When you are suffering from addiction, your brain chemistry changes. Addiction is considered a chronic, incurable mental health disorder. The cycle of addiction causes you to compulsively use drugs and alcohol, even though you want to avoid numerous negative consequences. These negative consequences can include damaged relationships, employment problems, and legal issues. While you may want to stop using, complex changes to your brain chemistry make it difficult to do so. That’s why you need medication assisted treatment.

Since drugs and alcohol can impact how your brain releases neurotransmitters, recovery from addiction takes time. If you have a co-occurring disorder, such as an underlying medical or mental health disorder, treatment becomes more challenging. It is important to treat underlying conditions and addiction at the same time because failing to treat one can worsen the symptoms of the other.

Additionally, Post-Acute Withdrawal Symptoms (PAWS) persist much longer than many people realize. PAWS can last for a few months or over a year in some cases. The intensity of post-acute withdrawal symptoms makes True Life’s medication assisted treatment program in San Diego an excellent option for long-term recovery.

What is Medication Assisted Treatment?

doctor prepares pills for a patient who is using medication assisted treatmentTrue Life’s medication assisted treatment program in San Diego incorporates prescription medications to help you recover more easily. Immediate withdrawal symptoms can be overwhelming, making it difficult to suddenly stop using drugs or alcohol. When you quit using after becoming physically or psychologically dependent, withdrawal symptoms and cravings make relapse a distinct possibility.

Withdrawal symptoms can include:

  • Significant mood changes, such as increased anxiety and depression
  • Insomnia, difficulty sleeping and exhaustion
  • Body aches and pains
  • Digestive problems, such as nausea and diarrhea
  • Restless legs and tremors

Medication assisted treatment utilizes medications that are prescribed by our addiction treatment experts to help alleviate symptoms and improve your chances of maintaining abstinence. For opiate or opioid addiction, our trained medical professionals may prescribe medications like Suboxone and methadone. As a result, symptoms may be less intense.

Medication assisted treatment can also help you to quit using prescription medications. While medications like benzodiazepines can successfully treat anxiety, it is surprisingly easy to become physically dependent on them over time. The benzodiazepine taper program at True Life slowly reduces your benzodiazepine dose over time to help you adjust without experiencing harmful, or even fatal, withdrawal symptoms.

How Does Treatment for Addiction Work?

When you are physically dependent on drugs or alcohol, withdrawal symptoms make it difficult to quit. Severe symptoms make it difficult for you to continue to meet your personal obligations, like attending work or school. Withdrawal symptoms also increase your chances of resuming drug or alcohol use.

During recovery, nearly half of all people relapse at least once, meaning that they return to abusing substances after maintaining a period of sobriety and abstinence. The longer you maintain abstinence, the less likely you are to relapse.

True Life Center provides you with a supportive, recovery-focused environment to strengthen your ability to recover. Evidence-based therapies help you explore the root cause of your addiction and find healthy ways to express your thoughts and feelings. Holistic addiction treatment provides additional outlets for self-reflection and personal growth.

Learning how to accept your thoughts and emotions and cope with them is extremely beneficial during recovery. During addiction, you use drugs and alcohol to mask or change negative emotions, like depression or anxiety. Dual diagnosis treatment helps you learn to cope with those thoughts and feelings and find ways to change negative thinking patterns and behaviors.

Find A Medication Assisted Treatment Program in San Diego

Addition can make you feel lost, frustrated, and trapped. The first steps in recovery involve detoxing from your substance of choice, which makes medication assisted treatment an excellent option to help you complete the withdrawal process. True Life Center understands what it takes to overcome a mental health or substance abuse disorder. Our patient-focused programs provide you with the empathy, guidance, and education you need to manage your symptoms and find recovery. Contact us today at 866.420.1792 to learn more about your treatment options.