Opioid Detox Opens Doors to a Better Future
If you or someone you love struggle with opioid addiction, hope can seem so far away. But an opioid detox center in Ohio can help you comfortably work through the struggles of withdrawal for a fresh start in sobriety. Your chosen opioid detox center also helps you transition into rehab treatment. There, you develop healthy coping skills and learn how to avoid relapse for long-term recovery.
If you crave a better future beyond the cycle of addiction, reach out to a reputable licensed opioid detox center, such as White Light Behavioral Health in Columbus, Ohio. This one step can save your life. With a detox center’s help, it is a step you never have to take alone.
About Opioid Addiction
Opioid addiction does not go away just by “going cold turkey.” Instead, it is a complex illness that involves compulsive drug seeking and drug using behaviors within an ongoing cycle. An opioid use disorder is also characterized by the desire to quit using drugs, but the inability to follow through without help. People stuck in this cycle suffer many negative life effects. They also suffer physical and psychological health problems.
When a doctor prescribes prescription painkillers, these medications prove very helpful in the treatment of acute pain, such as the pain experienced immediately following surgery. Some also prove effective in treating a cough or diarrhea. But used too often, too long, or in large doses, these opioids quickly lead to addiction.
Non-prescription opioids, such as heroin, blatantly take advantage of the poppy plant’s pain-killing and euphoric qualities. Just like its prescribed counterparts, heroin is a one-way ticket to an opioid use disorder.
The most commonly abused opioids include:
- Codeine
- Fentanyl (Actiq®, Duragesic®)
- Hydromorphone (Dilaudid®)
- Meperidine (Demerol®)
- Methadone (Dolophine®)
- Morphine (MS Contin®)
- Oxycodone (Percocet®, Percodan®, Oxycontin® and Roxicodone®)
- Oxymorphone (Opana®)
- Buprenorphine (Subutex®)
- Buprenorphine/Naloxone (Suboxone®)
- Codeine (Tylenol 3®)
- Hydrocodone (Lorcet®, Norco® and Vicodin®)
- Heroin
The highly addictive nature of opioids makes them one of the most dangerous medications ever introduced to medical patients. Between 1999 and 2020, almost a million Americans died by overdosing on painkillers. While embarrassment often keeps individuals from seeking help earlier in their physical dependence on opioids, the medical community fully understands how these drugs quickly pull you into their grasp. There is no reason for shame to hold anyone back when it comes to seeking help.
In fact, opioid use disorders are credited as a major public health crisis. Doctors and the government have finally realized that great care and discretion are important in prescribing these medications. Lawmakers are also working hard to help bring the opioid crisis under control. Meanwhile, too many people continue suffering in the stronghold of opioid addiction. This is tragic because treatment and a more fulfilling future are available to anyone willing to make the first call to an opioid detox center in Ohio.
How Opioid Addiction Begins
Tolerance, dependence, and addiction are swift and unfortunate consequences of misusing opioids, even when prescribed by your doctor. Of course, there are multiple factors that lead individuals into such an addiction. But no one can predict or even guess who might suffer such an addiction or who can walk away from these drugs unscathed. Sadly, opioids take more lives than any other drug in the United States.
Opioid addiction starts with euphoria and other pleasurable feelings from the drug. But soon and with continued use, these feelings become something you need to function normally in daily life. Cravings quickly begin as your body and mind want more of the drug with each passing day. At this point, you keep using your painkillers despite knowing they are also causing you harm. You ignore the consequences of doing so because your compulsion to use is so intense. That is how opioid addiction begins, in a nutshell.
What you may not realize in the earliest days of your opioid use disorder is that the drugs change your brain chemistry and structure. Each dose triggers the reward centers in your brain and brings on a surge of endorphins. This makes you feel the effects you crave.
Opioid Withdrawal
As your drug’s high wears off, you lose its positive feelings of well-being. The only way you feel good again is by taking another dose. Besides intense cravings, you suffer depression, lost interest in daily activities, and anxiety when you are not high. If you wait too long for your next dose, you start to feel a wide range of withdrawal symptoms.
Opioid withdrawal symptoms include:
- Agitation
- Anxiety
- Muscle aches
- Insomnia
- Runny nose and teary eyes
- Sweating
- Yawning
- Abdominal cramping and diarrhea
- Dilated pupils
- Goosebumps
- Nausea and vomiting
Unless you are in a licensed opioid detox center, you are likely to take more of your drug to relieve these withdrawal symptoms. This ongoing and highly destructive cycle proves why it is so important to seek the help you need.
