Prescription Drug Recovery
The addiction rate to prescription drugs has risen sharply in the modern age, leaving many people unaware they are addicted. Prescription drug addiction is elusive because it is masked by the ailment that the drugs are in the process of fixing. The ailment that is usually being remedied is pain, and thus most prescription drug addictions are to painkillers like Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Dilaudid.
Addiction to painkillers requires the same kind of detoxification process as any other opiates. Inpatient treatment is recommended because of the horrific withdrawals that come about from the body being addicted to opiates. Certain patients have described the withdrawal process as one that would surely kill them. Typically, replacement opiates such as Clonidine or Methadone are used to “take place” of the opiates that are being abused. What these replacement drugs do is act upon the opiate receptors in the brain to make the body believe it is getting what it needs, but they are milder and longer acting, reducing the withdrawals down to a very nullified level and leaving out the high that is associated with using regular opiates.
Painkillers and most other prescription drugs that are addictive also fall under the category of narcotics. Once someone has recovered from the withdrawals of getting off of opiate painkiller medications, it is recommended that they begin to attend regular 12-step Narcotics Anonymous meetings in order to continue their recovery and ensure that relapse does not occur.
Crystal Meth Recovery
Going back into the more extreme realms of recovery, methamphetamine or crystal meth, addiction has made a serious and sharp rise across the United States and other parts of the Western world in recent times. Methamphetamine addiction is acute and highly destructive, leaving the user mentally and physically incapacitated, as well as deformed.
Meth destroys the body in a variety of horrific ways, both visually and internally. Once someone begins using meth prolifically, damage to the skin, area of usage (i.e., if it is smoked, then the mouth and lungs. If it is injected, the area of injection, like the arm, and so on) becomes highly damaged. Abscesses can form, like with someone who is a heroin user, and teeth can rot away and fall out, skin becomes opaque and covered in sores, etc. The immune system also takes a strong hit, leaving the user very susceptible to infections and disease.
Meth withdrawals are not life-threatening, nor are they as severe as opiate withdrawals. But, like all other substance detoxes, they are not pleasant and should be taken seriously, for the urge to use again in order to get rid of the withdrawal symptoms is very high. Assistance from a detox center is recommended, either inpatient or outpatient, because one cannot tackle the pain of withdrawals alone.
Crystal meth also has its very own 12-step recovery program. Attending Crystal Meth Anonymous, or CMA, meetings on a regular basis as well as seeking help from professional addiction counselors should ensure that one can remain meth-free for the rest of their lives.