Working-Age Adults Most Vulnerable to Alcohol-Related Death

New data from a report released earlier this month by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention shows that the majority of alcohol-related deaths occur among adults of working age. A full two-thirds of alcohol-related deaths strike adults aged 20 to 64. This demographic accounts for 80 percent of the total years of life lost to alcohol-related casualties. If you are a working-age adult with an alcohol abuse problem, this should encourage you to seek help now from our outpatient alcohol treatment Florida program; it could save your life.

Excessive Alcohol Consumption a Leading Cause of Death

Katy Gonzales, the lead author of the study and an alcohol epidemiologist with the Michigan Department of Community Health, wants the public to understand the risks associated with excessive drinking. “It’s really important to drive home that excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death,” she said. “It really is right up there with tobacco and physical inactivity, especially among working-age adults.”

Study Examined Alcohol-Related Deaths in 11 States

The CDC study examined death-certificate and alcohol-consumption data from 11 states: Florida, California, Michigan, New Mexico, North Dakota, North Carolina, Nebraska, South Dakota, Virginia, Utah and Wisconsin. In these 11 states, the researchers found that alcohol was responsible for about 1,650 deaths a year between the years of 2006 and 2010. The researchers further found that alcohol was responsible for a collective 43,000 potential years of life lost. Programs like our outpatient alcohol treatment Florida program could have prevented many of these deaths.

The researchers used a computer model which relied on a list of 54 alcohol-related issues to determine how drinking may have contributed to death rates in the 11 states studied. The researchers took into account alcohol-related deaths from accidental causes like firearm injuries, car crashes, hypothermia and drowning, as well as occupational injuries and medical complications of alcoholism, like cancer, liver disease, high blood pressure, stroke, fetal alcohol syndrome and pancreatitis.

The addiction specialists at our outpatient alcohol treatment Florida program would like to point out that the medical complications of alcoholism often take years to appear; if excessive drinking issues are addressed early on, heavy drinkers can avoid the medical complications of alcohol entirely.

Men and Whites Most Likely to Die from Alcohol-Related Causes

The study found, among other things, that men were more likely to die drinking-related deaths than women. The researchers also discovered that Caucasians are most vulnerable to alcohol-related deaths. Of the 11 states studied, New Mexico had the highest rate of death from excessive drinking-related causes with about 51 such deaths per 100,000 residents. Utah’s rate of drinking-related deaths was lowest, with 22.4 such deaths per 100,000 residents.

While whites were found to be more vulnerable to alcohol-related deaths in general, minorities were found to have higher rates of death linked to excessive drinking in particular. According to addiction specialists, this may be because minorities are more likely to live in poverty, and people in poverty are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol.

Don’t Die from Alcohol-Related Causes – Take Advantage of Outpatient Alcohol Treatment Florida has to Offer

If you or someone you love is drinking heavily, or binge drinking often, you or they are at an increased risk of death from alcohol-related causes. The specialists at our outpatient alcohol treatment Florida facility would like to emphasize the importance of taking alcohol-related medical complications and accidents seriously. The medical complications of alcohol include serious, life-threatening conditions that are difficult to treat and often irreversible. But with help from our program for outpatient alcohol treatment in Florida, even heavy drinkers can avoid many of the medical complications associated with excessive alcohol consumption.

Entering our outpatient alcohol treatment Florida program can also protect you, your loved ones and members of your community from the possibility of alcohol-related accidents. Alcohol-related automobile accidents in particular can be deadly, not just for the heavy drinker, but for the innocent people riding in the other car.

Don’t let excessive drinking destroy your life or the lives of those around you. With help, you can recover from alcoholism and go on to live a long, healthy and fulfilling sober life.

To learn more about our outpatient alcohol treatment Florida program, call us today at 888-699-5679.


What is the Difference Between Dependence and Addiction?

