Posts Tagged ‘opioids’

Is Your Teenager Hooked On Oxycontin

Oxyontin has become close to an epidemic the last few years; teenagers and adolescents are a big reason why. Oxycontin is both physically addicting and psychologically and emotionally addicting as well. The oxy endemic has been ruining lives all over the country almost since its introduction. Teenagers addicted to oxy are unstable, and can easily turn very volatile. This behavior- outbursts, threats- will make family members in the home nervous. A young person addicted to Oxy’s can make life at home feel unsafe. If this is your story, you need to commence planning an intervention immediately.

The chances are that you won’t hear your teen say oxy or Oxycontin.  Street slang is used by  teenagers  to talk about getting high. Generally they are referred to simply as pills, but you  might also hear your teenager refer to them as “blues” or as that “deaf”. If you overhear your adolescent say “got any pills” or “want to get some medicine” you can be sure he or she is not talking about vitamins or allergy tablets.

If you discover they are addicted to Oxycontin, you need to take action right away.

Taking stock of the lengths adolescents and teenagers will go to use Oxycontin could surprise you. Some teens smoke the substance by crushing it on aluminum foil and heating it with a lighter from underneath. The smoke causes a fast, bitter euphoria and the harsh chemicals are exceptionally damaging to the lungs. Other teens also crush the time-release pills, but then go a step further and snort the drug which is now a fine powder. Still others get hooked abusing Oxycontin Intravenously; using needles to shoot up the drug. This is even more dangerous as it lowers the “what is okay/what is not okay” standards and can easily lead to heroin use. Heroin is cheaper, and much more inconsistent- even from one drug dealer to another. In addition, any drug use that requires injection with needles and syringes can often lead to viruses including hepatitis and AIDS.

When you are hooked on opiates, all of you is addicted. With a large percentage of other drugs there is a psychological addiction. With opiates, the psychological addiction can be considered stronger than other drugs, but in addition to that the user gets physically addicted. And a sudden stoppage from using Oxycontin and other opiates will send the user’s body into violent withdrawal symptoms, including nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, leg “kicks”, back spasms, sweats, chills, depression, lethargy and aggressiveness. Vomiting repeatedly and having the chills despite running a high fever is absolutely no ones idea of fun. While in a non-medical setting, their bodies will continue to ache intolerably and they will be in extreme physical pain and emotional torment.

A planned, professional Intervention is usually the right course of action in this situation. In a teen intervention, the teen child will be forced to realize the destruction their addiction has caused; both to themselves and to those those around them.  When faced with these truths, very often times the teen decides it is time for a change. They come to the conclusion that they are really hurting the only people that love them and most of all hurting themselves.

If your son or daughter is bringing drugs and drug abuse into the home, you need a solution. You need to a reputable consultant to guide you through the maze of Interventionists, teen rehabs and State and County resources…fast. It’s a very small window-but if you and your child can get through it, you both stand a good chance of leading sober, fulfilled and happy lives.

Am I Addicted?

Am I Addicted?

What follows is a “self-test” that may enlighten you about your level of involvement with drinking and/or drugs. This self-test was not designed to take the place of talking with a professional or undergoing a professional assessment. The intent of this self-test is as a resource whose answers may help you make some decisions about your health.

Broken down to its most simplest, an addict is an individual who has given up a lot of choice, and whose life is controlled to a significant degree by his or her dependence on substances. The substances can be cocaine or heroin, marijuana or inhalants, methamphetamines or tobacco, food or sex, or a combination of several.

The 25 questions, mainly “yes” or “no”, were adapted from a Narcotics Anonymous’ list of criteria for drug addiction. It believe the best part about it is that it absolutely depends on your honesty. If… If you can be honest with yourself, the self-test can be helpful in determining if you are an addict in need of outside help, no matter your drug of choice.

The self-assessment begins here: AM I ADDICTED?

 


If you gave more than 5 “yes” answers during the self-assessment, you should probably consider seeking help. That help can be from  a family doctor, a local agency,  a treatment facility, or an individual therapist. You can also contact us, anonymously, anytime.

