Tag Archives: Fighting heroin addiction

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Understanding heroin competently

September 2, 2016
Understanding heroin competently

Understanding heroin competently. Heroin addiction factors associated with depression includes all the factors increasing addiction risk on drug users.

Understanding heroin competently: Establishing your heroin problems

Over the years we have been posting very informative health blogs concerning drug abuse and including heroin which is going to be our focus for a while in our subsequent postings. We have since noticed that the rate at which this is increasing is worrying and as professionals at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury we will continue giving our contribution to ensure that the prevalence of substance abuse is reduced to manageable levels. In our interaction with clients and patients from time to time, we have noticed that the public are not really informed of the consequences of these substances. And most worrying is that even if they are directly affected, it takes others to notice but the real victim is not even aware that he/she is addicted to heroin or any other drug. We want to use this forum to further create more awareness of the prevalence of heroin and the question we want to respond to is understanding heroin competently. And for the simplicity of our understanding heroin competently, we have segmented the discussion in four question of great concern. We hope that this will help you understand better what heroin really is and how you can protect yourself from the scourge. The four questions of concerns include:

Heroin is an illegal, highly addictive drug. It is not just the most abused drug but it is also the most rapidly acting of the opiates. These characteristics have put it to be the leading opiate abused in the global opiate market. With the help of the professionals at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, we will be discussing these questions one by one progressively in our subsequent articles. But in the meantime even as we bring this article to an end, the consequences of heroin addiction forces us to be on high alert and be quick in understanding heroin competently.

And to help us in creating that competent understanding, doctor Dalal Akoury MD, Dr. Akoury made a decision to create a medical center whose main objective is to transform each individual’s life through increasing awareness about health and wellness and by empowering individuals to find their own inner healing power. Dr. Akoury’s practice focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. This is a very good step in finding lasting solution to those struggling with heroin addiction. If this description suites your situation, you may want to call doctor Dalal Akoury on telephone number 843 213 1480 for a more and one on one further professional deliberations.

Understanding heroin competently: Establishing your heroin problems

 

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Heroin overdose and drug abuse management

September 2, 2016
Heroin overdose

Heroin overdose and drug abuse management. Heroin accessibility and affordability hindering treatment to the deserving communities

Heroin overdose and drug abuse management: Why do people Abuse Drugs

It is worrying the rate at which substance abuse is becoming a daily routine in most societies. Today heroin overdose is on the rise and managing drug abuse is becoming very difficult due to very many factors including the easy accessibility of these drugs in our streets. With the help of experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, we want to share with you some points you need to know about the impact of heroin overdose in our societies today. And as we turn our focus on this, we are going to primarily look at the heroin overdose and drug abuse management, what are the available options we have in the fight a against drug abuse. Doctor Dalal Akoury MD is going to highlight on what we need to know about this problem. The following are some of the points for consideration:

  • Majority of new users get to heroin as a result of addiction to prescription drugs.
  • Quitting heroin is the easy part the hard part is staying off.
  • The users trying to quit for good run the greatest risk of overdose.
  • We could stop people from dying of overdose, except we can’t find them.

Heroin overdose and drug abuse management: Majority of new users get to heroin as a result of addiction to prescription drugs

Heroin users like any other drug abuser are not really copying this practice from their favorite rock musicians. Currently the available statistics indicates that about 80% of new heroin users are lured into the drug after becoming addicted to the prescription pain medication. Due to a new medical focus on treating pain alongside false advertising by pharmaceutical companies, opiate painkiller prescriptions exploded from 76 million in 1991 to 219 million in 2011. The translation of this is that almost one for every American adult. This has necessitated the authorities to begin responding to the growing addiction and heroin overdose among other drugs by cracking down on prescription excess and fraudulent pill mills. With the intervention of the authorities, those patients who found themselves addicted when their prescriptions ran out of supply, resorted for the cheap accessible pills on the street. Many switched from $50 Oxycontin pills to $10 doses of heroin. That is why it is very essential that government agencies and medical professionals keep working together to reduce our reliance on opiate painkillers.

Finally with this kind of stringent regulation, many opiate-addicted patients are cut off from their legal supply, and will certainly turn to heroin further complicating the drug abuse management. It is time to address our society’s heroin problem from the front line collectively and individually. Expert experiences will be very vital along the way and should you be in need, doctor Dalal Akoury will be waiting to help you professionally.

