The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers: Taking Cocaine head on

The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers may include group therapy and counseling

Of the societal challenges we are faced with drug addiction is becoming one of the most disturbing one. When one member of the family is struggling with substance abuse, the whole family is concern and a lot of emotional and even physical frustrations are felt. What is worrying is the rate at which the population abusing drugs is increasing. There are several factors that can explain this but the sing denominator is that the increase is getting out of hand if something is not done to correct this. Looking at the impact of substance abuse in our neighborhoods doctor Dalal Akoury made a decision to form a health center whose objective would be to offer solutions to people abusing drugs. At this facility (AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center) doctor Akoury together with her team of experts are offering the best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers among other drug related cases. Therefore if you are struggling with drugs of whichever kind, then you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Akoury today for treatment. In the meantime, let us consider some of the treatment options we have.

Information available indicates that just a few years ago in 2007, cocaine alone accounted for about 13 percent of all admissions to drug abuse treatment programs. The report also revealed that majority of these people sought treatment were mainly cocaine addicts and were also struggling with other drugs other than cocaine meaning that they were poly drug abusers. Doctor explains that the prevalence of cocaine has necessitated renewed efforts to develop treatment programs for cocaine across the globe. And just like with other drugs, cocaine is one of the complex diseases that involve biological changes in the brain as well as myriad social, familial, and other environmental problems. Therefore, a good treatment of cocaine addiction must be comprehensive, and strategies need to assess the neurobiological, social, and medical aspects of the patient’s drug abuse. Moreover, patients who have a variety of addictions often have other co-occurring mental disorders that require additional behavioral or pharmacological interventions.

The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers: Cocaine Detoxification

For us to have better modes of treatment of cocaine addiction, we must first appreciate and acknowledge that we have a problem that needs to be fixed. No treatment can be successful if the patient is still in denial. It is a fact that patients addicted to cocaine or even other drugs will have a lot of toxic deposit in their systems. These toxics are the biggest problem that detoxification will be addressing in this article. Therefore medical detoxification is a process that systematically and safely withdraws people from addictive drugs. This is usually done under the care of trained physician. Drinking alcohol or using drugs can cause physical dependence over time and stopping them can result in withdrawal symptoms in people with this dependence. The detoxification process is designed to treat the immediate bodily effects of stopping drug use and to remove toxins left in the body as a result of the chemicals found in drugs or alcohol.

Even though as things stand now there is no proven pharmacologic therapy for cocaine addiction, so many kinds of medications have been used in the past in the detoxification of cocaine. It is however worth noting that withdrawal from chronic cocaine use may also result in anxiety, depression and intense cravings for the drugs you are trying to eliminate from your systems. Several types of medications address these issues in different ways. Like for instance:

• Antidepressant drugs such as desipramine or a combination of phentermine and fenfluramine have been used to reduce cocaine withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety and depression.
• Benzodiazepines, tranquilizers such as Diazepam, have been used to reverse anxiety induced by cocaine withdrawal.
• Amantadine, a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease, may be an effective treatment for cocaine-dependent patients with severe cocaine withdrawal symptoms and may reduce cocaine craving.
• Bromocriptine, a drug that works on the brain’s dopamine system, has been used to decrease the craving for cocaine during detoxification and to reduce mood disturbance.
• Propanolol, a beta-blocker drug used to treat high blood pressure, may be useful for severe cocaine withdrawal symptoms, as it slows down the effects of adrenaline, thereby calming the body’s “fight or flight” response to stressful situations.
• This type of drug has been used to treat general anxiety and anxiety associated with alcohol withdrawal.
• Propranolol’s lessening of symptoms such as palpitations and sweating has helped reduce cocaine craving. Its use, however, is not risk free in patients who have taken cocaine and can be associated with decreased blood flow to the heart and other changes that predispose patients to arrhythmia and a severe increase in blood pressure that can lead to a stroke.
• Delayed toxic effects are possible. Any use of beta-blockers in this setting requires careful monitoring and caution.

The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers: Behavioral Interventions

Many behavioral treatments for cocaine addiction have proven to be effective in both residential and outpatient settings. Indeed, behavioral therapies are often the only available and effective treatments for many drug problems, including stimulant addictions. However, the integration of behavioral and pharmacological treatments may ultimately prove to be the most effective approach. Presently, there are no proven medications to treat cocaine addiction. Nonetheless a lot of efforts are being made by NIDA to identify and test new medications.

One form of behavioral therapy that is showing positive results in cocaine-addicted populations is contingency management, or motivational incentives (MI). MI may be particularly useful for helping patients achieve initial abstinence from cocaine and for helping patients stay in treatment. Programs use a voucher or prize-based system that rewards patients who abstain from cocaine and other drug use. On the basis of drug-free urine tests, the patients earn points, or chips, which can be exchanged for items that encourage healthy living, such as a gym membership, movie tickets, or dinner at a local restaurant. This approach has recently been shown to be practical and effective in community treatment programs.

Finally it is important that patients receive only services that match all of their treatment needs. For example, if a patient is unemployed, it may be helpful to provide vocational rehabilitation or career counseling along with addiction treatment. If a patient has marital problems, it may be important to offer couples counseling. These and more are some of the services we offer at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center. When you schedule for that appointment with doctor Akoury, up on carrying out an evaluation on you, she will put you on a tailored treatment program that will directly meet your addiction needs.

The best treatment solutions for cocaine abusers: Taking Cocaine head on