The first step in this process is to look honestly at your substance-using behaviors and to determine whether your level of involvement with substances warrants consultation and/or treatment. If the answer is yes – even a qualified and/or hesitant yes – then we encourage you to contact us 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In more acute cases, it may be necessary to go directly into detox and/or a rehabilitation program. There are thousands of programs located throughout the country. Contact us; we love to talk about opiate addiction recovery! Call anytime- 1-800-871-2020.

SUBOXONE® for the Treatment of Opiate Addiction

opiate detox

SUBOXONE® for the Treatment of Opiate Addiction

This article offers a brief look at the use of buprenorphine (Suboxone®)
for the withdrawal and detox of opiates, including:

  • heroin
  • methadone
  • vicodin
  • lortab
  • oxycontin
  • prescription opiates
  • street (illicit) opiates

Clients who have experienced the most success using Suboxone for heroin and other opiate addictions are usually individuals who have been previously and objectively diagnosed as being addicted to opiates. They are are willing to follow safety precautions for treatment, are expected to comply with the treatment, and agree to buprenorphine treatment after going over treatment options.

There are four phases of Suboxone® therapy. The phases are: Induction, Stabilization, Titration and Treatment.

INDUCTION

This phase is the medically monitored startup of buprenorphine therapy. Buprenorphine for induction therapy is administered when an opiate-dependent individual has abstained from using heroin or other opiates for 12-24 hours and is in the early stages of opiate withdrawal or detoxification. If the patient is not in the early stages of detoxification, i.e., if he or she has other opioids in the bloodstream, then the buprenorphine dose could cause acute withdrawal.

Induction is typically initiated as observed therapy in the physician’s office and is carried out using Suboxone®.

STABILIZATION

This phase begins when the client has completely stopped using his or her drug of abuse, cravings are no longer occurring, and the client is experiencing very few or no withdrawal symptoms. The dosage of buprenorphine is generally adjusted during the stabilization phase. And, because of buprenorphines long half-life it is sometimes possible to switch clients to alternate-day dosing; but only once stabilization has been achieved.

TITRATION

The titration phase begins once the client is comfortable, unaffected by cravings and generally doing well on a steady dose of Suboxone®. As the client continues to show no signs of opiate withdrawal, titration begins. The client is slowly and methodically “stepped-down” from the buprenorphine therapy, until he or she is drug-free. This phase replaces what was known commonly as “detoxification”.

TREATMENT

All of an individual’s medical and psychosocial co-morbidities need to be addressed comprehensively for the  treatment of heroin, methadone or other opiates to truly be effective. Medication or drug replacement therapies rarely achieve long-term success by themselves. Suboxone® or any pharmalogical therapy needs to be combined with concurrent behavioral therapy. In fact, this point is considered so important that doctors who take the tests in order to prescribe Suboxone must also state that they have the ability and the means with which to refer clients to additional addiction treatment and counseling.

(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).

Oxycodone and Pain Management

Oxycodone and Pain Management


Oxycodone hydrochloride is an opiate agonist. Opiate agonists provide pain relief by acting on opioid receptors in the spinal cord and the brain, and provide the most effective pain relief available. Oxycodone has an extremely high abuse potential and is prescribed for severe pain associated with injuries, bursitis, dislocations, fractures, neuralgia, arthritis, lower back pain, and
cancer. It is also used postoperatively and for pain relief after childbirth. Individuals who take the drug repeatedly can develop a tolerance or resistance to its effects. Thus, a cancer patient who has developed a tolerance for the drug can take a dose of oxycodone on a regular basis that would be fatal to a person never exposed to oxycodone.


The prescription drug OxyContin contains the narcotic oxycodone hydrochloride and is available in controlled-release tablets of 10, 20, 40, and 80 milligrams. OxyContin is prescribed in the United States to treat moderate to severe pain and is abused for its heroin-like effects. The diversion and abuse of OxyContin have increased sharply since the drug became available in 1996, raising concerns among law enforcement and public health agencies.


Most OxyContin abused in the United States is diverted by illegally written or forged prescriptions, “doctor shopping”-when individuals, who may or may not have a legitimate ailment, visit numerous doctors to obtain drugs in excess of what should be prescribed legitimately, and theft. According to law enforcement reporting, the availability of diverted OxyContin may be stabilizing and has decreased in some areas. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), OxyContin abusers also steal or buy OxyContin from friends or family members with legitimate prescriptions who often are prescribed a 30-day supply of the drug.