Heroin overdose and drug abuse management: Why do people Abuse Drugs

 

 

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Addressing heroin overdose and drug abuse complications

September 2, 2016
Addressing heroin overdose

Addressing heroin overdose and drug abuse complications. Heroin long term effects on the body organs. The drug abuse development into addiction complications often begins little by little and grows in to serious health complication.

Addressing heroin overdose and drug abuse complications: Why do people Abuse Drugs

In one of the drug addiction forum, doctor Dalal Akoury MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center while addressing heroin overdose indicated that quitting heroin is no problem, the real problem is staying off the addiction. This is true because a serious heroin user who misses a dose or two suffers the painful withdrawal symptoms. Worse than the physical symptoms are the debilitating depression and the knowledge that just one dose would make all the pains go away. In a few days, withdrawal ends but the cravings do not. Long-term heroin use causes users to hunger for heroin just in the same way we often hunger for food. Most users today have been through treatment multiple times, and only five to fifteen percent stay off for good. It is not a question of low self-control, cravings never ends, it may not show for a while but when triggered, it may not matter how long you have been off the drugs you are still able to relapse.

The society is not helping either. We often feel adamant in accepting the rehabilitated addicts or those who have served their jail terms. Take for example many organizations are not willing to absorb former convicts in job positions. Actually very few if will hire someone with a criminal record, especially for heroin. Just when users need help rebuilding a stable life, their criminal records cripple their job applications and bar them from college loans, assistance programs and professional licenses.

Addressing heroin overdose and drug abuse complications: The users trying to quit for good run the greatest risk of overdose.

Regular heroin users know how much of the drug their bodies can take. They increase their habit slowly, building up a high opiate tolerance. But when they quit, their bodies rapidly lose this tolerance. If they stay clean for a few weeks and then inject their usual dose, the dose may be fatal. If you followed the story of the young boy who only after two weeks of freedom from jail term, borrowing his friend’s car, his tolerance dropped enough that the usual dose killed him.

Others die from taking heroin with cocaine and alcohol, or from bad batches that the dealer mixed poorly or blended with toxic substances. Bad batches are par for the course, since the dealer’s only qualification as a pharmacist is his willingness to risk his life and the lives of others. But the most common reason for overdose is relapse use. In fact, studies show that people who die of heroin overdose actually have on average lower levels of heroin in their bodies than living users. This means that it is the people trying hardest to quit who are at the greatest risk of dying.

Addressing heroin overdose and drug abuse complications: We could stop people from dying of overdose, except we can’t find them.

Many are surprised to learn that heroin overdose deaths are entirely preventable. Naloxone which is administered by injection or nasal spray reverses overdose within seconds by dislodging the drug from the brain’s opiate receptor sites. Naloxone is available in hospitals and is often carried by paramedics and some police officers. In a small number of cities, community-based overdose programs train users, family and friends to administer naloxone. All this in an attempt of addressing heroin overdose and drug abuse complications. You can also seek for more clarity from doctor Dalal Akoury at your convenience.

Addressing heroin overdose and drug abuse complications

 

 

 

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Heroin addiction factors associated with depression

August 26, 2016
Heroin addiction factors

Heroin addiction factors associated with depression includes all the factors increasing addiction risk on drug users.

Heroin addiction factors associated with depression: Heroin abuse

Uncovering the causes of depression is one of the most challenging aspects of recovery for heroin users. Depression is much more than a low mood. It is a incapacitating mental illness that can lead to isolation, job loss, broken relationships, poor physical health and an increased risk of suicide. Depression can arise from a number of sources, including:

  • Genetic factors
  • Imbalances in brain chemistry
  • A stressful social environment
  • Psychological trauma
  • Physical disability
  • Drug or alcohol abuse

Treating a Dual Diagnosis of heroin addiction and depression is especially difficult if the individual is still under the influence of the drug. Many of the symptoms of opiate addiction fatigue, self-isolation, poor concentration and weight loss can resemble the symptoms of major depressive disorder.

According to a study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence followed 615 heroin users in various stages of treatment or non-treatment. In the study it was established that a quarter of the subjects were currently experiencing a major depressive episode. While about twenty-six percent of the individuals in treatment had a lifetime history of depression and 16 percent of those who weren’t in treatment had been depressed. In the treatment group, a significant number of clients were also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Others were living with a life-altering physical disability. In many of these cases, heroin was used as a maladaptive way to numb physical or psychological pain.

