Opioids and Opioid Use Disorders

1. Understanding Opioids and Opioid Use Disorders
2. Physical Effects of Opioid Abuse
3. How Opioid Abuse Impacts Quality of Life
4. Risk Factors for Opioid Use Disorders
5. Treatments for Opioid Use Disorders
6. The Opioid Epidemic in the US

Medically-reviewed articles:

• Signs of Drug Abuse and Addiction
• Common Signs of Opiate Abuse
• Can You Get Addicted to Opioids Using Them as Prescribed?
• How to Know If Someone Is On Opiates?
• How Long Do Opiates Stay In Your System?

Professional webinars:

• Opioid Addiction in the United States

Opioids and opioid use disorders

Today, we’re going to talk about opioids and opioid use disorders. 

Are you struggling with opioid use disorder? 

If you answer yes to two or more of these questions that I will ask. Perhaps it is appropriate for you to talk to a medical or mental health professional. 

• Are you using a larger dose over a larger period of time?
• Do you want to cut back on your opioid use, but you can’t?
• Are you spending a lot of your time thinking about, finding, using, and recovering from opioids? 
• Do you have really strong cravings to use? 
• Is your opioid use having negative effects on your work, school and home life?
• Do you continue to use opioids after social and interpersonal issues arise?
• Have you been reducing or altogether stopping your typical social, job, or recreational activities? 
• Are you putting yourself in physically dangerous situations? 
• Is your opioid use causing physical or psychological problems? 
• Have you developed a tolerance for opioids?  The occurrence of needing more and more of a substance to achieve the same results.
• Or do you experience withdrawal symptoms if you stop using opioids, which then leads you to using more opioids to avoid those withdrawal symptoms. 

There are a lot of different names that opioids can appear as.  There are their prescription names that you may have heard of, such as Percocet or Vicodin or fentanyl. There are also non-prescription names such as heroin, H, oxy, or Percs.

These words all relate to opioid use disorders.  Whether it comes through a prescription or nonprescription methods.

Now, you may be wondering, do I have an addiction or a physical dependence on opioids.  A dependence, your body adapts to the drug and may need more to achieve the desired effect. And if you stop using it, there are physical and mental symptoms. 

Physical dependence doesn’t always mean you’re struggling with addiction. But there is a close relationship and it can be difficult to tell the difference. If you are wondering if you have a physical dependence or an addiction because of your opioid use, it is an important conversation to have with your medical or mental health professionals. 

In the next lesson we will review the physical effects of opioid use.

Thank you for choosing The Recovery Village.  If you or a loved one are struggling with mental health or substance abuse and would like to find out more about the programs we offer, please reach out to us directly at 855-387-3291.