recovery Archives

Chronic Pain May Make Opioid Use Disorder Worse

Post author:Melissa
Post published:March 28, 2023
Post category:oxycontin epidemic prescription drugs
Reading time:3 mins read

Researchers following the data for people with fibromyalgia and opioid use disorder found that people with chronic pain may have more challenges when staying sober.

Chronic Pain and Opioid Exposure

Many people first use opioids to treat pain. Physical pain can significantly contribute to the development of opioid use disorder. Opioids are commonly prescribed to manage chronic pain; over time, people may develop a tolerance to the medication. They may require higher doses to achieve the same pain relief. As a result, individuals may become physically dependent on opioids, which can lead to opioid use disorder.

Most people’s first exposure to opioids is through an illness or injury where a doctor prescribes drugs like Percocet or Oxycontin.

Chronic Illness and Opioid Misuse

Chronic pain can increase the risk of addiction, overdose, and other adverse effects.

There is also a chance …

Para-fluorofentanyl Increasingly Found In Fatal Overdoses

Post author:Melissa
Post published:September 30, 2022
Post category:fentanyl epidemic
Reading time:3 mins read

Para-flourofentanyl, a fentanyl analog that is even stronger than its predecessor, has increasingly been found in the blood of overdose victims, according to a report by the CDC. While many people may not be aware they’re taking the drug, it’s now commonly added to counterfeit fentanyl pills, often with deadly results.

What Is Para-fluorofentanyl?

Para-Fluorofentanyl is an opioid analgesic analog of fentanyl, a drug commonly used in surgeries due to its painkilling and sedative powers. Fentanyl is the top cause of overdose deaths in the United States and is often found as an additive to drugs. Many users who are inexperienced with opioids end up overdosing when exposed for the first time.

Initially developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica in the 1960s, p-Fluorofentanyl never made it to market. Amateur chemists tried to sell it on the streets in the early 1980s. However, …

Cherokee Nation Gets 75$ Million Of Opioid Settlement Money

Post author:Melissa
Post published:October 14, 2021
Post category:big pharma
Reading time:2 mins read

The Cherokee Nation has accepted a settlement of 75 million dollars from three of the nation’s largest drug distributors, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. The money is a settlement from a lawsuit that accused the companies of shipping large quantities of highly addictive pain pills for over 20 years, propelling the opioid crisis and creating a public health emergency for communities across the country.

The settlement is the first of its kind to give money to Native American communities, whose populations, leaders say, are disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis.

The Settlement Money Will Go To Healing

“This settlement will enable us to increase our investments in mental health treatment facilities and other programs to help our people recover,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. told reporters.

The settlement will fund much-needed treatment and mental health services for …

Beware of “Alternative” Treatment Programs Like Enthusiastic Recovery

Post author:Melissa
Post published:August 27, 2021
Post category:addiction treatment
Reading time:3 mins read

Many programs and treatment centers bill themselves as a little less traditional than the standard 12-step model. Many of these programs are supervised by medical and addiction treatment professionals. Other groups, like Enthusiastic Sobriety and its subsidiaries, are run by people who were also once addicted.

Many of these people are in recovery, attend 12-step meetings and work on themselves. What sets Enthusiastic Sobriety apart from these programs is the lack of self-improvement as a goal.

What is Enthusiastic Sobriety?

Enthusiastic Sobriety is a program that first emerged in the 1970s and is run by Bob Meehan, an ex-con. For decades, parents have paid top dollar for his unconventional “drug treatment” program. For the most part, he helps teens get clean and sober off of substances. He does not, however, believe in helping them change their lifestyle or behavior. And …

Virginia Is Out Of Treatment Beds

Post author:Melissa
Post published:June 28, 2021
Post category:addiction treatment
Reading time:2 mins read

Like many parts of the country, Virginia has been battling an opioid epidemic over the past several years. During the pandemic, resources often dried up or closed down, leaving many vulnerable clients to relapse or desperately seeking shelter. Now that the pandemic’s emergency is winding down, the state still doesn’t have enough resources to help people get clean and sober.

Increasing Overdoses in Virginia, Nationwide

The pandemic brought a large number of overdoses as people began to turn to despair. In 2020, the Virginia Department of Health tallied 2,297 fatal drugs, a number that authorities say is more than all of the gun and car crash-related deaths reported in the same year.

