Opioid abuse can quickly turn to addiction, requiring intensive treatment in order to help patients recover. We can help you find safe, reliable rehab centers that will cater to your needs. Call 877-743-0081 (Who Answers?) today.
1. Withdrawal Symptoms
If you have begun to experience withdrawal symptoms as a side effect of your opioid abuse, it is time to seek help. According to the Center for Substance Abuse Research, “Many users continue abusing the drug even after they no longer experience the euphoric effects, simply to provide relief from the painful, flu-like withdrawal symptoms.”
If you are in this situation, your dependence and addiction will only become worse without proper treatment.
2. Overdose
Opioid overdose can be deadly as it causes severe respiratory depression among other effects. If you have experienced an overdose during your opioid abuse, you should seek treatment immediately. If you are currently in an overdose situation, call 911 now.
3. Drug-seeking Behavior
Those who become addicted to opioids will often do anything to obtain more. Stealing blank prescription pads and forging prescriptions, stealing someone else’s medication, buying these drugs illegally, or taking money meant for something else and using it for drugs are all signs of uncontrolled drug-seeking behavior.
4. Tolerance
Experiencing frequent mood swings is a sign of opioid addiction.
If you have begun to notice “a higher dose is required to achieve the same effect,” you are becoming tolerant to opioids (National Institute on Drug Abuse).
Without treatment, you will keep abusing higher and higher doses of the drug, leading to even more serious side effects and increased risk of overdose.
5. Mood Swings
Severe mood swings are a sign of addiction and dangerous, long-term substance abuse. When you begin to notice that you can no longer manage your moods and thoughts, especially when it comes to your substance abuse, you will require treatment in order to gain back your control.
6. Cravings
Cravings for opioids can be very strong and may cause a person to relapse. If you have severe cravings for these drugs, it will be very difficult for you to quit without professional help.
7. Relationship Problems
When more than one person you love starts seriously worrying about your substance abuse, it is time to examine your situation, especially if all the important relationships in your life seem to be falling apart.
8. Legal Problems
If you have been arrested, gotten a DUI or DWI, or otherwise dealt with serious legal issues based on your opioid abuse and you are still not able to quit, you need professional treatment immediately.
9. Apathy
Many opioid users feel that the things in their lives that used to be important to them no longer are, that their substance abuse is the only thing that matters. This attitude is very dangerous and will often require intensive, long-term treatment in order to rectify it.
10. Moving On to More Dangerous Drugs
If you have been thinking about switching to heroin or other, more powerful drugs because of your tolerance, inability to control your withdrawal symptoms, or another reason, seek help right away. This will only cause more severe side effects in your life.
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Call 877-743-0081 (Who Answers?) to find effective rehab centers and individualized treatment programs that will help you end your opioid abuse for good.
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