With the opioid epidemic making headlines every week, it's understandable to be worried about the risk of addiction if you or someone you love has been prescribed opioids. However, you must remember that opioid medication does play a vital role in the management of chronic pain for certain individuals. It does these patients a disservice [...]
Although the general public often assumes anyone in rehab actively set out to develop an addiction, this couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, most people who struggle with an addiction to prescription painkillers originally took their medication exactly as prescribed. Prescription painkillers are often viewed as safer than illegal drugs, but this misconception [...]
Opioid abuse remains a serious public health issue throughout the United States. This is, however, an often misunderstood type of addiction, since many people who use opioid pain medication have a valid reason for doing so and abusers often begin due to an appropriately diagnosed medical condition. About Opioids Opioids are a type of narcotic [...]
WPSU radio station wanted to discuss the increased use of heroin and the inherent dangers. One of our graduates joined me for the interview and made a great contribution. Emily was celebrating her third anniversary of sobriety and we are so proud of her. She is proof that heroin can be beaten and life in [...]
Not long ago a mother from Pittsburgh called me seeking help for her daughter. She described a two year journey that began when her daughter started taking prescription meds for knee surgery. The family assumed the surgery had not gone well when she continued to take pain pills months after the operation, and it was [...]
It’s frustrating. No matter how terrible the impact of heroin has been on a user’s life, they keep returning to the same sick relationship. The dependence is so great that the resolve to stop using can easily crumble. Why is it so hard to break free from opiate addiction? Why is it so hard to [...]
There was a time when heroin was seen as the drug used by those who had tumbled deep into the drug culture. It would never be found in nice neighborhoods or on the campuses of good schools. Heroin was not the drug that most parents feared would transform their children and destroy their dreams. All [...]
I spend a lot of time talking to families determined to find help for a loved one who is addicted to drugs. Inevitably the conversation includes the questions: “Aren’t there some medications that will make them stop?” “I’ve heard about Suboxone, is that the answer?” “Will Vivitrol cure my son’s addiction?” How wonderful it would [...]
**Updated August 2017** I recently spoke with a young man who was “having a problem with opiates.” In actuality, he was trying hard to convince both himself and me that his prescription medication abuse wasn’t serious. Certainly he felt it would be wrong to call himself an “addict.” The hard facts make it impossible to [...]
