Overcoming an Opiate Addiction
Opiate addiction is a continuing illness that can be fatal if a person does not receive help for their addiction. Opiates include drugs like heroin, morphine, codeine, and painkillers such as Percocet, OxyContin, Vicodin, and Percodan. Opiates are powerful painkillers, which makes them an easy drug for people to overdose on being that they may not be able to realize that they have taken too much of the drug.
Opiate addiction commonly leads to physical dependence which in return causes people to become sick if they do not have their opiate of choice in their system. Going through opiate withdrawal is extremely scary for most people and due to the intensity of the withdrawal symptoms many people just continue to take drug.
The most effective method of opiate addiction treatment is through opiate addiction treatment programs or rehabs. An opiate addiction treatment program will provide a person with the medical help and psychological help they need to get through an opiate detox and to help them learn to live a life away from using opiates. Some rehab centers offer medication treatment to help people get through the physical withdrawal symptoms with minimal discomfort and pain.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, medications, such as Methadone and Buprenorphine combined with behavioral therapy is the most effective resource in treating opiate addiction. Throughout the years, medications and behavioral treatments have not only reduced injection drug use in America, but have also helped reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Why Treatment Centers are the Best Choice
Treatment centers are the best choice for a person to overcome opiate addiction because they are long lasting and they have the resources it takes to thoroughly treat the disease. Opiate addiction affects a person both mentally and physically and it will take time and different types of treatment to fully heal from an opiate addiction.
According to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, it is estimated that around nine percent of the US population will abuse opiates over the course of their lifetime, which averages out to be approximately 30 million people.
Many people become addicted to opiates after voluntarily using the drug one time. Opiates are highly addictive and cause rapid dependencies to form in people who abuse them. Since there are so many Americans suffering from opiate addictions there are various addiction treatment centers available to help people conquer their illness and receive the proper help and support so that they will be able to stay away from opiates once they leave the treatment program.