Treatment of Opiate Dependency in Young Adults in Sorrento Valley

I have something to celebrate this month - 32 years free from an opiate addiction.

Given opiates for a pain problem that became chronic, I was hooked for 10 years on codeine.  As I write this, I recall how grateful I am to be free of the destructive power opiates had over my thoughts, emotions and quality of life.

Drug addiction to opiates in San Diego County continues to be a growing problem.  The first time users are usually young men and women, who like myself, are emotionally sensitive and who find reducing emotional and physical pain with opiates quite intoxicating.  The euphoria and increased sense of well-being by using the drugs, draw the user back into the illusion that all their emotional and relationship problems related to fear, anxiety and anger, will magically disappear...forever.  We are chemically lulled into sleep, thinking that life is, indeed, very good.

However, young women and men, living in all areas of San Diego, including La Jolla, Del Mar or Encinitas, who use opiates begin to realize after a short time that they want more of the drug (the craving has begun, and it is hoped that taking more will make the drug experience better, just like the first use) only this time the drugs do not bring the same positive effects.  Instead they feel drowsiness, disorientation and dulled senses.  The  motor coordination in these young users  is effected, and they may prefer to just lay around. Life starts to become depressing.   It is not unusual that people begin to use different drugs and perhaps alcohol to try and get the chemical high through mixing substances.

Judgment about important decisions related to work, school money, relationships or family are impaired. People lose jobs, relationships, money and family.  By this time, which could be 3-4 months or a couple of years, the positive effects of the drug are no long present, the negative effects of the opiates are dominating the person's life and living revolves around obtaining the drug to avoid the physical withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms include feeling sick, vomiting diarrhea, poor appetite, stomach cramps, dry mouth, restlessness, headache, fainting attacks, stiffness, muscles twitching, fatigue, or tiredness, muscular tension, aches and pains, weakness and insomnia.

Feeling these same withdrawal symptoms for about 6 months, I'm glad I chose to withdraw from the opiates anyway,  breaking  my dependency on this drug.   For 10 years I carried those little white pills in the brown plastic bottle, day and night.  I couldn't remember what it felt like without them, and I was willing to give it a try. It had to be better than what I was feeling and the way I was living.

Today, 32 years later, I still know it was the best decision I ever made.  I feel great most days and have the opportunity to help others who suffer from addictions.

Our medical director, Michael Markopoulos, MD can help you detox from the opiate/withdrawal wheel with the use of Suboxone. It isn't a long term answer, and it will help you reduce the early symptoms.  You don't need to suffer withdrawal for 6 months.  After a detox from the opiates you will benefit from entering an outpatient treatment program where you will learn how to stay clean and discover healthy way to meet life's opportunities.

Get the help you need today.  Call us at 858-453-4315.

Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS

Prescription Drug Addiction in San Diego County

Men and women of all ages, from San Diego County, including  Coronado, La Jolla, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, Solana Beach and Carmel Valley contact us for information on what to do when they are afraid of stopping the use of these prescription drugs, including opiates and tranquillizer medications. Some attempts to stop use of the drugs, fail because of the severity of the withdrawal symptom.  They report being extremely sick from opiates or experiencing severe anxiety from the tranquillizer or sedative medications including Xanax and Ambian.  We often see people taking the opiates and tranquillizers or sedatives in a dangerous combination.

What is considered prescription drug abuse?  Although most people take prescription medications responsibly, Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse stated recently that the nonmedical use or abuse of prescription drugs is a serious and growing public health problem in the country.

OPIATE ABUSE/DEPENDENCE
Research by the National Institute on Drug Abuse monitoring survey of grades 8 through 12, found that 9.3 percent  of 12 graders reported using Vicodin without a prescription in the past year and 5.0 percent reported using OxyContin - making these medications among the most commonly abused prescription drugs by adolescents.

We have seen young adults who were introduced to opiates by being prescribed Vicodin or even OxyContin for sports injuries in high school, then abusing the drugs for recreation.  They like the high they get and want increased doses as they gradually become addicted to the opiates and begin to buy them from local drug dealers.  We see many young people from 18-26 whose lives have never gotten started on a solid drug free foundation and others whose work and academic careers are failing because of the physical, emotional, social and financial problems crated by addiction.

