All too often, a heroin addiction can begin with the legal treatment of chronic pain through prescription opiates like oxycontin and hydrocodone. As federal law enforcement agencies have begun to crack down on "pill mills," making doctors and healthcare professionals far less likely to prescribe these drugs, those whose severe pain leaves them unable to function have often turned to heroin, fentanyl, and other street drugs that are easier and cheaper to acquire than pills.
If you've found yourself in this situation and want nothing more than to kick your recently-acquired heroin habit, you may be wondering how you'll be able to deal with your chronic pain once sober. Unfortunately, the future use of prescription narcotics, even if deemed beneficial to your pain levels, may no longer be an option for you. Read on to learn more about your choices when it comes to heroin treatment and the ways in which you may be able to control your chronic pain going forward.
What heroin treatment options are most successful for those with chronic pain?
For those dealing with chronic pain, finding a holistic treatment option that helps you manage this pain while also allowing you to "unpack" your addiction-related baggage through counseling or therapy can be key. Nothing is more likely to send you into a relapse than severe pain that can't be touched with over-the-counter medications, so managing your pain is often paramount even before managing your addiction.
You may want to start with the use of suboxone or methadone under the watchful eye of a physician or nurse practitioner. These drugs bind to the opiate receptors in your brain, rendering heroin powerless to get you "high" and helping you kick the mental addiction as well as the physical one. Suboxone treatment can also go hand-in-hand with pain management, as its action of binding with the brain's opiate receptors can allow non-opiate drugs to work without having to "compete" with the effects of heroin.
What will your pain relief options be after treatment?
Upon leaving treatment, if you haven't already been routed to a pain management clinic, you'll want to make an appointment with one. Pain management physicians are skilled in helping their patients, who are often current or recovering opiate addicts, relieve their pain without turning to the use of drugs. The right treatment protocol can vary, depending upon your history of drug use, the cause of your pain, and the level of pain you experience on a daily basis, but could include everything from chiropractic treatment to the use of "scrambler" therapy that can disrupt the pain signals from the spinal cord to the brain.
Contact a rehab center, like Brightside Clinic, for help.
Share20 September 2017
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