What Is the Most Common Opioid Addiction Medication and Treatment?

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It is estimated that over two million Americans misuse or abuse opioids each year.

Abuse of opioids is no joke and needs to be taken seriously. If you or anyone you know are opioid addicts, you don’t need to continue to suffer.

There is opioid addiction medication that can help you or a loved one’s road to recovery.

What Is Opioid Addiction?

Opioid addiction is a dangerous addiction to prescription painkillers like Percocet, codeine, morphine, and many others. The most commonly abused prescription painkiller is Hydrocodone, followed by Oxycodone.

Although opioids are often prescribed to patients to help with pain, they can also be misused. People who misuse opioids do one of the following:

Take more than prescribed
Steal or take someone else’s opioid prescription
Take the medicine to feel the high

If abusing opioids continues for longer than a short period of time, it will change the brain’s chemicals, which leads to addiction. It then becomes harder to stop abusing the drug due to loss of control.

If you or someone you know is misusing an opioid, it doesn’t need to continue that way. Treating opioid addiction is possible with a medical professional and should be done right away.

What Are the Signs of Opioid Addiction?

If you are noticing certain behaviors or symptoms of someone you know that aren’t normal, it may be a sign of opioid addiction. Pay attention to

Change in sleeping and eating habits
Mood swings
Quitting activities they once enjoyed
Stealing
Showing signs of intoxication
Visiting hospitals or urgent care for medications

These are all signs to watch for if you suspect opioid abuse. If this is the case, you need to get them help and treatment.

How Can You Treat Opioid Addiction?

There are a few different ways to treat opioid addiction. There are inpatient settings or outpatient settings along with opioid addiction medication.

Medications such as naltrexone, buprenorphine, and methadone are all helpful to treating opioid addiction.

Methadone is a long-acting drug addiction treatment and only needs to be taken once per day to counteract the withdrawal effects. Naltrexone is a drug that ensures that any opioid that has been taken doesn’t have any effects.

Suboxone is a combination of a weak opioid and naltrexone, an opioid blocker. This must be taken directly as prescribed to help with treating opioid addiction. Check out www.recoverydelivered.com/services/suboxone/ to learn more about Suboxone and how to use it.

The medications reduce withdrawal symptoms and reduce cravings to help the person recover more easily. Although these medications help with withdrawal symptoms, they do not treat the underlying issues of opioid addiction.

In addition to the medication, seeking behavioral therapy is strongly recommended as part of opioid addiction recovery. If you choose to seek treatment in a Delray Beach addiction treatment facility, all of these will be provided to help you break free from your opioid addiction.