Hope for Alcoholism Treatment
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Crack Cocaine Recovery
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Teen Alcohol and Prescription Drug Use May Create Need for Rehab
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Should Parents Use Drug Tests if More than Half of All High School Students are Abusing Drugs?
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How Pain Killers Can Lead to Addiction
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The Benefits to Your Community of Effective Drug Rehab
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Will the Coming New Formulation of Hydrocodone Mean More Opiate Addicts Will Need Help in 2013?
As time passes, we get ever closer to the date that Zogenix releases its new hydrocodone formulation, Zohydro. As announced in January 2012, this new formulation of pain medication will contain five times as much of the pain-killing drug hydrocodone but none of the acetaminophen that the earlier formulations contained. These formulations were known as Lortab, Vicodin, Lorcet, and many other names. But in continuous use as when a person suffers from chronic pain, the acetaminophen presents risks of liver toxicity and damage.
On the other hand, hydrocodone is a very commonly abused drug. As it is addictive, it sends many people who have abused it to drug rehabs for recovery.
Despite the concerns of regulators and those who care for those who become addicted, Zohydro is in clinical trials and it set to hit the pain-relief market in 2013.
There are three other pharmaceutical companies who are developing new all-hydrocodone formulas: Teva Pharmaceuticals in Israel, Purdue Pharma that also manufactures OxyContin, and Egalet in Denmark. These other companies are working on formulations that contain deterrents to abusing or tampering with the pills, for example, crushing or dissolving them. The Zogenix formulation does not contain any deterrents.
Will Narconon Centers See More People Needing Drug Rehab?
Hydrocodone is addictive, but the large dosage of acetaminophen that now is included in current formulations is not. This means that anyone taking or abusing the upcoming Zohydro is going to be getting a higher dose of addictive material with every dose. Will this mean that more people are going to be seeking help at Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers across the US?
Already, as many as half the new arrivals at some Narconon centers are seeking help for addiction to pain relievers and other prescription drugs. In 2009, it was estimated that more than 23 million Americans had abused hydrocodone at some point. More than 86,000 needed assistance at an emergency room after they had abused this drug. As an opiate, hydrocodone suppresses a person’s respiration. As it is frequently abused along with alcohol which also suppresses respiration, this can present a threat of death when both drugs work together stop a person’s breathing.
Lasting Recovery is an Essential Part of Curtailing This Epidemic
According to reports from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), about one in three people admitted to addiction treatment in 2010 were being admitted for the first time. The other two were going back to rehab because they did not manage to stay sober. Effective rehabilitation that results in lasting sobriety is needed to fight this epidemic of substance abuse and addiction.
But many drug rehabs do not profess to eliminate addiction. Instead, they quote success rates of somewhere around 20% and explain that relapse is part of recovery. So the family may not be surprised when their loved one begins to abuse drugs once again. The success of the Narconon drug recovery program means that families do not need to experience this “revolving door” of addiction treatment.
Instead, Narconon centers monitor their graduates for a two year period and find that 70% of them stay sober after they get home. This means that even if the threat of addiction stays high because of these new hydrocodone formulations coming on the market, families can find effective help for their loved ones who may become trapped after abusing pain relievers for a short period – or a long one.
Call the Narconon International office to get more information about the Narconon drug rehabilitation program.
Resources:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9S7N3001.htm
http://www.painmedicinenews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d=Clinical+Pain+Medicine
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=229812http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugs_concern/hydrocodone.pdf
Narconon Spokesperson Questions Advisability of “Rapid Detox” Services for Opiate Addicts
It may sound like a miracle. An opiate addict can be anesthetized and wake up several hours later on the other side of withdrawal pain and discomfort. Is it really that easy? And is that the only way to experience a tolerable withdrawal?
Withdrawal from opiates can be daunting enough to prevent addicts from entering treatment. Those in withdrawal from opiates and opioid drugs usually experience deep muscle and bone pain, agitation, insomnia and anxiety. They may also go through painful abdominal cramps, vomiting, diarrhea and nausea. In most cases, opiate withdrawal usually lasts for three to fourteen days or even longer. http://www.hsc.mb.ca/addictions/Media/Opiate%20Withdrawal.pdf
One solution is to treat the symptoms of withdrawal with other drugs such as sedatives to reduce anxiety. Another solution is the medical service referred to as “rapid detox.” This involves placing the addict under general anesthesia and then injecting him or her with Naltrexone or other drugs which block the action of opiates on the body. At the very least, it is expected that the addicted person will be unconscious during the worst of the withdrawal process. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000949.htm
Some drug rehabilitation centers administering this treatment place the addict under a general anesthesia for four to six hours. A few advertize an ultra-rapid detox of just an hour. Others take as long as eight hours. While the person is unconscious, they receive large dosages of Naltrexone and/or other drugs.
Facilities that administer this treatment promote its safety and claim that they can compress the equivalent of eight days of withdrawal into one eight-hour period of anesthesia. But this isn’t what the National Institutes of Health (NIH) say.
The NIH states that there is no evidence that these programs actually reduce the amount of time spent in withdrawal and that there have been several deaths associated with the procedure. Additionally, any time a person is under general anesthesia, there is a risk to his or her life. The longer the anesthetized period, the greater the risk.