Here at our outpatient detox Delray Beach facility, we understand how important it is to know the difference between drug dependence and addiction. Understanding the difference between addiction and physical dependence can help you know whether you need help for addiction, or whether you’re using drugs as intended.

For many people who use prescription opiates for pain management, the distinction between dependence on a drug and addiction to a drug is crucial. Patients who rely on prescription opiates to manage chronic pain face stigma from friends, family, members of the general public and even, in some cases, their doctors.

What Is Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction is a neurobiological disease that negatively affects all aspects of an addict’s life. The addicts we help in our outpatient detox in Delray Beach take drugs compulsively. They have no control over their drug use. Addicts keep taking drugs despite the physical and mental harm it does to them and their families, and the professional and legal consequences it causes. Addicts also struggle with intense physical and mental cravings for drugs.

The line between physical dependence and addiction can become blurred in a phenomenon that specialists refer to as “pseudo-addiction.” This phenomenon refers to a set of behaviors that pain patients exhibit when they are not receiving adequate treatment for their pain. They include doing things that would normally be associated with addiction, like watching the clock until it’s time for their next dose of medication, taking medication that has not been prescribed to them, taking street drugs or lying to get more medication. However, these pseudo-addictive behaviors disappear when the patient receives adequate pain management; therefore, they are not indicative of true addiction.

Women reaching into medicine cabinet full of pill bottles.

Physical Dependence Withdrawal at Outpatient Detox Delray

Physical dependence on a potentially addictive drug can be compared to a diabetic’s physical dependence on insulin. Not only does a diabetic person experience a physical reaction when insulin is taken away, he or she actually needs insulin in order to remain healthy. For many patients who use opiate painkillers to relieve chronic or acute severe pain, they serve a similar purpose.

Of course, here at our outpatient detox Delray Beach program, we understand that opiate painkillers are very addictive. A number of the people we’ve helped at our outpatient detox Delray Beach facility have been patients who originally took prescription opiate painkillers to treat chronic or acute severe pain. It does not typically take very long for a pain patient’s body to become accustomed to a regular dose of prescription opiate painkillers. Over time, a person using prescription opiates for pain treatment may even develop a tolerance to the drug, and will experience physical withdrawals if he or she stops taking it.

The Distinction Between Physical Dependence and Addiction

The people who come to outpatient detox Delray Beach program looking for opiate addiction treatment generally report that they feel “high” or euphoric when they use opiate drugs. Before long, they develop a tolerance to the drug and need more and more in order to keep feeling that same euphoria. As a result, they may turn to stealing drugs or prescriptions, lying to get new prescriptions, doctor shopping and using multiple pharmacies. They take medication at higher-than-prescribed doses, and may take them by crushing and snorting them or injecting them. Many of the people we help in our outpatient detox in Delray Beach, especially lately, have turned to heroin now that prescription painkillers have become difficult to find on the black market and law enforcement authorities have cracked down on pill mills.

The crucial distinction between patients who are physically dependent on opiate painkillers and people who are struggling with addiction to these drugs is that, for addicts, using drugs makes their lives worse. For pain patients, on the other hand, taking prescription painkillers enables them to function normally, attend to their responsibilities, spend time with their families, get active in their communities, go to work, and generally move forward and upward with their lives. People are using drugs for legitimate medical reasons, even potentially addictive drugs, can be objectively seen to benefit from the use of those drugs.

The addicts we help in our outpatient detox Delray Beach program, on the other hand, spiral further and further downward, until their relationships with friends and family are irreparably damaged, they can no longer remain active in their communities, and they can no longer even hold jobs.

If you think you or someone you love may be addicted to prescription painkillers, don’t wait for the problem to get out of hand.

Call The Delray Center for Healing now at 888-699-5679.


A Brief History of Heroin

Heroin abuse and overdose death rates are on the rise around the nation, but where did this deadly drug come from? The highly addictive opiate derivative, heroin, is more than a century old. The dangerous drug that has so many people flocking into our facility for outpatient addiction treatment in Delray Beach was originally developed by German pharmaceutical company Bayer as a powerful pain reliever, soporific and cough remedy.