Fraudulent OxyContin Prescriptions

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that an Indiana doctor was sentenced to serve 51 months’ imprisonment following his guilty pleas to unlawful trafficking in OxyContin and healthcare fraud. In a 5 month period, the doctor prescribed OxyContin to a woman in amounts that were not medically necessary. For example, in one 14-day period the doctor prescribed 860 80-mg tablets of OxyContin. In just one year, $130,000 was paid by the Indiana Medicaid program for OxyContin prescribed to this individual. After the prescriptions written by the doctor had been filled, the OxyContin was allegedly sold for cash. The woman pled guilty to unlawful trafficking in OxyContin and healthcare fraud and was sentenced in to 41 months’ imprisonment.

Drug Withdrawal Treatment

Today, there are almost as many treatments as there are addicts and alcoholics. Educate yourself before making any type of life-changing decision regarding detox and treatment for alcoholism and addictions.

Typically, withdrawal involves steps to help you remove all of the abused substance from your system in a pain-free, comfortable manner. Treatment helps you look at underlying causes; the “why” you may have done drugs in the first place. Finally, counseling and attending self-help groups help you resist using the addictive drug again and build a support system in your home community.

Withdrawal Therapy
The goal of withdrawal therapy (detoxification) is for you to stop taking the addicting drug as quickly and safely as possible. Detoxification may involve gradually reducing the dose of the drug or temporarily substituting other substances that have less severe side effects. For some people it may be safe to undergo withdrawal therapy on an outpatient basis. Other people may require placement in a hospital or a residential treatment center.
Withdrawal from different categories of drugs produces different side effects and requires different approaches.

Central nervous system depressants
CNS depressants slow down normal brain function. In higher doses, some CNS depressants can become general anesthetics.

CNS depressants can be divided into two groups, based on their chemistry and pharmacology: Barbiturates, such as mephobarbital (Mebaral) and pentobarbital sodium (Nembutal), which are used to treat anxiety, tension, and sleep disorders.

Benzodiazepines, such as diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide HCl (Librium), and alprazolam (Xanax), which can be prescribed to treat anxiety, acute stress reactions, and panic attacks. Benzodiazepines that have a more sedating effect, such as triazolam (Halcion) and estazolam (ProSom) can be prescriped for short-term treatment of sleep disorders.

Minor side effects of withdrawal may include restlessness, anxiety, sleep problems and sweating. More serious signs and symptoms also could include hallucinations, whole-body tremors, seizures, dehydration and weakness. The most serious stage of withdrawal may include delirium and is potentially life-threatening. Withdrawal therapy may involve your gradually scaling back the amount of the drug.

Opioids
Among the drugs that fall within this class – sometimes referred to as narcotics – are morphine, codeine, and related drugs. Morphine is often used before or after surgery to alleviate severe pain. Codeine is used for milder pain. Other examples of opioids that can be prescribed to alleviate pain include oxycodone (OxyContin-an oral, controlled release form of the drug); propoxyphene (Darvon); hydrocodone (Vicodin); hydromorphone (Dilaudid); and meperidine (Demerol), which is used less often because of its side effects. In addition to their effective pain relieving properties, some of these drugs can be used to relieve severe diarrhea (Lomotil, for example, which is diphenoxylate) or severe coughs (codeine).

Side effects of withdrawal of opioids such as heroin, morphine, oxycodone or codeine can range from relatively minor to severe. On the minor end, they may include runny nose, perspiration, yawning, feeling anxiety and craving the drug. Severe reactions can include sleeplessness, depression, dilated pupils, rapid pulse, rapid breathing, high blood pressure, abdominal cramps, tremors, bone and muscle pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Doctors may substitute a synthetic opiate, such as methadone, to reduce the craving for heroin and to gently ease people away from heroin. The most recently approved medication to ease withdrawal from opiates is buprenorphine (Suboxone, Subutex). This drug is the first narcotic medications used for the addiction treatment that may be prescribed in a doctor’s office rather than a treatment center.

Researchers are continually searching for new ways to help ease the symptoms of withdrawal and to treat addiction more effectively.

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