Prescription Drug Rehab for Orlando Residents

Over half of all overdose deaths in Orange County can be attributed to the abuse of prescription drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin. Investigations by the coroner’s office have found that prescription medications are to blame most often when overdoses occur.

If you use prescription drugs recreationally, you should know that accidental overdoses happen all the time. It can be hard to know how much of a drug you can safely use. Prescription drug abuse can also make life less enjoyable and rewarding each day. Legacy Healing Center prescription drug rehab in South Florida feels like you are making a smooth transition from regular prescription drug abuse to sobriety.

Understanding Signs of RX Addiction

Prescription drug abuse can appear in people of any age group, teens included. You can recognize potential addiction by looking for a few common signs.

• A desire to take higher doses than the doctor prescribes.

• An appearance of excessive lethargy or energy.

• An increased desire to drink alcohol.

• Mood swings when drugs are unavailable.

• A habit of losing prescriptions, and going to new doctors for new ones.

• Running through prescription refills too soon.

• A constant interest in internet pharmacies for prescription refills.

Abuse of prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety medications can come with signs such as depression, confusion, and impaired judgment. Abuse of prescription stimulants tends to show in the form of signs such as weight loss, poor appetite, reckless behavior, and restlessness.

Why RX Addiction is On The Rise

Prescription drug abuse of every kind rises each year. Young people under 25 tend to be the group among which prescription drug abuse is the most rampant. Stimulants are abused for their perceived ability to increase focus, making them an exam preparation tool. Prescription anti-anxiety medications and opioids are abused, often in combination with alcohol or other drugs, for the high that they provide.

Ready availability, unfortunately, is the prime reason why these drugs get abused in Orlando. The city lies on an illegal drug trafficking route. Prescription drugs are frequently diverted to the illegal market by an organized network of traffickers. Studies have shown that even those under 18 have no trouble locating and acquiring these drugs from street dealers.

There is ready availability in a legal way, as well. While the practice is now on the decline, doctors have, for decades, prescribed opioid painkillers far too freely. This practice has pulled unsuspecting people into addictive behaviors.

Dangers of RX Addiction

The prescription medications most often diverted to recreational use include opioid painkillers like OxyContin, anxiolytics like Xanax, tranquilizers like Valium, and stimulants like Adderall. These drugs have been readily prescribed by doctors for years, and are easily available on the street, as well, when doctors’ prescriptions run out. People can become addicted to them when they use them to deal with problems, lose weight or to have a good time with friends.

Prescription drug abuse covers the spectrum from anxiolytics and opioids to stimulants. With each one of these addictions, treatment begins with detoxification. You enter rehab, and, under medical supervision, begin to taper off the drug that you use, over a period of weeks.

Typically, withdrawal symptoms begin to set in within hours. If you’re detoxing from Xanax, for instance, you may experience anxiety, insomnia, blurred vision, nausea, and tremors. Xanax withdrawal is often treated with medications for nausea, pain, and diarrhea.

When you quit an opioid that you’re addicted to, you tend to experience symptoms that are often comparable to a bad flu. In the beginning, you may sweat a lot, feel anxious, and find it hard to sleep. From the second day onwards, you may begin to crave the opioid, suffer from abdominal cramping, and nausea. Detoxing at home isn’t recommended. When you detox under medical supervision, doctors are able to administer drugs like buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone to ease the withdrawal symptoms and make the process more predictable.

Quitting a stimulant like Ritalin can be very different from quitting an opioid. Doctors can prescribe medications like bromocriptine and amantadine to counter the cravings, and antidepressants can help calm the mind down and minimize the risk of self-harm.

Depending on the drug, and the depth of your dependence on it, detoxification can last anywhere from a week to several weeks. Once the worst of the withdrawal symptoms pass, you’re ready for the second phase of addiction treatment, which is therapy.

Addiction is a brain disorder. Constant exposure to addictive drugs has the effect of changing the way the brain functions. These changes can make it hard for those who are addicted to understand that their habit is harmful. It can take in-depth psychological treatment with methods like cognitive-behavioral therapy, family therapy, and group therapy, to help bring perspective, to understand what drug abuse does, to understand why the mind finds it hard to resist cravings and to work out ways to avoid cravings.

Therapy is fundamental to an ability to stay sober long-term. Those who shortchange themselves on therapy tend to slide back into addiction before long, through a process known as relapse. In-depth engagement with therapy is correlated with improved ability to stay sober. Legacy Healing Center prescription drug rehab in South Florida offers expert, high-quality, long-term relapse prevention therapy to its patients.

Sober Friendly Attractions Near Orlando

Being in recovery isn’t necessarily all work. Enjoying your life free from drugs and alcohol is definitely the fun part in recovery and Orlando has an incredible amount of sober-friendly options to enjoy!

If you like gaming, The Void, at Disney Springs, is an immersive, state-of-the-art virtual-reality experience that puts you inside movie worlds, and lets you explore them. The Sea Life Orlando Aquarium has you walking along a glass tunnel through a wonderfully populated underwater world.

If you’re interested in more traditional delights, Orlando has a number of great restaurants and Broadway shows. All of this is completely within your reach when you get better at Legacy Healing Center.