Georgia Opiate Rehab Centers

Looking for a Opiate Rehab in Georgia?

Finding a opiate rehab center that fits your specific needs can be a long, exhausting, and frustrating process without professional help. Deciding upon the correct opiate rehab center for yourself or a loved one is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. It is important that you are well educated about drug treatment options before selecting a opiate rehab center.

opiate rehab is an enormously complex process, one whose success or failure is dictated by a wide range of small details. Under those circumstances, it should go without saying that the right opiate rehab center can quite literally make a world of difference. You owe it to yourself, and to the people who care about you, to find the best treatment that meets your specific needs. It is important that you research your options before you make a opiate rehab decision. Only by finding a opiate rehab center that can meet each and every one of your needs can you expect to get where you need to go. Given the stakes in the fight against opiate addiction, you simply can't afford to make the wrong choice.

Drug Rehab Georgia counselors have tremendous knowlege and experience in assessing your specific treatment needs and we utilize an extensive Drug Rehab database containing Georgia opiate rehab centers and nationwide treatment programs. Wheather you are looking for out-patient treatment, in-patient treatment, short-term drug rehab, long-term drug rehab, drug or alcohol detox, drug intervention, or counseling groups, Drug Rehab Georgia can provide you with an individually tailored treatment plan and cooresponding program that will give the greatest potential for success. At Drug Rehab Georgia dot org, we are dedicated in helping every addict get the treatment they need reguardless of financial situation.

Don't wait. Let us help you.
Fill out the form below or Call Us Now!

---

Fill out the form below and you will receive a response back from a Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor who can answer all your drug rehab and treatment questions. Our counselors are always available to help and are waiting for your call so if you would like to speak to someone right away, don't hesitate to call:

1-877-404-6711

Drug Rehab Georgia Referral Request

Name:
Email address:
Phone:
Seeking Help For:	Choose Self Son Daughter Husband Wife Friend Family Other
Age:	Choose Under 18 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Over 55
Main Drug Abused:	Choose Alcohol Cocaine Marijuana Meth Heroin Methadone OxyContin Ecstasy PCP Speed LSD XTC Inhalants Other
General Situation:
Enter Code Above:

---

Opiate Rehab Centers

Opiates are analgesic, or pain-relieving, medications. Studies have shown that properly managed medical use (taken exactly as prescribed) of opioid analgesics is safe and can manage pain effectively, however, addiction is a large risk factor.

Among the compounds that fall within this class are hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin), oxycodone (e.g., OxyContin—an oral, controlled-release form of the drug), morphine, fentanyl, codeine, and related medications. Morphine and fentanyl are often used to alleviate severe pain, while codeine is used for milder pain. Other examples of opiates prescribed to relieve pain include propoxyphene (Darvon); hydromorphone (Dilaudid); and meperidine (Demerol), which is used less often because of its side effects. In addition to their effective pain-relieving properties, some of these medications can be used to relieve severe diarrhea (for example, Lomotil, also known as diphenoxylate) or severe coughs (codeine).

How Are Opiates Abused?

Opiates can be taken orally, or the pills may be crushed and the powder snorted or injected. A number of overdose deaths have resulted from the latter routes of administration, particularly with the drug OxyContin, which was designed to be a slow-release formulation. Snorting or injecting opiates results in the rapid release of the drug into the bloodstream, exposing the person to high doses and causing many of the reported overdose reactions.

How Do Opiates Affect the Brain?

Opiates act by attaching to specific proteins called opioid receptors, which are found in the brain, spinal cord, and gastrointestinal tract. When these compounds attach to certain opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord, they can effectively change the way a person experiences pain.

In addition, opiate medications can affect regions of the brain that mediate what one perceives as pleasure, resulting in the initial euphoria or sense of well-being that many opiates produce. Repeated abuse of opiates can lead to addiction—a chronic, relapsing disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and abuse despite its known harmful consequences.

What Adverse Effects Can Be Associated With Opiates?

Opiates can produce drowsiness, cause constipation, and, depending upon the amount taken, depress breathing. Taking a large single dose could cause severe respiratory depression or death.

These medications are only safe to use with other substances under a physician’s supervision. Typically, they should not be used with alcohol, antihistamines, barbiturates, or benzodiazepines. Because these other substances slow breathing, their effects in combination with opioids could lead to life-threatening respiratory depression.

What Happens When You Stop Taking Opiates?

Patients who are prescribed opiates for a period of time may develop a physical dependence on them. Repeated exposure to opiates causes the body to adapt, sometimes resulting in tolerance (that is, more of the drug is needed to achieve the desired effect compared with when it was first prescribed) and in withdrawal symptoms upon abrupt cessation of drug use. Thus, individuals taking prescribed opiate medications should not only be given these medications under appropriate medical supervision, but they should also be medically supervised when stopping use in order to reduce or avoid withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms of withdrawal can include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps (“cold turkey”), and involuntary leg movements.

Are There Treatments for Opiate Addiction?

Individuals who abuse or are addicted to prescription opiate medications can be treated. Initially, they may need to undergo medically supervised detoxification to help reduce withdrawal symptoms; however, that is just the first step. Options for effectively treating addiction to prescription opiates are drawn from research on treating heroin addiction. Behavioral treatments, usually combined with medications, have also been proven effective. Currently used medications are—

• Methadone has been used for more than 30 years to reduce harm from heroin addiction. It is a synthetic opiate medication that when taken orally, it has a gradual onset of action and sustained effects, reducing the desire for other opiate drugs while preventing withdrawal symptoms.
  
• Buprenorphine, another synthetic opiate, is a more recently approved medication for treating addiction to heroin and other opiates. It can be prescribed in a physician’s office.
  
• Naltrexone is a long-acting opiate receptor blocker that can be employed to help prevent relapse. It is not widely used, however, because of poor compliance, except by highly motivated individuals (e.g., physicians at risk of losing their medical license). It should be noted that this medication can only be used for someone who has already been detoxified, since it can produce severe withdrawal symptoms in a person continuing to abuse opiates.
  
• Naloxone is a short-acting opiate receptor blocker that counteracts the effects of opiates and can be used to treat overdoses.