OxyContin is classified as a synthetic opiate and will give these young abusers a feeling similar to high grade heroin, but the physical withdrawal symptoms last longer.  Symptoms of withdrawal include: perpetually being tired, hot/cold sweats, vomiting, nausea, heart palpitations, joints and muscles in constant pain, uncontrollable coughing, diarrhea, insomnia, restlessness, involuntary leg movements, watery eyes, excessive yawning, depression and cold flashes with goose bumps, hence the name cold turkey.

Symptoms can be reduced by using buprenorphine, sold as Suboxone.  This medication is prescribed by certified physicians and through some treatment centers on a short term basis to help those with opioid addiction to recover from their dependence. At Lasting Recovery, the Director of Medical Services, Michael Markopoulos, MD is able to help those suffering from opioid addiction to detox with Suboxone.

If you or a family member is abusing these highly addicting opioid medications, reach out and get help. No one thinks it will happen to them. There is no shame in being addicted.  The switch from pharmaceutical grade drugs to smoking, snorting or injecting heroin is the next step and sometimes a fatal one.

Lasting Recovery Outpatient Alcohol and Drug Addiction, located in San Diego, just north of Miramar Marine base, and University Town Center, in the Sorrento Mesa area, offers outpatient detoxification services for freedom from opioid, tranquillizer, sedative or alcohol dependence.
Don't put your life on hold any longer.

Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS

Consequences of Youthful Cannabis Use in San Diego

Is cannabis use during adolescence and early adulthood an innocent diversion or does it have serious social outcomes in later life?

This is the question addressed by Fergusson and Boden in a recent study they published in the journal Addiction. To obtain their answer they followed a group a young people from the age of 14 until the reached the age of 25 years. They divided these young people into six groups based on the amount of cannabis they smoked between the ages of 14 and 21 years. The rates of cannabis use among these young people ranged from none to more than 400 times during this seven year period.

Fergusson and Boden found that the more cannabis these young people used before the age of 21 years the worse off they were between the ages of 21 and 25 years. Those with the highest rate of use were the least likely to have earned a college degree, had the lowest level of income, were most likely to be unemployed, and were the least satisfied with their relationships and with life in general.

Even after statistical adjustment for a range of possibly confounding variables including: family socioeconomic status and functioning, exposure to child abuse, personal adjustment and mental health, high school achievement, and other substance use. The relationship between increasing levels of cannabis use and lower educational, economic and satisfaction outcomes remained statistically significant.

This is just another finding in a growing body of evidence that heavy cannabis use early in life can have serious consequences in early adulthood.

Arthur J. Farkas, Ph.D.

Reference: Fergusson DM, Boden JM. (2008) Cannabis use and later life outcomes. Addiction, 103(6):969-76.

Little Overall Change in Drug Usage, National Survey on Drug Use and Health

The annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health found little overall change in past-month use of illicit drugs in 2007, although use of cocaine and methamphetamine did decline, the Associated Press reported Sept. 4. Use of illicit drugs dipped from 8.3 percent of Americans ages 12 and older in 2006 to 8 percent in 2007. Adolescent drug use fell from 9.8 percent in 2006 to 9.5 percent in 2007, the survey found, but past-month use of illicit drugs among those ages 50-59 rose from 4.3 percent to 5 percent. Marijuana was by far the most popular illicit drug among all age groups.

The findings are based on interviews with more than 67,000 Americans. The federal Office of National Drug Control Policy credited the decline in cocaine and methamphetamine use to decreased supply of these drugs, resulting in higher prices and reduced purity. Critics disputed government claims of progress in fighting drug abuse, however, and a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report concluded that use of cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs is a bigger problem in the U.S. than in any of the other 16 nations studied.
"Use of marijuana and other drugs naturally fluctuates and if you look at long-term trends, current rates are smack in the middle of the range they've been in for decades," said Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project. "There is simply no evidence that current policies ... have made any difference."

"The use of drugs seems to be a feature of more affluent countries," noted the WHO report. "The U.S., which has been driving much of the world's drug research and drug policy agenda, stands out with higher levels of alcohol, cocaine, and cannabis, despite punitive illegal drug policies as well as a higher minimum legal alcohol drinking age than many comparable developed countries."