Over the past years, people’s attitude towards addiction and combatting drug dependence has changed. This has allowed addiction victims to reach out for help and get the support they need for addiction treatment. Opioid addiction is fundamentally the same as any other drug dependence, only more severe. But as with any other form of addiction, dependence on opioids is a disease, an illness, and it can be cured.
Addicts need to realize that they have a problem and get all the help they need to overcome their illness. If you’ve been Googling “opioid addiction treatment near me“, you’re one step closer to solving your problem – the realization that you have a problem, to begin with, will help you pull through this episode and leave it in your past. But before we go on and explore how you can get the help you need, let’s understand the problem itself.
We have also shared the most successful and effective treatment options for opioid addiction available nowadays.
Understanding The Problem: Opioid Addiction
Opiates, as we know, are derivatives of the opium poppy. Some of these are medicinal, while others are addictive drugs. However, even the milder ones can pose additional issues, such as pain-relieving medications. The most prominent categories of opiates are:
- Morphine
- Codeine
- Heroin
- Opium
Though these drugs don’t eliminate the pain itself, they do alter the body’s perception of it which can lead to serious addiction. People often cling to the drug to escape into a pain-free and hyper-relaxed state, but none of this is real, merely an illusion.
In most cases, addicts develop a dependence on a certain prescription opiate and then simply can’t go without it. At this stage, the person may begin taking increasingly high doses and may feel powerless to quit. The withdrawal period can be very challenging for all involved, including the patient and their loved ones. But with enough support, people can overcome addiction issues even with hard drugs like heroin.
During the withdrawal period, a person can feel all sorts of physical issues like:
- Diarrhea
- Feeling nauseated
- Vomiting
- Body ache
- Pain in the abdomen
- Tendency towards agitation
- Mood swings
If you know someone who is struggling through this phase, you’ll have to show all the love and support you can to make things easier.
Various Addiction Treatment Options in Charleston, SC
When it comes to treating opioid addiction, there are several effective options in practice, and experts can opt for one or the other based on the condition of the addict. But in all such cases, support and love from people most close to the addict is a must.
Here are the most successful opioid addiction treatment options:
Medication
The medicines prescribed to help a patient withdraw from opioid abuse are not addictive themselves although they do affect the same target areas in the brain as opioid drugs do. The three most commonly prescribed medicines for therapy are:
- Methadone for replicating the opioid’s brain target minus the “high” feeling.
- Buprenorphine helps with the withdrawal symptoms, making them less severe, and cutting down cravings.
- Naltrexone is administered to avoid relapse, however, the drug won’t eliminate the cravings themselves; the drug is administered at least a week after withdrawal.
Addiction Counseling & Therapy
Counseling is an effective way of altering the self-destructive and damaging behavior of addicts and replacing them with healthier attitudes. Behavioral therapy is usually personalized to suit the emotional needs of the patient, allowing them to fight their addiction problems. Also, when done in a group, the counseling provides much-needed motivation to people looking for a way out of this mess and work on building their lives.
MAT/Medication-Assisted Therapy
MAT or medication-assisted therapy is a “whole patient” recovery approach that combines the virtues of counseling, behavior therapy, and medications like Suboxone, Sublocade, or Subutex. This approach is becoming more and more mainstream and has shown to be quite effective. However, experts suggest further research into how this technique affects the brain. Also, if someone is treated for just one type of addiction, without addressing others, those problems will linger.
Residential Programs
In some cases, addiction patients need a safe and controlled environment to aid their recovery. If your loved one is housed with other recovering patients, as in residential programs offered by addiction clinics, they will be able to fight their dependence more effectively. This is merely a recovery treatment in a residential setting for addiction patients.
Outpatient Clinic
The residential program (or the inpatient clinic) is the stage where the patient undergoes treatment and detox, this is followed by an outpatient clinic stage (not housed or admitted). Several healing centers opt for this method of healing, and it has been proven effective after successful treatment in the former stage. In many cases, patients perform well even if the treatment is started here, but in most cases, the idea is to house the patients in the clinic, to provide a safe controlled environment, before moving to the outpatient stage. Thus, in essence, the inpatient stage is meant to prepare the patient for transition to the outpatient clinic.
Were You Searching For “Opioid Addiction Treatment Near Me?”
As hopeless as the situation may seem, for now, you can get the help you need and deserve to pull through the troubles of drug addiction. Rest assured, our professional addiction experts will help you in all ways possible to help you through this phase. The Charleston Suboxone Clinic staff does not judge; we help! You can count on our Charleston, SC addiction treatment to thoroughly address your opioid addiction problem, or for your loved ones. As we mentioned earlier, opioid addiction is an illness, so there is a cure, and we have it. With the support of your loved ones and proper counseling and guidance from our experts, things will be better soon enough. Perhaps you’re here after an “opioid addiction treatment near me” Google search, and if that is the case, rest assured, you’ve got reliable help.
Feel free to reach out to us for therapy and more!
