http://dragresti.com ~ (561) 386-7743
Dr. Mark Agresti, West Palm Beach Drug & Alcohol Detox Specialist – Psychiatrist, explains what are Subutex and Suboxone. He explains the other common names for Subutex and Suboxone. Learn how Subutex and Suboxone are used to help aid in drug detox.
Call Dr. Agresti today to get help with Drug & Alcohol Addiction.
http://dragresti.com ~ (561) 386-7743
Dr. Mark Agresti, West Palm Beach Drug & Alcohol Detox Specialist – Psychiatrist, explains what are Subutex and Suboxone. He explains the other common names for Subutex and Suboxone. Learn how Subutex and Suboxone are used to help aid in drug detox.
Call Dr. Agresti today to get help with Drug & Alcohol Addiction.
http://dragresti.com ~ (561) 386-7743
Dr. Mark Agresti, West Palm Beach Drug & Alcohol Detox Specialist – Psychiatrist, explains what are Subutex and Suboxone. He explains the other common names for Subutex and Suboxone. Learn how Subutex and Suboxone are used to help aid in drug detox.
Call Dr. Agresti today to get help with Drug & Alcohol Addiction.
http://dragresti.com ~ (561) 386-7743
Dr. Mark Agresti, West Palm Beach Drug & Alcohol Detox Specialist – Psychiatrist, explains what are Subutex and Suboxone. He explains the other common names for Subutex and Suboxone. Learn how Subutex and Suboxone are used to help aid in drug detox.
Call Dr. Agresti today to get help with Drug & Alcohol Addiction.
Let’s look at the opiates first. An opiate is a narcotic pain killer like Roxycodone, Oxycodone, Loratabs, Loracet, Methadone, Vicodin, Actiq, and Stadol. The action of these drugs may last varying amounts of time and has varying doses. For example, some people can be on 100mg a day of oxycontin while others may take 1000mg a day of oxycontin.
When a person goes through the detox process, problems begin soon after the initial part of the detox at and around five days. Mood problems are the most common with depression and anxiety. Occurring frequently people become lethargic, sad, anhedonia (unable to enjoy anything), unable to concentrate, feeling hopeless, helpless, worthless, despair, negative thinking, worrying, having tension, unable to relax, fearful.
Another thing that happens in recovering opiate addict is they can’t wait for anything. Everything needs to be immediate. They don’t like plans, tend to be impulsive and they just like to do it now. It’s called instant gratification. Problems with sleep last for months if not years. People may develop cravings for sugar and increased sexual drive may occur. Difficulty thinking develops; they may have apathy towards everything which is a lack of interest in all activities. They don’t want to do leisure activities or work. They have difficulty setting goals, finding motivation and have difficulty following through on tasks. They become preoccupied with using opiates.
Problems develop with irritability and low frustration tolerance. Weeks, if not months after stopping opiates people are easily frustrated and short with people. One patient ordered a whopper without cheese at the drive-thru. When it came with cheese he started screaming so much, he had foam coming out of his mouth. Another patient asked for a soy latte at Starbucks and got milk instead after he waited twenty minutes. He started banging on the counter and having a tantrum at Starbucks. I have heard countless stories from co-workers and families. Once you stop opiates, everything bothers you.
I am not sure if Opiates were their coping skills and now they have none or they are just overwhelmed with life or maybe there is some physiological explanation for it. Alterations in neurotransmitters in the brain occur after people stop using opiates.
Another big problem for recovering opiate addicts is triggers. Triggers are people, place, and things which set off a series of psychological events resulted in intense cravings for opiates. For example, one patient always got high on roxycodone 30mgs and went to 7-11 and bought a 40oz big gulp coke and skittles. Twenty years later if he sees a big gulp cup or skittles package, he feels like he wants to get high or maybe he is a little high just from the sight of it. The sight or thought of a needle, seeing a piece of tinfoil, or driving down the street where they used to buy drugs, can trigger the desire to use opiates. One patient told me shooting water into his vein got him high. One told me that just going to buy oxycontin got him high. All types of triggers make people think of getting high. One patient would go to his dealer’s house by the railroad tracks in West Palm Beach to get high. Ten years after stopping opiates, the sound of a train makes him want to get high.
Once people stop opiates, other problems develop. Certain individuals can miss the excitement of the drug addict life. Buying and selling illegal drugs, not working a job, beating the system and making quick money can be exciting. Breaking the law, lying, stealing, cheating, and manipulating is an adrenaline high. It’s hard to believe but, some people miss that. These people don’t like the routines of normality. A routine life is boring or mundane to them. These individuals who stop using opiates also have problems with their identity. They are unclear who they are, how to interact with others and what their goals are in life. Spending five or twenty years trying to get high is a job. This job requires that all your efforts go into getting high. Without this job, to occupy all your time, what do you do now? People need to form new identities, and new goals.
