Using a drug for its psychoactive effects has long been documented around the world. Dating back 50,000 years, during Neanderthal times, herbal stimulants were found at a burial site in modern-day Iraq. If you’re concerned about how long you’ve been taking opioids or want to cut back your dose, talk with your prescribing doctor. They can help you find an alternative medication or work with you to taper down your dose. It’s especially important to have naloxone (Narcan) on hand if you or a loved one takes https://northiowatoday.com/2025/01/27/sober-house-rules-what-you-should-know-before-moving-in/ opioids from a nonpharmaceutical source.
If a healthcare professional prescribes an opioid medication, keep them in the loop about your pain levels and side effects. Don’t increase or decrease your prescribed dose unless your healthcare professional advises you to do so. If you take opioids as prescribed by a healthcare professional, these side effects aren’t typically a cause for concern.
Other life-changing complications
However, the drug can also cause feelings of anxiety, irritability and depression. It increases the heart rate, narrows blood vessels, increases blood pressure and can cause erratic heart rhythms, which means users are at risk of having a heart attack every time they use cocaine. It is crucial to work closely with your healthcare provider to continuously monitor for these potential risks and implement appropriate strategies to mitigate them.
Adverse effects associated with long-term opioid use
Results from NIDA-funded research have shown that prevention programs involving families, schools, communities, and the media are effective for preventing or reducing drug use and addiction. Although personal events and cultural factors affect drug use trends, when young people view drug use as harmful, they tend to decrease their drug taking. Therefore, education and outreach are key in helping people understand the possible risks of drug use. Teachers, parents, and health care providers have crucial roles in educating young people and preventing drug use and addiction.
What’s considered long-term opioid usage?
Outpatient programs are another option for people struggling with addiction. In an outpatient program, an individual will continue to live at home throughout the program, checking in for treatment sessions on a regular basis. Addiction isn’t just about drug abuse; it is an entire set of behaviors and habits surrounding substance use. When it takes over a person’s life, they may find themselves doing things they never expected and feel overwhelmed with various challenges. The following information is designed to help you understand how addiction can harm your physical and mental health and how getting treatment can help to repair this damage.
Long-Term Effects of Marijuana Addiction
Despite being aware of these harmful outcomes, many people who use drugs continue to take them, which is the nature of addiction. Whether you have just lost a loved one, or you are going through a difficult time in your life, it can be difficult to cope. Anyone considering using drugs should be aware of the potential consequences before making that decision. Opioids are narcotic, painkilling drugs produced from opium or made synthetically. This class of drugs includes, among others, heroin, morphine, codeine, methadone, fentanyl and oxycodone.
That means you need to take an increasingly higher dose of opioids to feel the same effects you once did with a lower dose. She typically works with people interested in taking a holistic approach to treating their addictions. This will include healthy eating, movement, meditation, mindfulness and spirituality. Outside of work, she’s a devotee of Krishna, and her friends call her Karunya Shakti, which means compassionate energy.
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She holds a master’s in clinical psychology with an emphasis on marriage and family therapy. Additionally, she has a master’s in holistic wellness and is trained in EMDR therapy for both in-person and virtual settings. Kathleen has more than 15 years of experience treating people who have a substance use disorder. Hailing from Boulder County, Courtney embarked on her academic journey by earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
- Help from your health care provider, family, friends, support groups or an organized treatment program can help you overcome your drug addiction and stay drug-free.
- In addition, long term drug use can also be the result of underlying mental health issues and traumatic experiences.
- Use of hallucinogens can produce different signs and symptoms, depending on the drug.
- Impairment, nausea, infection, numbness, respiratory distress, trauma, stroke, seizures, and coma are all possible outcomes of recreational drug use.
- Some commonly inhaled substances include glue, paint thinners, correction fluid, felt tip marker fluid, gasoline, cleaning fluids and household aerosol products.
Marijuana is a psychoactive drug, which means that when smoked or ingested, it alters your thinking. THC, the chemical responsible for sober house a high and relaxed feeling, also impairs judgment, coordination and memory. And for some, that same high may also bring feelings of anxiety, depression or paranoia.
Long-Term Alcohol and Drug Addiction Effects
Outside of her professional endeavors, Megan finds joy in the company of her partner and pets. She relishes spending time with friends, experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, and exploring the great outdoors during milder weather. This is a public Site and all posts on this Site can be seen by anyone and may be shared freely with others. Barbiturates, benzodiazepines and hypnotics are prescription central nervous system depressants. They’re often used and misused in search for a sense of relaxation or a desire to “switch off” or forget stress-related thoughts or feelings. She believes that all research should be accessible and digestible, and her passion fuels her desire to share important scientific findings to improve rehabilitation.
- Because acetaminophen and ibuprofen are in a variety of prescriptions and over-the-counter medications, it is important to check the active ingredients’ list to prevent an accidental overdose.
- If you’re concerned about how long you’ve been taking opioids or want to cut back your dose, talk with your prescribing doctor.
- Her expertise encompasses group and individual work, with a particular focus on trauma.
- Treatment plans need to be reviewed often and modified to fit the patient’s changing needs.
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Sleep issues – Using some medications long-term can affect your ability to have a good night’s sleep. This includes symptoms such as sleep apnea (when breathing repeatedly stops and starts while sleeping) or insomnia. These symptoms can occur with sleep and non-sleep medications like opioids and benzodiazepines (depressants that produce sedation and hypnosis, relieve anxiety and muscle spasms, and reduce seizures).
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