The NIH also states that the procedure is unproven and so the fact that it presents a risk of death significantly outweighs any potential and unproven benefit of the service. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000949.htm
On top of that, there’s the cost which can run as high as $13,000 for three days of treatment and monitoring after the anesthesia wears off. Plus, once the rapid detox is done, the person still needs to recover from the psychological addiction and change his or her lifestyle and ability to make drug-free decisions.
On top of the harm that might be done by the opiate the addict has been taking, Naltrexone has its own list of grim side effects. In this case, the side effects reported include: anxiety; appetite loss; chills; constipation; diarrhea; dizziness; depression; headache; joint and muscle pain; low energy; nausea; nervousness; sleeplessness; stomach pain and cramps and vomiting. Isn’t it interesting to note that many of these are the same symptoms of withdrawal from other opiates?
But it gets worse. Adverse effects of Naltrexone can also include severe allergic reactions with hives, itching and difficulty breathing; confusion; hallucinations; severe vomiting and diarrhea; and suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Liver damage can result from large dosages of the drug. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000853/. http://www.drugs.com/sfx/naltrexone-side-effects.html
Then there is this very simple question – “For a person addicted to drugs, how does it empower him or the resposible party in his life to get him through withdrawal under anaesthesia?”
The question is, “Is there any humane alternative?” Narconon spokesperson Bobby Wiggins had one to offer. “At the Narconon drug rehabilitation centers, we have developed a way to make withdrawal far more tolerable by using nutritional support and one-on-one care by our staff,” he said. “Addicts normally arrive at a drug rehab after a long period of neglect of their health. Add to that the fact that drugs rob the body of nutrients like the B vitamins and vitamin C. We have found that the administration of nutritional supplements specifically designed for those in drug recovery greatly eases the impact of withdrawal.”
Added to this is a liquid calcium-magnesium drink that calms muscle spasms and tends to reduce anxiety. And Narconon staff work continuously with each recovering addict to perform “assists,” gentle physical and mental relaxation exercises that help reorient the recovering addict and help ease him or her through the effects of withdrawal.
“The result is an experience that is tolerable and confrontable and which gives many recovering addicts new hope that this time, they can succeed because they have been participating right from the begining”, Wiggins added.
Call us to get more information about the Narconon Drug Treatment program. Our counselors are ready to assist you.
narconon-news.org
Methadone Addiction
In the Second World War, the Allies blocked the import of morphine to Germany which left the wounded Nazi troops without appropriate pain medications. The German scientist developed a synthetic opiate, Polamidon, which was later named methadone, that had the analgesic properties similar to morphine, but with the added advantage of lasting four to five times longer between doses.
After the war, the factory where methadone was invented fell under American control, which led to the first clinical trials of Methadone in 1947. The American pharmaceutical company, Eli-Lilly, first coined the name Dolophine – which comes from a combination of the Latin word dolor (pain) and the French word fin (end).
Eli Lilly was unsuccessful in marketing Dolophine (methadone) as a low cost analgesic and by the early 1950s, the drug was hardly being used at all. In 1968, New York City doctors, at Rockefeller University, Marie Nyswander and Vincent Dole, were experimenting with different drugs to help heroin users and discovered methadone could be used as a substitute for any other opiate, including heroin.
During the Nixon presidency, Vietnam veterans were returning home to America with heroin addictions that were costing them $5-a-day in Southeast Asia, but required $100 or more to maintain in the US. In a speech in 1971, Nixon called drug addiction “public enemy number one” and supported an expansion of methadone as a detox medication and as a replacement maintenance for those opiate addicts that had relapse histories.
From that time to present, methadone maintenance clinics have become very profitable business enterprises, since the cost of methadone is about ten cents/dose and those that are on daily doses of methadone cannot easily stop taking this drug, since methadone is known to produce the highest level of symptoms of opiate withdrawal.
Profits from the methadone dispensing business are also assured by the government, both state and federal, limiting competition by only allowing a certain number of clinics within a given area and since their patients must have the drug daily, the clinics can basically charge whatever the public can afford and be assured of repeat business.
Alcohol and drug addiction counselors whose purpose is to rehabilitate addicts so that they can reclaim the beauty of living drug-free have always opposed the use of substituting one drug for another, and for good clinical reasons.
The purpose of drug rehab is to restore a normalcy in the lives of people that have been avoiding life’s pain and, consequently the pleasure, as well, by taking opiates or painkillers. The substituting of one drug for another is counter to this noble effort and makes the goal of a drug-free life a futile endeavor. Therefore, the obvious moral prerogative is to free the individual from the compulsive need to take methadone daily or suffer consequences that are quite severe.
To convince the public that methadone maintenance is the only effective treatment for most opiate addicts, the methadone industry documents their business by quoting numerous articles claiming that the brain makes certain irreversible changes during opiate addiction that force the “recovering” addict to continue to supply their bodies with daily doses of opiate medications.
For those who believe this research and don’t investigate further, this argument may seem logical, however, it doesn’t present the obvious argument that even though there are approximately half million people on methadone maintenance, there are literally millions of ex-heroin addicts that are living successful, normal lives without the need to “repair their brain chemistry”. Anecdotal interviews with methadone patients has revealed that it is very hard to find anyone on methadone maintenance that likes their treatment and doesn’t feel enslaved by their need for these daily doses.
