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“The brain changes, and it doesn’t recover when you just stop the drug because the brain has been actually changed,” Kreek explained. “The brain may get OK with time in some persons. But it’s hard to find a person who has completely normal brain function after a long cycle of opiate addiction, not without specific medication treatment.”
Opioid use disorders typically require long-term treatment and care with the goal of reducing the person's risks and improving their long-term physical and psychological condition. [ 108 ] First-line management involves the use of opioid replacement therapies, particularly methadone and buprenorphine/naloxone.
Opiate overdose symptoms and signs can be referred to as the "opioid toxidrome triad": decreased level of consciousness, pinpoint pupils and respiratory depression. Other symptoms include seizures and muscle spasms. Sometimes an opiate overdose can lead to such a decreased level of consciousness such that the person will not wake up.
The brain's chemical structure is altered by addictive substances and these changes are present long after an individual stops using. This change in brain structure increases the risk of relapse, making treatment an important part of the rehabilitation process. [3]
It’s easier than ever for doctors to prescribe a key medicine for opioid addiction since the U.S. government lifted an obstacle last year. But despite the looser restrictions and the ongoing ...
A breakthrough medication treatment that actually targets the brain mechanisms involved in addiction could also be particularly important for ending the national opioid crisis.
Opioid agonist therapy (OAT) is a treatment in which prescribed opioid agonists are given to patients who live with Opioid use disorder (OUD). [1] In the case of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), methadone is used to treat dependence on heroin or other opioids, and is administered on an ongoing basis.
[104] [34] The brain disease model of addiction posits that an individual's exposure to an addictive drug is the most significant environmental risk factor for addiction. [105] Many researchers, including neuroscientists, indicate that the brain disease model presents a misleading, incomplete, and potentially detrimental explanation of ...