Addiction
Opioid addiction is a disease :
If you are taking opioids on a regular basis you can possible become dependent on them. This means that if you stop taking them, you will feel sick. This sickness is called withdrawal. Dependence is not the same as addiction, but sometimes dependence leads to addiction. Opioid addiction is a chronic disease, like heart disease or diabetes. A chronic disease is a medical condition for life. It cannot be cured, but it can be managed. A person with addiction can regain a healthy, productive life. The signs of addiction are:
Craving :—The mind develops an overwhelming desire for the drug.
Loss of control : Use become compulsive & harder to say no to using drugs; & use continues despite the harm
Opioid addiction can be treated:
If you are like most people, you cannot walk away from addiction on your own. Medication-assisted treatment is treatment for addiction that includes the use of medication along with counseling and other support methods; which makes it the best treatment for addiction. Treatment helps you give up the drug problem. It helps you get through withdrawal and cope with cravings. Treatment also helps you change addictive thinking into nonaddictive, healthful patterns. It can help you move away from other harmful behaviors, too, such as drinking alcohol or abusing other drugs besides the opioid problem.
Some medication used to treat opioid addiction are:
Buprenorphine is one medications commonly used to treat opioid addiction. Now available in a weekly or monthly injections. The person who takes buprenorphine feels normal, not high. However, the brain thinks it is receiving the problem opioid drug, so withdrawal symptoms stay away. Buprenorphine also reduces cravings. Suboxone contains buprenorphine plus naloxone. The naloxone is added to prevent abuse Subutex contains only buprenorphine. You are unlikely to overdose on buprenorphine if you take it properly.