We gathered the answers to some popular questions about addiction and substance abuse therapy below. If you can’t find your question below, feel free to contact us, and we’ll be happy to help.
All syringe services programs in North Carolina are required to provide the following services:
1. Syringe disposal
2. Distribution of sterile syringes and new injection supplies at no cost and in sufficient quantities to prevent sharing or reusing
3. Education materials concerning:
o Prevention of disease transmission, overdose, and substance use disorder
o Treatment options, including medication-assisted treatment and referrals to care
4. Naloxone distribution and training, or referrals to these services
5. Consultations/referrals to mental health or substance use disorder treatment
The NC Safer Syringe Initiative at the Division of Public Health maintains a list of syringe services programs in North Carolina.
Naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. It it attaches to opioid receptors and reverses and blocks the effects of other opioids. Naloxone can quickly restore normal breathing to a person if their breathing has slowed or stopped because of an opioid overdose.
Naloxone should be given to any person who shows signs of an opioid overdose or when an overdose is suspected. Naloxone can be given as a spray or it can be injected into the muscle, under the skin, or in the veins.
Good Samaritan laws in much of the United States protect people from legal consequences if they call 911 to help someone who is experiencing an overdose.
Nearly all U.S. states have Good Samaritan laws, except Kansas, Texas, and Wyoming, although they offer protection for people administering naloxone.1
The answer is yes. Although marijuana is a natural substance, it is not harmless. Marijuana can change brain chemistry and take over the pleasure center of the brain in the same way as other drugs.
Yes. Addiction can lead to a variety of mental health concerns including depression and anxiety, as well as other psychological problems. Clients often having existing or underlying mental health disorders that have contributed to their addiction. In both cases it is important that the addiction and the mental health concerns are both addressed in treatment.
Methadone is addictive, like all opioids. If you are taking it to detox, your treatment plan will include details for gradually reducing then stopping your dose.
This is very dangerous. You’ll usually have a urine or saliva test every few weeks at your doctor or local drug treatment service office. This is to check for heroin, heroin substitutes and other drugs. Mixing Methadone with these drugs could cause serious medical issues or death.
Yes.
If you take too much methadone you could be at risk of overdose. Too much methadone may make you very sleepy and can slow down or stop breathing.
If you have been given naloxone and have taken too much methadone, or you’re having serious side effects, take the naloxone immediately. Follow the instructions you have been given.
It’s best to avoid alcohol while taking methadone, as it can cause very serious side effects. For this reason it’s important to tell your prescriber how much you drink.
Prescription drugs can be highly addictive, especially Opioids such as Oxycodone or Oxycontin, Benzodiazepines such as Xanax, Klonopin or Ativan, and Amphetamines such as Adderall. Even using them as prescribed could result in addiction.
Domestic violence is the use of intentional emotional, psychological, sexual, or physical force by one family member or intimate partner to control another.
Violent acts include verbal, emotional, and physical intimidation; destruction of the victim’s possessions; maiming or killing pets; threats; forced sex; and slapping, punching, kicking, choking, burning, stabbing, shooting, and killing victims. Spouses, parents, stepparents, children, siblings, elderly relatives, and intimate partners may all be targets of domestic violence
Yes.
Though experts agree there is a connection between the two behaviors, its precise nature remains unclear. One researcher writes, “Probably the largest contributing factor to domestic violence is alcohol. All major theorists point to the excessive use of alcohol as a key element in the dynamics of wife beating. However, it is not clear whether a man is violent because he is drunk or whether he drinks to reduce his inhibitions against his violent behavior” (Labell, 1979, p. 264).
Infectious diseases like Hepatitis C and HIV are both spread through sharing of needles and risky sexual behavior.
Addiction treatment programs address this behavior by testing clients and educating them on safer lifestyle choices and disease prevention.
How long opioids stay in your system depends on many factors, including how often you use, how much you weigh, eat, excercize and drink. In general, opioids stay detectable in your system for up to 90 days. For help with opioid addiction, contact Mountain Vista Recovery today.