On the positive side, if you live through, the Hepatitis, or HIV, and the overdoses, you should have a chance at a new life. The nervous system can recover completely from opiate addiction. So can the rest of the body and mind. Recovering addicts have developed certain skills which can have benefit in the workplace and in social settings. Recovering addicts are very capable, resourceful people. They are individuals who can get things done right away. The lessons learned from getting drugs, can be applied to getting other things. These people are very effective in the workplace.
Some times recovering addicts can never find real happiness. They miss the days of using, or are so damaged psychologically from using nothing is fun for them anymore.
There is a saying “You can take the boy out of the jungle, but, you can’t take the jungle out of the boy”. You can take the addict off drugs, but, you can’t take the addiction out of the individual. The addiction may start to manifest in other areas of that individuals life. Addictive relationships are common, as are addictions to coffee, sex, food, gambling, making money, spending money, other drug addictions, and other high risk behaviors. When I say high risk behaviors, I mean skydiving, scuba diving, hang gliding, mountain climbing.
One thing I have noticed in recovering addicts is they never seem comfortable at parties anymore. I guess they have no interest in watching other people drink alcohol, and not get high themselves. For the recovering addict, watching people use drugs and get impaired is just not fun.
Some recovering addicts develop a grandiose sense of self. Because they were an addicted individual and they have recovered they feel they are superior to others. Some feel that stopping opiates is something to brag to others about. I don’t agree with this. You brag about doing things, not about overcoming a drug problem. Putting on your resume that you are a recovering addict is not something you would want to do.
Other individuals isolate and act as if they just exist, off opiates life is a burden. They just exist and nothing is fun. They are usual loners and live with other recovering addicts alone. People have told me they lived life so hard and fast that nothing is left for them. They describe themselves as being totally burnt out.
One final comment, people who stop using opiates may in some cases become wanderers always looking for something to fill that emptiness inside. They look and look for something to fill the void inside, but deep down, nothing exists, except an opiate to fill it. But that doesn’t keep them from looking indefinitely. I can’t explain it.
For the past 25 years I have detoxed people and treated people with opiate dependency. The people varied from teenagers to people in their 90’s. Rich people, poor people, all races, people in good shape, out of shape, and people from all occupations. Certain occupations seem more prone to opiate addiction than others. Occupations that are extremely hard, physically and psychologically seem to predispose these individuals to injury and need for opiates.
http://dragresti.com ~ (561) 386-7743
Dr. Mark Agresti, West Palm Beach Drug & Alcohol Detox Specialist – Psychiatrist, explains normal steps of how a person becomes an Opiate Addict. He explains the beginning stages of receiving a prescription opiate drug and how the person feels taking them. Opiates bring a state of euphoria and the tolerance level of the pill builds, meaning more pills to reach the initial state of euphoria are required. Dr. Agresti discusses the symptoms of physical symptoms of withdrawal for an opiate addict.
Call Dr. Agresti today to get help with Opiate Addiction.
http://dragresti.com ~ (561) 386-7743
Dr. Agresti, West Palm Beach Psychiatrist, discusses how Suboxone is used to help Opiate detox. Opiates addictions include codeine, oxycodone, oxycontin, percodan, roxycodone and more. If you or a loved one is addicted, please seek opiate detox help today.
Opiate detox is possible! Call Dr. Agresti today to start free Opiate Addiction.
Treating opiate addiction (Oxycodone, Roxycodone dependency) since 1988 has taught me a few things. Opiate dependency is all consuming. Individuals become consumed with getting money for opiates, obtaining opiates and having time to use opiates. All this mental energy is pulled from other activities. Resources are taken from loved ones, leisure activities and business. Individuals using opiates spend discretionary income on opiates (i.e. oxycontin), instead of going out to dinners, dating and playing. Once on opiates the range of activities that individual engages in decrease. Hobbies and sports fall to the side. These individuals lack time and money to do fun things, but also lack desire to have fun. There is no desire to have sex and desire to socialize decrease. These individuals can maintain jobs and relations with a few close others.
They usually become depressed, crave sugar, and gain weight. Their complexion changes to a grayscale cancer looking color. They develop strange eating habits and sleeping habits. Their sense of self worth and self-esteem decline. They have feeling of emptiness and detachment from others. One patient said she looked in the mirror and she saw a skeleton. She no longer existed. The opiate becomes everything.
The opiate becomes an individual’s lover and family. The fear of going into withdrawal is so powerful. When the possibility that the individual may be cut off from drugs, the beast comes out.
The opiate addict will do what ever it takes to get opiates. Individuals come up with carrying solutions. Stealing, lying prostitution, and selling everything come to mind. The individual wakes up every day with one problem, how will I get opiates today?
Initially people started on opiates to get high. That high gets less overtime, dependency develops. The individual spends most of their time not high but getting enough drugs so they won’t go into withdrawal.
