Drug Addiction and Treatment

There are countless reasons why people form an addiction to drugs. Usually, it’s a means of relief.  Drug abuse and addiction, mental health disorders, trauma, social, career, and academic pressure, and even the stresses of everyday life, any of these can lead to experimentation with illicit drug use. In many cases, realizing that you’ve crossed over into physical dependence leads to feelings of despair and hopelessness. 

If you or a loved one is suffering from substance abuse, help is available. The addiction treatment programs at Muse Treatment combine varying levels of care, promising real and lasting relief for your addiction problems. 

The Definition of Addiction

According to Merriam-Webster, addiction is a physical and mental need to regularly engage in the behavior causing mental, physical, or social harm to the person, and triggering adverse reactions during withdrawal. Simply put, regardless of your intent or efforts, the choice between using or not using is gone. Addiction wins every time.

Signs and Symptoms of Drug Addiction

Signs of drug and alcohol addiction vary from person to person, making it easier to miss or justify, their existence. Admitting you’re an addict is a hard pill to swallow, harder than many substance abusers think. Following is a list of commonly reported symptoms: 

• Cravings – upping the number of times you use over any period of time
• Obsession – your focus is constantly pulled away by the thought of using
• Tolerance – you need higher doses to get the same high as before
• Increase – the time you spend using gets longer while the amount of drugs you take gets larger
• Supply – making sure you always have enough on hand
• Spend – you’re late on rent, utilities, and other payments after dropping all your funds on drugs
• Retreat – friends, and family never see you anymore, and you’re frequently skipping work or classes
• Cycle – you’re cognizant of the damage and effects on your life but go on using it anyway
• Character – doing whatever it takes in order to get your drugs, like stealing 
• Risk – thoughtlessly put yourself, and others, in danger 
• Devotion – allocating more and more of your time to using and recovering
• Attempt – repeatedly saying you’re going to quit, or even just slow down, but always giving in
• Withdrawal – having physical, emotional, or psychological reactions between using

Drug Addiction Withdrawal Symptoms

The withdrawal symptoms commonly associated with drug or alcohol addiction range from mild to severe depending on the type of drug used and the level of addiction. Doctors recommend seeking out a medically supervised detox program experienced with your drug(s) of choice. Withdrawal from certain dependencies, opioid addiction, in particular, does carry the risk of death. The use of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), available at some rehab centers, reduces the severity of your withdrawal symptoms during the drug detoxing process. General symptoms include:

• Agitation
• Anxiety
• Convulsions
• Delirium tremens
• Depersonalization
• Depression
• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Dry mouth
• Dysphoria
• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Irritability
• Muscle aches
• Muscle spasms
• Nausea
• The sweats

Call Muse Treatment for a complete list of withdrawal symptoms connected with each specific drug. The experts at our treatment centers are ready to answer any questions.

How Drug Addiction Affects the Brain 

Drugs work by targeting particular nerve cells in your brain, specifically, their ability to produce the chemicals used by neurons in order to communicate known as neurotransmitters. Using drug treatments to block the right set of neurons causes your brain to be unaware of any pain you’d typically experience with a broken limb, medical condition, surgical procedure, etc., allowing you to rest and speeding up the healing process. Taken regularly, the actual nerve cells become altered, which leads to increased tolerance of the drug and, finally, addiction. Using drugs with an existing mental health disorder, called a dual diagnosis, raises the level of complication for both conditions and highlights the need for a medically assisted detox program.

Drug Addiction Treatment

You don’t have to look far for help. Muse Treatment, located in Los Angeles, CA, specializes in alcohol, drug, and dual diagnosis treatment programs. Our distinct detox, inpatient, outpatient, and sober living programs are further customized to help achieve your specific recovery goals. Our treatment center employs therapy, twelve-step programming, and cutting-edge neural recovery to complement your recovery program.

Muse has earned a reputation for being an effective and affordable drug rehab in Los Angeles and delivering hope to even the most desperate addicts. Contact us today.