OTC NARCAN® Nasal Spray has recently been approved for over the counter sales as a treatment for opioid overdose.
Ohio, Delaware and Iowa provide NARCAN® for free. Philadelphia and Chicago distribute free NARCAN® at libraries. Look up where you can get free NARCAN® “near me.” If you have been revived with NARCAN®, see a medical professional ASAP.
When a heavy drinker stops drinking, they will first experience withdrawal symptoms like nausea, sweating, retching, tremors and anxiety.
After 12-24 hours you will experience alcohol cravings, depression and disturbed sleep.
From 12-72 hours, patients must be watched carefully for dangerous withdrawal symptoms like raised heart rate, blood pressure or even seizures. Between 48-72 hours withdrawal symptoms should improve, and stop within 7 days. Sleep patterns are likely to improve after 1 week, and the clinical detox period ends around 2 weeks.
Stopping heavy drinking is dangerous without medical intervention.
Depression is a mood disorder which negatively affects how you feel, act and think, causing persistent feelings of sadness or loss of interest in daily tasks and routine. Depression is a serious mood disorder, and often affects victims of alcohol or drug abuse in debilitating ways. Types of depression you might be diagnosed with include major depression, melancholia, phychotic or bipolar depression. For help with depression and behavioral health, reach out to Primary Purpose today.
An Intensive Outpatient Program, or IOP, is perfect for individuals with mild-to-moderate substance use disorders, those who want to transition from a high to a lower level of care, and those who want to maintain much of their normal routine while still receiving quality addiction treatment.
Even if you’re not sure if our IOP program is right for you, our intake specialists will create a treatment plan that can change based on your needs and goals. You might be in our outpatient program, but realize you could benefit from a higher level of care or program, which we can accommodate through a referral.
Individuals progress through drug addiction treatment at various rates, so there is no predetermined length of treatment. Research shows that sobriety is contingent on adequate treatment length.
Generally inpatient or outpatient treatment, participation for less than 90 days is of limited use.
For methadone and MAT, 12 months is considered the minimum.
Treatment dropout is one of the major problems encountered by treatment programs. Mountain Vista Recovery uses motivational techniques to keep patients engaged and thus, improve outcomes.
There are many individual factors related to sobriety and treatment, including:
Successful clinicians can establish a positive, relationship with the client, helping them developing a treatment plan that can be followed, and ensuring that the client understands the plan.
Because clients often come to MVR with other mental illnesses, it may take a few intensive interventions to keep a client motivated.
We are here for it.
Drug addiction is a disease of the brain that frequently occurs with other mental disorders. As many as 6 in 10 people with an illicit substance use disorder also suffer from another mental illness. One condition becomes more difficult or impossible to treat successfully, as an additional condition is intertwined.
People entering treatment should be assessed for a range of conditions. Research indicates that treating multiple illnesses simultaneously is often the best approach for these clients.
Yes. Exercise is a component of many treatment programs and has proven effective. Exercise may address psychosocial and physiological needs that therapy does not. In it’s simplest form, it is a positive and social hobby, resulting in a higher self esteem, better sleep and all-around happier life.
Acceptance, hope, faith, courage, honesty, patience, humility, willingness, brotherly love, integrity, self-discipline, and service.
SACOT is the North Carolina version of the commonly known, Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), and is a type of addiction therapy program for those who require more care than standard outpatient treatment or even intensive outpatient programs (IOP/Day Treatment) can provide.
The most common side effects of methadone are constipation, feeling sick, and feeling cold and sweaty.
A key worker or pharmacist will supervise you as you take methadone. This can take up to 3 months.
When you have stabilized on methadone, it may be possible to take doses at home. You’ll discuss this with your prescriber and case manager to work out what is right for you.
If you’re taking methadone for maintenance therapy, you will usually take it long term.
If you’re taking it for detox, your dose will gradually be decreased until you are taken off Methadone. This usually takes 12 weeks, but can be sooner if you detox in a hospital or residential program.
