The Long Term Effects
Although the paths that lead to drug and alcohol addiction are many, the health impacts are relatively the same. In the fog that addiction creates, it can be difficult to notice these changes in health until they’ve become dire. To examine, let’s begin with drugs and the brain. By now, it has become scientifically understood that addiction is a disease. Drugs work to remove the hormones, neurotransmitters, and other molecules responsible for producing positive feelings in your brain naturally. Because your brain is receiving these signals synthetically through the drug, it stops production of its natural products.
This becomes a problem when you attempt to go off of drugs or alcohol. Your brain no longer produces the positive stimulators, and so you are left feeling ill, unhappy, and in pain. Because your brain is naturally wired to crave pleasure over pain, you seek the source that was able to give you the positive stimulation from before–the drugs or alcohol. This becomes a vicious cycle, and you remain trapped within it unless you receive help.
While addiction can be beaten alone, it isn’t recommended, especially for those who have been users for a long period of time. Simply put, your body is going to require medical treatment in order to reduce the amount of trauma that it is going to receive during the withdrawal stage.
It isn’t just the brain, however, that is injured when you use drugs or alcohol. Depending on the drug, you may end up developing cancer. You could cause others to receive cancer if you used certain drugs in their presence. Because your body has already been weakened by the use of drugs, it may not have the strength and health required to beat off cancer, and you could be looking at suffering from a terminal illness.
More than that, drugs can actually affect your bones, too. Again, it depends on the drug used, but in some cases, the drug can make the bone density of your jaw brittle. The bone can shatter, and you could be left without a jaw. Eating and speaking become impossible, and without those two crucial acts, you’re going to be in a tough spot in life.
Being addicted to drugs and alcohol has long-lasting effects, especially the longer you use said drug or alcohol. However, just like any disease, treatment is possible.
Pinnacle Recovery
One of the places that can offer you relief is Pinnacle Recovery Center. Located in the beautiful state of Utah, Pinnacle Recovery offers a safe and elegant location for drug and alcohol abusers to beat their addiction. They have numerous programs designed for the individual so that they can be sure they’re giving the right form of treatment for each case. From individual therapy to substance abuse inpatient programs, you are sure to find the program that best suits you.
In regards to their inpatient program, they offer their luxurious location for abusers to stay and work with a talented and sympathetic medical team to beat their addiction. While there isn’t a deadline for how long you can stay at Pinnacle, as the staff wants to ensure you don’t leave until you’re ready to leave, most members typically stay around for a month to three months. In fact, the medical staff suggests remaining at least for a month, as they believe that is the optimal period of time in which a person can fully detox and start to deal with the inner traumas and triggers that set their need to use in the first place.
The inpatient program is typically for those who require extra care and attention. So, for those individuals who have used drugs or alcohol for a long period of time. To ensure their body can handle the withdrawal symptoms, staying at Pinnacle Recovery Center is their best bet for kicking their addiction for good. The medical staff can offer non-addictive painkillers to ease some of their sufferings and make the withdrawal and detox process as easy as possible.
Once the body has purged itself of the harsh toxins, you can either attend therapy individually, with a group or take part in the many other different forms of therapy that Pinnacle Recovery offers. Through a careful and individualized plan, anyone can find hope and a new chance at life by stepping through the doors of Pinnacle Recovery.