New program offers help to addicts

  • By Kyle Valentini
  • June 21, 2012
  • 355
                        
Summary: Addiction to pain pills can take over a person’s life. Acquiring drugs becomes more important than family or career and each day becomes a constant search for more. Fortunately there is help at Community Mental Health. Imagine tossing and turning for hours before it is time to begin your day; rising before the alarm goes off and desperately swallowing a couple, a few or perhaps even a handful of pills in order to simply feel normal. Your spouse and your children know something is wrong but you have a series of excuses and you somehow manage to stay under the radar and the family goes about their day. You manage to get to work with the help of a few more pills and throughout the day you swallow more as needed. Before you retire for the evening you have consumed 20-30 pills. Today’s drug addict isn’t squatting in an abandoned house scraping the residue out of a used syringe in hopes of getting enough for one more high. Today’s drug addict is reaching for a bottle of pills often times prescribed by a doctor. She could be a mother, a teacher, a banker or a waitress. She could be you. Opiate addiction is serious and when the doctor stops prescribing the medication an addict needs to “just feel normal” the addict will go to immeasurable lengths to get relief purchasing drugs on the street, from strangers or even stealing them. Community Mental Health (CMH) is a resource that addicts can turn to for help. A new program targets opiate addiction and offers a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) plan. “The program is new and we are currently only accepting self-pay clients,” said Nanette Roberson, manager of specialized services at CMH. “Ten clients have successfully completed the program so far.” For the addict the desire to stop taking drugs is there. The problem is in the symptoms that come from refusing to give in to the craving. Withdrawals from prolonged or heavy opiate use can include intense flu-like symptoms like diarrhea, extreme sweating, cramping and loss of appetite and muscle pain. While not life-threatening, to the addict experiencing them, it would seem otherwise. Using a combination of Suboxone, a medication that lessens the symptoms of withdrawal from opiates, individual and group counseling and a 12-step program, clients are required to complete all aspects of the program or they will not be permitted to continue the out-patient program. “We are pleased to announce in July the program will open up for clients with Medicaid,” said Roberson. “We know there is a problem with opiate addiction in the community because we are getting 8-12 calls a day from addicts seeking help.” Addicts are constantly trying to figure out where there next supply will come from. “Most opiate addicts are able to keep it together for a while. They will start to ignore responsibilities at home and with family. Their jobs are usually the last thing they mess up because they need the income to supply their habit,” said Roberson. Individuals become opiate addicts for a number of reasons. An injury that might require a few days worth of pain killers is treated with a 30 day supply. Roberson said she wasn’t quite sure why doctors over-prescribed pain killers, “Maybe there’s a kickback? We can’t be certain,” said Roberson. “Governor Kasich is aggressively targeting pill mills to help curb the availability of the drugs.” Last year Ohio legislators passed HB 93, a measure which established a range of rules, guidelines and license requirements to crack down on the operation of pill mills, restrict the dispensing of illegal opiate pain medications and require specific medical education for physicians engaged in the treatment of chronic pain. CMH is a leader in mental health, substance abuse and crisis services. Three locations in Dover, New Philadelphia and Carrollton allow ease of access to members of the community If you or a family member is addicted to opiates you can get your life back. Call the Dover office at 330-343-6631, the New Philadelphia office at 330-343-3050 or the Carrollton office at 330-627-4313 for more information.


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