Mountain Vista Recovery has noticed that each individual may have issues that need to be dealt with independently – issues that may not be managed as effectively if the couple is living in the same facility. Because results are better for our clients in a non-couples environment, we choose that option in the best interest of our clients.
MVR intensive outpatient program (IOP) provides addiction treatment through evidence-based therapy methods and holistic healing modalities on an outpatient basis. Based on their personalized treatment plan, clients will participate in individual and group therapy sessions, relapse prevention education, and other recovery-based exercises.
In addition to getting sober, the goal of treatment is to return people to productive functioning families, workplaces, and communities. According to research, most people who remain in treatment, stop using drugs, decrease criminal activity, and improve occupational, social, and psychological functions.
Individual treatment outcomes depend on the nature of the patient’s problems, the treatment and related services used to address those problems, and the interaction between the patient and his or her treatment team.
Relapse is not only possible but also likely. When relapse occurs, many deem treatment a failure. This is not the case: Successful treatment of addiction is a life-long process. If you are still trying – you have not failed.
Substance Abuse Comprehensive Outpatient Treatment (SACOT) is a program that meets 5 days a week. This program is for people with complex medical or behavioral health needs with a long history of substance abuse.
Self-help groups can complement and extend the effects of professional treatment. The most prominent self-help groups are those affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and Cocaine Anonymous (CA); all of which are based on the 12-step model. Most drug addiction treatment programs encourage patients to participate in self-help group therapy during and after formal treatment. These groups can be particularly helpful during recovery, offering an added layer of community-level social support to help people achieve and maintain abstinence and other healthy lifestyle behaviors over the course of a lifetime.
Gender-related drug abuse treatment should address biological, social and environmental factors, all of which can influence the motivations for drug use, reasons for seeking treatment, environments where treatment is obtained, treatments that are most effective, and the consequences of not getting treatment.
Women face unique life circumstances, and research shows that physical and sexual trauma and (PTSD) is common in drug-abusing women, than in men seeking treatment. Women also find child care, pregnancy or financial independence a barrier to treatment.
Reach out to Mountain Vista Recovery today. We will help you figure it out.
Adults (aged 18 years and over) can take methadone for drug addiction.
It can also be given to newborn babies in hospital, to help with heroin or methadone withdrawal symptoms.
Doses vary from person to person. Your starting dose is based on:
Drug addiction is a complex illness. It is characterized by intense and, at times, uncontrollable craving for the drug, along with compulsive drug seeking and use that persist even in the face of devastating consequences. Addiction affects brain circuits responsible for reward and motivation, learning, memory, and control over behavior.
While a person initially chooses to take drugs, over time the effects of the drugs compromise the ability to choose, and seeking and consuming the drug become compulsive, often eluding a person’s self-control or willpower.
Addiction also produces far-reaching health and social consequences. Drug abuse and addiction increase risk for a variety of mental and physical illnesses and can interfere with the normal functioning in a family, the workplace, and the broader community.
Craving, Compulsion, Control, and Consequences.
An overdose can occur after someone consumes a toxic level of a substance (or multiple substances) interfering with their brain and body’s ability to function properly. Drug overdose can be fatal, but when it isn’t, overdose-related toxicity can result in several negative short-term and long-term health consequences.
Yes, all MVR facilities and staff are trained for overdose reversal with Naloxone.
Alcoholism is widely recognized as a disease of compulsive drinking, which can be arrested, but not cured. It is a progressive illness, which will get only worse as long as the person continues to drink. Total abstinence from drinking is the only way to arrest the disease. Alcoholism affects the entire family; indeed, everyone who has contact with the alcoholic is affected. The only person who can stop the alcoholic from drinking is the alcoholic himself or herself.
Methadone is a man-made opioid (also known as an opiate). Other opioids include codeine, morphine, fentanyl and diamorphine (heroin).
