2019. This correlates to almost one prescription for every other person. Commonly prescribed opiates comprise morphine, methadone, and codeine; you would generally take these in pill form.

While opiates are highly effective for pain relief, they are also addictive. As a result, it is possible to build an opiate addiction when taking the drug exactly as your physician prescribes.

Opiate Addiction Treatment 

Recovery from a SUD (substance abuse disorder) takes a long time. First, it needs to change the behaviors that resulted in a person taking drugs and committing to staying without them. The best method for opiate addiction treatment is through a mixture of different therapies adapted to match the person’s personal needs. 

What Is Opiate Detox?

Opiate detoxification is an addiction treatment that enables people to withdraw from opiates and regain opiate dependence. Opiates are addictive substances that can alter brain chemistry and structure with repeated use, rising the risk for mental health diseases and addiction. Opiate detox programs are designed to help people to stop using opiates without suffering the discomfort and pain caused by withdrawal.

What Happens During Opiate Detox?

Opiate detox generally involves using medications that decrease and relieve opiate cravings and other withdrawal signs. Buprenorphine, methadone, and suboxone are a few FDA-approved drugs used to treat opiate use disorder. People who obtain an opiate detox can replace the abused drug with one of these drugs to benefit from less pain and discomfort as they withdraw from drugs. Some alcohol and drug detox programs also comprise personalized nutrition and supplement plans that help people boost their nutrient consumption during recovery.

What Is Aftercare?

Recovery from drug addiction and misuse does not stop when an opiate treatment near you ends. At its essence, aftercare should be considered a kind of continued treatment that instantly follows the duration of addiction treatment care, like inpatient rehab or outpatient treatment. Your post-treatment period is essential, where strides made during recovery are reinforced. There are various kinds of aftercare treatment choices that can help deter relapse and extend upon the coping strategies learned during rehab. These include:

• Outpatient treatment: The person lives at home while attending an opiate treatment program a few times per week when it’s convenient for them.
• Group counseling: The person will hear and share experiences related to addiction and work to develop social and coping skills in a group setting.
• Individual therapy: The person will meet one-on-one with a therapist to develop upon the progress made during the treatment.
• 12-step programs: Fellowship programs, such as AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and NA (Narcotics Anonymous), deliver support and encouragement for the person on the road to recovery. 

Depending on the person’s needs and disposition, clinicians can prescribe differing lengths of prolonged care or aftercare upon completion of initial opiate treatment centers near you. Therefore, it is essential that the patient pursues their aftercare plan carefully. Continued participation in a twelve-step program is frequently encouraged and, in some cases, needed. Regularly planned outpatient follow-up appointments at a clinic or hospital are also quite common. 

Generally, aftercare entails far less frequent contact with treatment practitioners than during the acute stage of addiction treatment; thus, it approximates a more real-life condition of using self-sufficiency, individual judgment, and hard work as tools for retaining one’s sobriety. In numerous cases, the transition from acute opioid treatment services to self-sufficiency will be surveyed at multiple time intervals per week, providing a substantial incentive for the patient to avoid trigger conditions and resist the urge to use alcohol or drugs again. As part of an extensive aftercare plan, monitoring also serves the objective of detecting an impending or recent relapse, enabling re-evaluation of the patient’s treatment plan. In doing so, it eventually facilitates patient health and safety.