Initially coming off opiates involves acute detox. That involves anxiety, abdominal cramping, goose flesh, leg jerking, yawning, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and headache and acute distress. These pains end in five days. After the detox ends, the real problems begin. Individuals begin to experience intense craving for the opiate. They become anxious, depressed and lethargic. They have no energy and have trouble functioning. Problems with sleep develop. People describe feelings; they don’t know who they are or what their purpose in life is. They have problems interacting with others because they are not sure how to act. There’s the feeling of loss. Almost as if they are mourning the loss of a lover. The loss of what they see as an exciting life and living outside the rules. It’s very difficult for these individuals to be integrated back into society and live normal lives. They always feel different. Also in the addict mind is a grandiose sense they are better and superior. This interferes with them finding jobs and forming relationships with others. Commonly individuals who stop opiates relapse, use marijuana or alcohol. Involve themselves in toxic relationships. Some develop gambling behaviors or inappropriate sexual activities. They continue to look for the high.
Opiate addicts must make an initial step and say to themselves they no longer want to alter their mental state. Decide the addict personality must go and a new one must be created. Psychotherapy may be helpful. Problems with depression, anxiety, insomnia, lethargy and drug cravings can be helped with non-addicting medication from a psychiatrist.
Forget one thing nicotine is usually what kills these people because they smoke too much.
Different drugs affect your body in different ways. An opiate is one of the most common types of abused drugs in existence. While some drugs or substances may slow you down or change how you see things, an opiate will can make you experience what you might think are good feelings. However, taking an opiate, no matter how good it feels, can be extremely dangerous to your body. You need to learn how an opiate will affect your body, why taking an opiate is dangerous and what drug might be an opiate so that you know what to stay away from. If you have already taken an opiate and are considering doing so again, this article may help shed some light on why continued use of an opiate is dangerous to your health and can lead you on a downward spiral that could end in death if you’re not careful.
Lets talk about how an opiate will affect your body. Inside of you, there are cells with areas that act as opiate receptors. These areas become highly responsive in your body when you take an opiate, causing you to feel increased pleasure or contentment. However, do not be fooled by these feelings. They can cause you to neglect other feelings or stimuli that are important for keeping you safe and healthy. For example, taking an opiate might make you feel so good that your body “forgets” to cough when you’re choking. That could result in death. Your body may also “forget” to keep you from touching something hot that can cause serious burns. The problem is that you’ll feel so good from taking the opiate that you don’t feel the pain of the burns, which can cause long-term health issues or irreparable damage to the place where you got burned. Taking an opiate can also affect your body’s natural ability to breath, without you even knowing it. Taking an opiate may cause your breathing to slow or stop altogether, which can cause brain damage or even death. Are you starting to see how the good feelings from taking an opiate really aren’t so good for you?
Life becomes extremely dangerous when even simple, everyday choices and actions are taken out of your hands. Unfortunately, this can happen often an easily when you decide to take an opiate. If you take an opiate often enough, your body may stop responding in certain ways or may “forget” to perform vital actions such as breathing. You may not be aware enough to let someone know that something is wrong and you need help after taking an opiate. Taking an opiate can damage you quickly, or slowly and painfully. Either could end in your death. While it is nice to feel good in life, our bodies are meant to feel pain and other feelings for a reason. The variety of feelings we get from our bodies help us to survive from day to day. If you only feel good, like the feelings you’d get from taking an opiate, your body would not be able to warn you of problems and potential danger. You could end up in the hospital, having to get an arm or leg cut off, in a coma or dead. When we say that taking an opiate is dangerous, we aren’t exaggerating. Anything that takes your actions and choices away, without you knowing it, is never good for you.
So what drugs might be an opiate? The most common type of opiate is heroin, but other substances such as morphine and even prescription drugs like Dilaudid are an opiate. Each opiate can be combined in a substance with different ingredients to produce slightly different results. One type of opiate may make you feel good faster. Another opiate may make the good feelings last longer. Still another opiate may be combined with ingredients to take away the crashing and pain that is normally associated with taken an opiate. Knowing about each type of opiate will let you know what to stay away from if someone offering such a substance ever approaches you.
Remember that no matter how good it might feel, taking an opiate without the consent and control of a doctor is illegal and can be extremely dangerous to your health. Taking an opiate may make you feel good for a time, but it almost always ends with pain, nausea and potentially injuries or a hospital stay. In many common cases, taking an opiate, even one time, can also end in death. If you are finding it hard to fight the urge to take an opiate, talk to someone you know and trust or seek the help of a medical professional. Don’t let it go until taking an opiate has a chance to ruin your life. Even one time can be too much or too late. Stay in control of your life and avoid taking an opiate at all costs. When you see the damage an opiate can do, you’ll be thankful you stopped to think.