Ways To Know When Your Friend Is Addicted To Opiates

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If you are going to help a friend with an addiction, it’s vital you’re aware of what’s going on around you. Opiate addiction is a growing problem worldwide, especially here in the United States, and it’s not always easy to spot.

People become addicted to opiates for various reasons.  They are used to treat pain and sometimes give people a feeling that the pain isn’t there, and their life is in a good place.  Hydrocodone is a drug often used recreationally, while drugs such as codeine and morphine have been problematic for authorities and healthcare professionals for years because of their ease of acquisition and their addictive nature.

The most obvious sign of an opiate addiction is a sudden change in behavior.  You know how your friend generally acts, so if suddenly something changes without an obvious outside stressor then you should be on alert.  It’s expected that a change in behavior could occur after a death, but extreme alterations in mood are a sure sign of an opiate addiction, especially when combined with other signs such as frequent bouts of anger and hostility.

Another big – and related sign – is that the person with an opiate addiction will start isolating themselves from family and friends. Social engagements will be skipped and your friend will either fall into a loner status or start hanging out with a new crowd of people. Also look for a dramatic dip in performance in school, work, or sporting achievements as an opiate user will care nothing about things that used to matter in order to work on getting their fix.

Signs related to this also include a sudden neglecting of personal hygiene and clothing. Maybe the person you are worried about used to be in fashion and now wears the same clothes for days. This is a sign of addiction. They may also suddenly have a habit of zoning out or completely falling asleep in inappropriate situations because they no longer have full control over their sleep/wake cycle.

Hopefully, your relationship allows you to read these signs and help your friend seek treatment. If the addiction is caught early then the odds are much better that it can be treated and that your friend can return to a normal and drug free-life.

Article by Vital Guidance

Opioid Abuse Leads To Harmful Consequences

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Taking prescription opioids to manage pain is part of everyday life for millions of people.  As a mentor presenting vital guidance to your friends and loved ones it is important that you know how to spot problems and behaviors that are associated with opioid abuse, opioid dependency, and an opioid overdose.

The first sign of dependency is a fairly obvious one. Prescription medication comes with detailed information on when and how much medication should be taken. If you notice someone taking their meds more than instructed – or at a higher dose than instructed – then there is already a problem. This is because they need to increase their exposure to the drug in order to find relief that was manageable before, but might be quickly spinning out of control.

Other signs of dependency are what you would expect from a category of drugs – including the lines of morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl – that have the ability to take over a person’s life. Increased tolerance begets persistent use of the drug despite obviously harmful consequences. A person will lose interest in their normal activities, obligations, and routines as they fall victim to the drug, becoming ever more dependent and moving one step closer to a life threatening – and often life taking – overdose.

The signs of an overdose are terrifying, but if you know anyone who is on opioids – be it for a legitimate reason or not – then it is important to recognize them instantly. The difference between an overdose and a very strong high are not always that obvious, making it even harder to tell if a person is in serious danger.

Overdose symptoms include:

  • Labored, slow, or even zero breathing
  • Limp body
  • Pin-point pupils
  • Pale, cold or blue skin
  • Choking and/or gurgling sounds
  • Unresponsive to anything you do

Overdoses are killers, and you must react in a rapid and calm way to find help quickly. As dependency often falls along multiple lines, be aware the chances of overdose has vastly increased when opioids are mixed with sedatives and/or alcohol.

Prevention is always going to be the first choice when dealing with opioid abuse, doing whatever it takes to help someone get away from the drugs that are hurting them. Sometimes – even with the best will in the world – this isn’t possible and in those situations knowing if it is an opioid overdose or a strong high can be the difference between life and death.

“It is important that we change the viewpoint that our nation and the medical community currently has about opioid addiction,” says Dr. Andre Waisman, founder of The ANR Clinic which educates and treats opioid addictions around the world.  “Rather than treating it as a chronic relapsing illness, doctors should approach it from the angle of a disease for treatment of the root cause rather than only it’s symptoms. By doing so we can move forward towards an age where treatment is no longer the same unsuccessful methods from 30 years ago but rather a more beneficial and humane treatment for patients of opioid addiction.”

For more information or for treatment of opioid addictions, call The ANR Clinic in Tampa, FL at (813) 750-7470.

Article by Vital Guidance

ANR Clinic Treats Opioid Addictions At A Different Level

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For decades the narrative on opioids has been that it is a mental health problem that people fall victim to who are weak minded. Maybe at first this made sense. Maybe back in the early stages of the opioid epidemic it was easy to turn the other cheek when seeing people fall victim to addiction and just say “That would never happen to me”.

Those days are gone.

We are living in a country in the middle of a crisis because of how opioid issues have been treated from the beginning. This is not a disease that only affects junkies, it is something that anyone in any walk of life can fall victim to.  All it takes it one accident that requires painkillers for the cycle to start. A car collision, an injury on the job site, simply stepping wrong while walking and hurting an ankle, these can all be the first step towards an addiction that will change everything about you as a person.

Rehab centers are not the only answer, and may not even be the best answer. Sure, the vital guidance they give is helpful to some, but the number of people seeking treatment four or five times over tells you everything you need to know about their effectiveness to the masses. One reason they don’t work is because the treatment – be it mental health work or replacing one opioid with another to wean someone off of a drug – is summarily ineffective and inefficient.

This is not a mental health problem at its core. If it was then the government wouldn’t have to spend almost $2 billion a year to combat what has become a national epidemic.  Synthetic opioids have become an even bigger problem. In 2017, almost 60% of opioid deaths were chalked up to synthetic products. Many times these are coming from illicit manufacturers with no skin in the game other than to get their product out and make money for what has become a lucrative criminal enterprise product.

According to Dr. Andre Waismann of the ANR Clinic, the problem instead should be focused on the physical. Opioid use has been proven to alter brain structures. The receptors in the brain are altered and the dependency takes hold. From there, it doesn’t matter what guidance are given by mental health professionals, the damage has been done and the need for further drug use is now built in.  To cure this epidemic it is the physical side we need to concentrate on, he says.

In 1998, after successfully treating thousands of patients, including a 6-year old child that became opioid-dependent after a brain tumor operation, Dr. Waismann shared his findings around the efficacy and safety of his method at the International Congress of Anesthesia at Frankfurt.  In 2019, he established the first US ANR Clinic in Tampa, FL as the international headquarters for education, treatment, and further academic efforts for opioid addiction.

For more information or for treatment, call the ANR Clinic in Tampa, FL at (813) 750-7470.

Article by Vital Guidance