When I started reading this article, the first thing that came to mind was an old saying,” when you think you are a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail”. This reporter is interviewing two people who deal with addicts daily. When you interview people whose job it is to deal with or help addicts, and when you ask them to discuss people with addiction, you are going to get all the stats about addiction. Back before all the opioid OD/poisoning numbers climbed, addiction rehab typically had more alcoholics than people dealing with OUD. Today, it depends on the area as whether alcoholics or people dealing with OUD are the larger numbers of people rehab centers are dealing with. Also, today the number of people dying from opioids is at are near the 100,000 that die from alcohol use/abuse.
Managing opioid addiction
https://www.standardspeaker.com/2025/05/09/managing-opioid-addiction/
If a person has major surgery chances are they were prescribed opioids.
Hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone and many others are all different types of opioids typically prescribed by doctors to treat severe or consistent pain. An opioid is a substance derived from a poppy plant and can be synthetic or semi-synthetic, meaning certain ingredients can be chemically-made in a lab.
Police say painkillers brought 39-year-old Jessica Lockwood and Terence Ray together. Lockwood had been suffering from chronic pain from neck surgeries and had been purchasing the painkillers from Ray, police said. Lockwood’s burning body was discovered April 27 along Club 40 Road in Hazleton and Ray faces homicide charges.
Opiates, however, differ from opioids in that they do not consist of synthetic ingredients, although both can be just as addictive.
Addiction to opioids typically stems from a legitimate prescription from a doctor to help with pain due to surgery, accident or chronic condition.
“As the person continues to take the substance their tolerance to the substance increases, requiring the person to need more of the pain pills to get the same desired effect,” said Eileen Panzarella, Prevention Director at Pathway to Recovery in Hazleton. “This often leads to misuse of prescription medications as the person begins to use more than prescribed. Due to regulations on the amount of prescription pain medications a doctor can now prescribe a person may try to purchase pills from another source.”
According to The National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, 59.5% of individuals who are prescribed pain medications are currently abusing them. Additionally, 3.4% of Americans aged 12 and older misuse opioids at least once over a 12-month period. Hydrocodone is the most popular opioid with 5.1 million misusers.
“Some warning signs that we see in people who become addicted include lying about their use, trying to hide their use, taking their substance despite having negative consequences in their life, taking more of the medication than what is prescribed or becoming anxious about running out of their medication,” said Kristie Scheib, LPC, Clinical Director at Pathways to Recovery. “They may be asking to borrow money for reasons not related to buying pills.”
People may not think of an opioid addiction as having many physical clues but plenty do exist and can be spotted. Some physical signs would include a change in sleeping habits, drowsiness, a change in hygiene habits, gastrointestinal issues, irritability, isolation from friends and family, and not maintaining social or work obligations.
Panzarella calls addiction a “family disease” because it affects every member of a family differently and how you want to get involved is up to you.
“You can offer support to someone who is addicted and let them know that you are ready to help them when they want help, but ultimately it will be their decision when and how they get help,” she added.
The opioid addiction recovery process is different for every individual.
A person seeking detox can generally stay in a facility for up to a week. They could then be recommended to an inpatient facility where a typical stay can range from 30-90 days whereas outpatient therapy is typically six months or more.
Some of the best ways for people to seek help for an opioid addiction would be to contact your local county drug alcohol office or a local substance abuse counseling facility, or search online for rehab facilities that can help.
“It is important to note that recovery does not end when treatment is over,” Scheib said. “Recovery is a life-long journey and something that an individual will need to be aware of for the rest of their life. Recovery is a change in lifestyle and a person must keep up with that new lifestyle in order to avoid slipping back into active addiction.”
They stress how important stopping the stigma of substance abuse is. Noting that addiction is a brain disease and needing everyone to look at it just like they would any other disease.
“Many people will not seek treatment because they think it is a weakness to ask for help or that others will look down on them. We know treatment can and does work.”
Filed under: General Problems
“It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on not understanding it.” Upton Sinclair
Back in the late 1960s, a person becoming hooked on any opioid, or even alcohol, was quite rare. Now that we have “addiction awareness” everywhere, we suddenly have self-identified addicts everywhere.
A few years ago, I watched an episode of Lockup Raw filmed at Maricopa County jail. A girl who didn’t appear to be trembling, puking, shivering or in any way looking physically distressed calmly told the camera crew that she was in the throes of opioid withdrawal. Someone who hadn’t been taught to believe that anyone could become addicted at any time from any tiny amount might have concluded the girl was annoyed to be locked up and a bit bored.
How about stopping the stigma these people automatically place on legitimate pain patients who have to use opioids to have any decent quality of life without having the automatic OUD label these people place on us just because we take them? What are their qualifications that allows these “experts” to diagnose people? Are they doctors? What is their education? Have they ever treated pain patients?
Great job, Steve, spreading government propaganda. I know this comment won’t get recorded. It’s just for you.