In long-term heroin users, it can be nearly impossible to determine whether depression led to addiction or the other way round. A comprehensive treatment plan must give equal attention to both conditions.

Heroin addiction factors associated with depression: Depression and heroin withdrawals

In the journey to recovery among many addicts, relapse is often very common among many heroin users who try to quit this highly addictive drug. The unpleasant side effects of heroin withdrawal can drive even the most determined individuals back to the drug. Heroin withdrawal usually isn’t life-threatening, however, heavy users may have dangerous seizures if they try to quit without medical supervision.

Finally physical symptoms of heroin withdrawal can feel like a severe case of the flu, but for many users, the psychological side effects are even harder to tolerate. In the first few days, weeks or even months after quitting heroin, users may feel extremely depressed. Once the brain comes to rely on the euphoric rush of a heroin high, the pleasures of everyday life may seem meaningless in comparison. A condition called anhedonia, or lack of pleasure, often develops in recovering heroin addicts. One of the primary goals of treatment is to help the addict find peace, hope and joy in a drug-free life.

Heroin addiction factors associated with depression: Heroin abuse

 

 

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Comparing heroin abuse and depression

August 26, 2016
Comparing heroin abuse

Comparing heroin abuse and depression by first understanding tolerance dependence and addiction

Comparing heroin abuse and depression: The psychological dependence

It is without any doubt that all drug users and not necessarily heroin addicts are all suffering from depression and addiction. These two elements are of the same characteristic when it comes to substance abuse. Our focus in this article is going to be looking at the relationship between heroin abuse and depression.  This drug heroin is a very powerful opiate capable of making alterations to the user’s brain chemistry and thereby causing mood changes, suicidal behavior, psychological dependence and addiction. It is currently estimated that up to half of all opiate users have at one time experienced depression in their lives. Anyone suffering from any kind of addiction heroin included will be going through what is known as dual diagnosis should it be discovered that they are also suffering from depression. With this condition, doctor Akoury says that chances of long term recovery would be very slim.

From her over two decades of experience doctor Akoury says that not unless the user is treated for both conditions, it is likely that he or she will relapse soon after rehab. It is important to note that in numerous instances, majority of depressed heroin user fail to get treatment. Nonetheless, according to findings from the clinical studies depression and substance abuse are treated simultaneously and when this is done, the depressive symptoms often improve. This has further been confirmed by Biological Psychiatry registering that opiate addicts who go through residential rehab or methadone maintenance treatment have significant improvement in their depression.

Therefore the key to treating heroin abuse and depression successfully is to identify both conditions early in the recovery process. Intensive neuropsychological assessment can reveal the signs of co-occurring psychiatric disorders like depression. Once mental illness has been identified, treatment must address both depression and heroin addiction to be successful.

Comparing heroin abuse and depression: Effects of heroin on psyche

You must have known that heroin is a synthetic drug produced from morphine, a potent analgesic that comes from the opium poppy. Heroin exerts its effects by binding with receptor cells in the brain that respond to opiates. When injected, snorted or smoked heroin can converts into morphine in the brain, where it slows down neurological activity and induces a state of sedation.

For many users, a heroin high produces a rush of euphoria and a sense of profound relaxation. But the National Alliance on Mental Illness states that in people with psychiatric disorders, the side effects of heroin are more likely to be negative. For someone with depression, heroin may seem like an antidote to hopelessness, sadness and guilt.

The psychosocial effects of heroin can also contribute to depression. Heroin is highly debilitating, and users often experience job loss, relationship conflicts, legal problems and financial troubles.

The physical consequences of heroin use including respiratory illness, blood-borne diseases, muscular weakness and vascular damage can also cause severe emotional distress.

Because the brain adjusts quickly to the effects of heroin, physical and psychological dependence develop rapidly. The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that nearly one-fourth (23 percent) of individuals who use heroin will eventually reach the point of addiction. Once addiction sets in, use of the drug becomes compulsive and uncontrollable in spite of the devastating effects of abuse. All of these factors can intensify feelings of hopelessness, despair and self-loathing: the hallmarks of depression.

Comparing heroin abuse and depression: The psychological dependence

 

 

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