Opioid Addiction

Opioid addiction is one of the worst addictions a person can suffer from. One reason why opioid abuse is so common is that doctors prescribe these drugs. Understanding opioids and signs of abuse can help protect individuals against these addictive drugs.

What Are Opioids?

To understand opioid addiction, people have to know more about these drugs. They’re part of a class of drugs that people take to treat pain. Doctors can prescribe opioid drugs such as Opioid Pain Medication and Prescription Pain Medicine . However, people can also buy opioids illegally on the street.

Whether people get them legally or illegally, opioids are very addictive. In many cases, the first exposure to opioids is through legal channels. For example, doctors prescribe people opioids after painful surgeries. Once the prescriptions run out, these individuals often start looking for illegal ways to get the drugs.

America is the biggest consumer of opioids in the world. Some of the most common opioids that people use include:

• Oxycodone
• Hydrocodone
• Opioid Pain Medication
• Fentanyl
• Codeine

When people take opioids, the drugs bind to opioid receptors in the spinal cord and brain. They reduce or block pain messages from reaching the brain. In most cases, doctors give people opioids to block moderate to severe pain.

Facts About Opioid Addiction

There are many interesting facts that people don’t know about opioid addiction. For example, many people who get opioid prescriptions never develop an addiction. Others abuse opioids even after taking the drugs as their doctors prescribe. Experts believe that the development or non-development of an addiction may have to do with genetics.

People who abuse opioids are more likely to contract diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis as a result of using dirty needles. In fact, some deaths from opioid abuse come from diseases that people get while sharing needles.

Many babies have an addiction to opioids at birth. This can happen if a baby’s mother took opioids while she was pregnant. Sadly, these children suffer from withdrawal symptoms, which can cause neonatal abstinence syndrome.

Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms

People who take or abuse opioids often experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking the drug. Many of these symptoms are physical and include vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and dizziness. Other times, the symptoms are mental and include depression, confusion and sudden changes in mood.

Withdrawal from opioids also causes a drop in testosterone levels, which can lower energy, strength and sex drive. Over time, testosterone levels return to normal, and these problems correct themselves.

Taking too many opioids also creates a tolerance to the drugs. When people build up a tolerance, they have to take more of the drug to feel the effects. Eventually, they take more and more until they overdose.

Let The Hills Treatment Center Help You With Your Opioid Abuse Problems

Opioid abuse isn’t something that people should try to deal with alone. There are several steps to treating an opioid addiction. At The Hills Treatment Center, we focus on creating gender-specific treatment programs with many services, including:

• Residential rehab
• Intensive outpatient programs
• Family therapy
• Outpatient programs
• Aftercare

At The Hills Treatment Center, we offer luxury that other treatment centers can’t. Our facility sits right in the middle of Los Angeles. Despite our location, our clients enjoy privacy thanks to our huge 4-acre complex. We also offer many stress-reducing activities such as meditation and yoga.

We invite all of our clients to bring their pets when they come to stay with us. The Hills Treatment Center offers a pet-friendly environment to ensure that you feel as comfortable as possible during recovery.

Learn what it takes to overcome addiction at The Hills Treatment Center. Don’t settle for rehab centers that don’t put your needs first. Visit us in person or reach out to us over the phone at 844-915-0287 for more information.