Drug & Alcohol Detox, Dual Diagnosis & Mental Illness

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Dr. Agresti, West Palm Beach Mental Health Specialist – Psychiatrist, talks about drug addiction rehab options.  If you or a loved one has a problem with drug or alcohol addictions, you should know the options for addiction detox rehab.  Not all drug addictions require in-patient treatment.  Many drug addictions can be treated in outpatient care.  Dr. Agresti, in this video, shares the time periods to expect for drug addiction rehab.

Call Dr. Agresti today to get help with Alcohol & Drug Detox.

http://dragresti.com ~ (561) 842.9550

Methadone detox is possible within 6 to 8 weeks.  Detox from Methadone safely and without pain.   Dr. Agresti, West Palm Beach Psychiatrist, talks about how you can detox from a Methadone addiction safely.

Methadone detox is possible! Call Dr. Agresti today to start life Methadone free.

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.