At Cirque Lodge, we understand how devastating heroin addiction is.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, around 20% of people who try heroin will become addicted. Heroin addiction quickly dominates every facet of our lives, and we suffer extremely unpleasant withdrawal symptoms if we stop without medical supervision. However, it is possible to recover from heroin addiction and live a fruitful and fulfilling life. Recovery at Cirque Lodge starts with medical detox, where we slowly reduce the physical hold heroin has on your body.
Then, in your customized therapy program, you can start to explore your addiction mentally.
As any former addict will tell you, recovery requires constant maintenance. 12-step groups such as Heroin Anonymous are a fantastic way to continue your journey of recovery. They center on spiritual development and staying abstinent through altruism. We use the principles of the 12-steps as the bedrock of our recovery program, so you will be very familiar with them by the time you graduate.
Typically pain medications are intended to be a short-term solution. Extended use can increase the risk of developing abuse behaviors and addiction. Always take medications as prescribed and always consult your healthcare provider on the use of these medicines. Discuss with your doctor the risks of addiction with medications that are prescribed to you.
This means away from where your children can get them. The recent Monitoring the Youth survey by the National Institute of Drug Abuse has shown a growing trend in adolescents using pain medications in a recreational manner. The commonplace for obtaining such drugs is their own medicine cabinets. This can be prevented by keeping such medications in a safe and controlled location. This type of drug abuse at a young age greatly increases the risk of developing an addiction.
Do not share your medications with others under any circumstances. This can be contributing to their dependency. Never sell your pain meds to others. Not only is this illegal, but it can also contribute to misuse and overdose deaths.
Most communities have developed programs for the safe disposal of medications. Dispose of them as soon as you and your doctor have decided you no longer need them. This decreases the risk of misuse, abuse, and theft.
Pharmaceutical companies are striving to address the issue of prescription drug addiction by inventing formulations that discourage abuse.
Anti-abuse pills pose a challenge to those who do not take the pill as orally recommended. Addicts of prescription drugs will often crush the pills. They then snort them or mix them with a liquid and inject them. The anti-abuse pill congeals when crushed, and does not at all mix with water.
This makes it difficult to inject and virtually impossible to snort. It is nice to see the pharmacy labs making strides to address the growing prescription drug problem. But until this becomes a common practice with medications of abuse, addiction will be an increasing problem.