Methadone is used to help you stop taking heroin by reducing withdrawal symptoms like shaking, nausea and other flu-like symptoms. It also helps stop opiate cravings.
Addiction therapists and other addiction specialists use the term “substance use disorder” or SUD to classify someone with an addiction. A substance use disorder can be further broken down into categories like “alcohol use disorder” or “stimulant use disorder.”
There is no “worst” addiction, but the most deadly addictions are to heroin and alcohol. All addictions, even those to things like video games, have negative affects on your mental and physical health and relationships with those around you.
Yes and no. After one pleasurable use, the user might seek out the same feeling again. With more addictive substances like prescription painkillers and heroin, one use is more than enough to lay the groundwork for addiction. Those with mental health issues are at particular risk of addiction after one-time use.
Nearly all addicted individuals believe that they can stop using drugs on their own, and most try to stop without treatment. Sadly, many attempts result in failure. Research has shown that long-term drug abuse results in changes in the brain that persist long after a person stops using. These changes in brain function have many consequences, including an inability to control the desire for drugs.
Stress from work, family, psychiatric illness, pain, social cues, or environment can trigger intense cravings without the individual even being aware.
There is not one reason why an individual becomes addicted, and anyone can become addicted to anything. However, two primary factors that may make someone vulnerable to become addicted are environmental factors and genetic factors. Environmental variables include a home environment in which there is trauma, abuse, or addictive behaviors occurring; a living environment in which drugs, alcohol or other addictions are readily available and taking place; friends, family members or other peer influences of individuals who are addicted or regularly engage in problematic behaviors; social acceptance of problematic behaviors; or a culture that generally accepts addiction. Genetic variables include a family history of mental health or addiction.
The root causes of addiction include trauma and mental health struggles. There is no one cause of addiction. No one can completely predict who will become addicted after substance abuse and who won’t.
There is no cure for addiction, but addictions are treatable. Depending on the type of addiction, the severity of the addiction, and the history of the person’s relationship with their addiction, many individuals are able to live and thrive while moderating their addictive behavior. There are also abstinence-based approaches to recovery involving complete abstinence from the addictive behavior.
Addictions are treated in medical detox clinics, inpatient rehabilitation centers, and outpatient rehabilitation centers.
Some clients choose to work privately with an addiction therapist, addiction psychiatrist, or addiction recovery coach (sober coach).
Common methods of treatment include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), or Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), among many other forms of therapy. There are also help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, Refuge Recovery, Gamblers Anonymous and many other twelve-step programs.
All studies available as of today (2024) say that once someone has progressed to the point of alcoholism, they can never drink normally again.
After maintaining sobriety for a period of time, the alcoholic may feel safe to try a alcohol again. This leads to relapse.
Family and friends can play critical roles in motivating individuals with drug problems to enter and stay in treatment – or can be the biggest pitfall in their recovery.
Family therapy is important, especially for adolescents. Involvement of a family member or significant other in an individual’s SUD treatment program can strengthen and extend SUD treatment benefits.
Alcoholism and addiction is a family disease. The disease affects all those who have a relationship with a problem drinker. Those of us closest to the addicted person suffer the most. Family and friends can become addicted to caretaking, supporting or protecting the addicted loved one – which drains them of their time, energy, money, resources and ability to thrive.
No.
Buprenorphine and methadone are prescribed or administered under monitored, controlled conditions and are safe and effective for treating opioid addiction when used as directed. They are administered orally or sublingually (i.e., under the tongue) in specified doses, and their effects differ from those of heroin and other abused opioids.
Heroin, for example, is often injected, snorted, or smoked, causing an almost immediate “rush,” or brief period of intense euphoria, that wears off quickly and ends in a “crash.” The individual then experiences an intense craving to use the drug again to stop the crash.
In contrast, methadone and buprenorphine have gradual onsets of action and produce stable levels of the drug in the brain, allowing patients on these medications to remain stable, without a rush and cravings. If an client on these medications takes an opioid, the effect will be dulled.
