Addiction Basics: The Peril and Folly of Opiate Abuse

Patient, Friends, and Family Education Material about the basics of addiction. (This is a Rough Draft) This is a description of how the brain adapts to opiates. Despite increasing doses, the high diminishes and fades away. Eventually, in spite of very high doses, instead of feeling energized, less anxious and irritable; the opiate abuser feels normal when they use. Because they have adapted to using opiates they feel exhausted, irritable, anxious, and restless when the opiate leaves their system. Occasional use results in a decreased quality of life between uses. When people stop using they go through a period of not feeling well. After about 90 days of not using people are largely back to normal. However, they have learned to use opiates to cope with stress and are vulnerable to relapse. Learning more effective ways to cultivate joy and deal with stress causes the return to opiate use seem less attractive. With experience, most opiate abusers come to recognize the utter futility of trying to stay high on opiates. With prolonged abstinence joy returns. Disclaimer: this video is for education only and not intended for the diagnosis or treatment of any disease. The author makes no claims about the accuracy of this information. The author accepts no responsibility for how this material is used or misused. The information and material is to be used at your own risk.

Presenter: John Ewing, MD