While addiction is a pressing public health issue, there still aren’t enough services for people in the state. Inpatient beds are sorely lacking, while outpatient clinics are often …

Biden Reduces Barriers With New Opioid MAT Guidance

Post author:Melissa
Post published:May 11, 2021
Post category:addiction treatment
Reading time:2 mins read

Late last month, the Biden administration took action to significantly reduce barriers to one of the most effective opioid treatments, a Medication-Assisted Treatment known by the name Suboxone or buprenorphine. With the new guidelines, there will be significantly fewer requirements for medical professionals to help people with opioid addiction. The new policy will give more people access to safe and effective treatment to help them get sober. It will help people who live in rural areas without drug treatment centers, too.

Reduced MAT Training Requirement

Prior requirements for prescribing medication like Suboxone were stringent. A doctor had to take a 30-hour training course and become recertified every year. Doctors also had to ensure the patient went to treatment or therapy as a requirement for MAT. Some doctors felt like they were forced to be treatment counselors, a burden that made …

Purdue Pleads Guilty in Criminal Court

Post author:Melissa
Post published:November 24, 2020
Post category:big pharma oxycontin epidemic
Reading time:3 mins read

Purdue Pharma, the drugmakers responsible for Oxycontin, pleaded guilty to criminal charges this afternoon. The charges are related to the drug, a highly addictive narcotic that has been a primary driver of the opioid epidemic.

Previous Oxycontin Lawsuits

The guilty pleas in the criminal case came after a settlement last month

In October, the Sackler Family (owners of Perdue) were handed an eight billion dollar judgment, a settlement combining thousands of lawsuits from cities, states, and counties. (Not every locality suing Perdue signed off on the settlement, and some were paid out separately, including New York, which received several billion of its own.) Purdue has filed for bankruptcy and may be restructured and overseen by the government as the Sacklers remove themselves from the business.

Perdue’s Criminal Charges

In today’s world, corporations are treated as people. It may be surprising …

Fake Oxycontin is Killing People

Post author:Melissa
Post published:August 31, 2020
Post category:OxyContin addiction
Reading time:2 mins read

Fake Oxycontin is a big trend on the streets in America, and investigators in Minnesota say they’re the cause of fatal overdoses. Usually, they’re laced with fentanyl, which can be fifty to a hundred times as potent than morphine.

Fake But Deadly

In St. Cloud, Minnesota, a recent overdose came from fentanyl marketed on the street as Oxycontin. Some fentanyl has also been passed off to be Oxycodone or Percocet. It’s a nationwide trend in recent months, as drug traffic has stalled at the border during a national pandemic.

The pills are made to look like the real pill, although some have a blueish tint to them. One side of the tablet is blue with the “M” stamped on one side and “30” stamped on the other.

Last month, a Sacramento resident was caught with over 1,000 pills of what …

FDA Adds Naloxone Info to Opioid Scripts

Post author:Melissa
Post published:July 23, 2020
Post category:legislation
Reading time:3 mins read

The Food and Drug Administration announced a new requirement for drugmakers to help inform consumers about naloxone. Naloxone is a drug that helps reverse opioid and other drug overdoses. The new rule means that every prescription drug containing opioids will now include information about naloxone.

The naloxone notice is just one small thing that they’re hoping will help people stay alive during the pandemic. People who are abusing opioids may not be aware that it’s an option. Many people are isolated from other drug users and staying home during the pandemic.

Overdoses Are Increasing During Pandemic

Drug overdoses are multiplying quickly during the age of COVID-19, and numbers of deaths were higher than ever in 2019 before the pandemic even touched American lives.

Public health officials have warned the public and doctors to expect significant increases in “deaths of …

Research Proves Opioid Agonists Prevent OD’s and Relapse

Post author:Melissa
Post published:March 2, 2020
Post category:addiction treatment
Reading time:3 mins read

Using Medication-Assisted Treatment once carried stigma in the recovery community. However, recent research has shown how much these aspects of treatment can save lives. Opioid agonists keep people from relapse and overdose death.

Many people have a lack of understanding about why the drug is useful or how it helps people begin the path to recovery. This stigma can keep people from getting the help they need to stay clean and sober. This is a big gap in the recovery world, unfortunately. A lack of MAT options could mean the difference in recovery versus relapse. Researchers say that one group of MAT options, opioid antagonists, are especially effective when used by people new to recovery.

What Are Opioid Agonists?

Opioid agonists help people with heroin or prescription opioid use disorder abstain from those drugs. In recovery, doctors may prescribe these …