You can help someone with depression by showing them support and love. Urge the depressed person to seek treatment, while listening to their problems patiently. Offer positive reinforcement, urge the person to take self-care steps, and help find organizations to offer professional behavioral health services.
Don’t let anyone tell you that just because depression is a common mood disorder, it isn’t a serious issue.
How long it takes to rewire your brain from addiction depends on how much you work at it. It can take weeks, months or even years, and even then it’s difficult for many people.
The absence of rules, regulations or “musts” is one of the unique features of A.A. Most A.A. groups have an unwritten tradition that anyone who is still drinking, and distracting enough in a meeting, may be asked to leave. This same person will be welcomed back at any time, as long as they don’t disrupt a meeting. Meanwhile, members of the group will do their best to support this person in sobriety if there is a sincere desire to stop drinking.
Family members or close friends are welcome at “open” A.A. meetings as observers.
Individuals may download a single copy of a book or pamphlet from aa.org for their personal use. Single copies of some pamphlets may be printed, and these are designated on the website. (Please read the A.A. World Services Content Use Policy.)
A.A. meetings can take place both online and by phone. To find your closest local entity, please search via A.A. Near You.
This is entirely a personal matter, but it is usually best for all concerned to let the A.A. member decide who shall be told and when.
While a few people have stopped drinking entirely after independently reading Alcoholics Anonymous, the A.A. “Big Book,” most don’t. An important part of A.A. is interacting with other alcoholics with similar past experiences. This is when they begin to have real success with sobriety.
Narcotics Anonymous is for any addict who wants to stop using drugs. N.A. members believe that that they can help each other to stay clean by using the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of N.A. Narcotics Anonymous has no professional counselors or therapists. Membership costs nothing. N.A. meetings—where addicts share their experience, strength, and hope—are held 7 days per week, at all hours of the day.
Narcotics Anonymous is for any addict who wants to recover from the disease of addiction. If you are currently in treatment, you may have entered for some reason other than a desire to stop using drugs. No matter what your initial motivation for entering treatment, if you want to stop using drugs and continue your recovery, Narcotics Anonymous may be for you.
When the time comes to leave treatment, many clients feel fear of returning to active addiction. The return to family, job, and friends may prompt feelings of uncertainty, guilt, or inadequacy. N.A. helps keep you in contact with others who are committed to sobriety. You will have bad days, and N.A. gives you access to a community of people who care about your health and sobriety before all else.
The primary purpose of Al‑Anon is to provide support to the friends and families of alcoholics. In a recent membership survey 35% of our members said they joined our program because of a loved one’s drug addiction and that their lives had improved since attending meetings.
There is another program, Nar‑Anon is for people affected by a loved one’s drug addiction. You can visit their web site here: Nar‑Anon.org.
Many who come to Al-Anon/Alateen are in despair, feeling hopeless, unable to believe that things can ever change. We all come to Al-Anon because we want and need help.
In Al-Anon and Alateen, members share their own experience, strength, and hope with each other. You will meet others who share your feelings and frustrations, if not your exact situation. We come together to learn a better way of life, to find happiness whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not.
Cities with local information services are listed on our website. Many of those listed post meeting information on their websites. For meeting information in Canada, the US, and Puerto Rico you can call 1-888-4AL-ANON (1-888-425-2666).
It is your choice to speak or not during the meetings. Newcomers are welcomed to meetings, usually provided with literature and a local meeting list, and invited to listen and learn. Some meetings offer beginners’ meetings, specifically for newcomers. Members are available to answer questions before or after the meetings.
Since each group is autonomous, they can decide, by a group conscience, how their meetings will be conducted. Meetings can be held by having group sharing, step and/or tradition studies, topic meetings, or speaker meetings.
There are no dues or fees in Al-Anon, Nar-Anon and Alateen or Narateen meetings. Most groups pass a basket for voluntary contributions. Members are asked to contribute what they can afford, so that the group can pay rent, provide literature, and offer support to local and worldwide service centers.
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