In fact, seeking help can save your life, particularly since many people starting withdrawal alone suffer a life-threatening relapse before fully detoxing. If you have friends who also abuse these drugs, you may have one or two who have experienced an overdose just after they pledge their desire to get clean.
How Opioid Addiction Affects Your Life
It is hard to seek the help you need, especially for opioid addiction. This makes it important to take a close look at how much damage these drugs cause in your everyday life.
Ways opioid addiction affects your life include:
- Legal problems – Illegal activities and criminal charges related to stealing, dealing, prostitution, assault, or driving while impaired
- Child custody problems – Loss of your parental rights because of your drug use
- Financial loss – Money lost as payment for drugs, court fines, and legal fees
- Lost jobs and career damage – Inability to maintain employment because of your drug use, along with disruption to your career and income
- Lifestyle changes – Lower income or unemployment, along with loss of items pawned for money to buy drugs
- Family problems – Family fights or discord because you keep using your drugs, neglecting your responsibilities, and letting loved ones down
- Social problems – People avoid you because you use drugs, and you find yourself isolated and alone
- Absence of fulfillment – You no longer pursue your favorite activities or do things that enrich your daily life
- Physical and mental health changes – Using drugs has affected your physical health, appearance, and mental wellness to the point you no longer recognize yourself
- Lost hope for the future – In your quiet moments, your future appears bleak and leaves you feeling empty, lacking in hope for true fulfillment
Thankfully, no matter how badly you feel your drugs have affected your daily life, you can have hope. In fact, you can turn all of these aspects of your life and the damage incurred by opioid addiction around. You only need to seek the help you need from an opioid detox center in Ohio, such as White Light Behavioral Health in Columbus. There, addiction specialists help you stop using your drugs, get healthy again and start living a hope-filled life in fulfilling recovery.
Services Provided by an Opioid Detox Center
Entering an opioid detox program provides you with the safety and security you need to get through withdrawal without risking deadly relapse. But detox also provides much more than this protection.
Services provided by an opioid detox center include:
- Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) specific to opioid detox, such as buprenorphine and buprenorphine/naloxone
- Individual counseling
- Psychotherapy
- 24/7 medical supervision and support
- Nutrition services, including meals and snacks
- Medication for withdrawal symptoms
- Comfortable surroundings
- Physical exam and addiction assessment
- Individualized treatment planning for detox and rehab
- Rehab program transition assistance
Rehab Treatment and the Continuum of Care
Detox is your first step into sobriety, one everyone with an opioid use disorder must take. But it is critical that you understand detox is only the first step in a continuum of care. Opioid addiction is a serious disease that requires therapy and lifestyle changes to avoid relapse. For your best chance of a more fulfilling and healthier future, you should enter a reputable opioid addiction rehab program.
Types of rehab treatment programs for opioid addiction include:
- Inpatient hospitalization
- Residential rehab treatment
- Partial hospitalization (PHP)
- Intensive outpatient program (IOP)
- Outpatient program (OP)
According to the National Institutes of Health, the primary goals of rehab treatment include:
- Reducing substance abuse or achieving a substance-free life
- Maximizing multiple aspects of life functioning
- Preventing or reducing the frequency and severity of relapse
Helpful Therapies Provided in Rehab Treatment
Within your chosen rehab treatment program, you will participate in an array of helpful therapies. These therapies enable you to redesign your life and enjoy a fulfilling future without substance abuse.
Therapies essential to opioid recovery and meeting the above goals include:
- Individual counseling
- Psychotherapy
- Family therapy or couples counseling
- Group therapy
- Addiction education
- Aftercare planning and relapse prevention
- Behavioral therapies, such as CBT and DBT
- Trauma therapy, such as EMDR
- Dual-diagnosis treatment for co-occurring mental health conditions
- 12-step program participation
- Aftercare planning
Although these therapies are not applicable to every individual’s needs, it is important to seek a rehab that offers a good array of treatment methods after you complete detox. The more approaches offered in a licensed facility, the more likely you are to find the methods that best suit your needs and provide a real chance for the future you deserve. At White Light Behavioral Health, our team can provide a variety of treatments tailored to your own individual needs. Reach out today to start on the path to a healthier life free of drugs and alcohol.