A Dye Manufacturer Diversifies into Scientific Research

German merchant Friedrich Bayer founded his eponymous company in 1863 in Elberfeld, Germany. The company originally took advantage of then-cutting-edge technologies for manufacturing dyes from coal-tar. By the 1870s, Germany was producing six times more coal-tar dye than England or France. But when the market fell out of the German dye industry by the mid-1880s, Bayer decided to diversify his company’s product range by investing in scientific research. It was a decision that would have terrible consequences for the many people who would later find themselves in need of our facility for outpatient addiction treatment in Delray Beach.

The Invention of Heroin

Prior to the 19th century, medicines had always been prepared using natural materials. The first synthetic chemical medicine was invented in 1805 by the German pharmacist Friedrich Serturner, who isolated and purified opium’s main active ingredient. He called his invention morphine.

The science of pharmacology developed rapidly throughout the 19th century. The invention of the hypodermic needle in 1853 made it possible for doctors to administer precise doses of the new synthetic medications. It would, of course, be that same invention that would enable 20th and 21st-century heroin addicts to intravenously abuse the drug that sends so many into our program for outpatient addiction treatment in Delray Beach.

With the invention of synthetic drugs derived from plants, chemists were now free to tinker with the molecular structures of substances found in nature in order to create more effective, more potent or safer synthetic medications. A team of German chemists led by Heinrich Dreser began the work that would lead to the invention of heroin in the late 1890s. Dreser and his colleagues augmented morphine molecules with two new acetyl groups to create the drug now known as heroin, which takes its name from the German adjective heroisch, a common 19th century term for a potent medicine.

A Miracle Drug

In its early days, heroin was hailed as a miracle drug – no one had yet seen the addictive potential that would later make programs like ours for outpatient addiction treatment in Delray Beach necessary. Respiratory complaints, like tuberculosis and pneumonia, were leading causes of death at the turn of the 19th century, and the use of heroin to treat these conditions was rapidly adopted in nations throughout the world. At the time, there were no such things as antibiotics and vaccines were only in their infancy. Doctors had no way to treat painful respiratory diseases aside from prescribing powerful narcotics that would help patients sleep and relieve their pain. Today we know that heroin crosses the blood-brain barrier more readily than morphine, making it a more potent pain reliever and a much more addictive drug, as the popularity of heroin treatment programs at our facility for outpatient addiction treatment in Delray Beach proves.

Evidence of Heroin’s Addictive Potential Emerges and Outpatient Addiction Treatment Begins

Tellingly, early physicians’ reports indicate that no patients experienced unpleasant drug reactions when treated with heroin; in fact, most patients liked the drug so much that they continued to take it even after their courses of treatment had ended. Physicians of the time were well aware that morphine, the drug from which heroin was derived, was very addictive. The chemists who created heroin hoped to eliminate morphine’s addictive potential, while retaining its pain-relief properties, by altering its chemical structure to create heroin. Unfortunately, by 1903, it had become obvious that the attempts to create a non-addictive form of morphine that led to the invention of heroin were unsuccessful. Physicians began to notice that their patients needed higher and higher doses of heroin to achieve the same therapeutic effects, and that the withdrawal symptoms associated with heroin were even worse than those associated with morphine.

Our facility for outpatient addiction treatment in Delray Beach is struggling with an opiate addiction epidemic that has gripped the United States for the past 15 years. In the early years of the 20th century, opiate addiction was also a serious problem in the United States. At that time, there was no federal regulation of pharmaceutical manufacturer, and many over-the-counter patent medicines and health tonics contained addictive substances. Historians estimate that, at the turn of the 20th century, more than a quarter of the United States population was addicted to some form of opiate drug. It would not be until 1914, with the Harrison Narcotic Act, that heroin and other opiates would finally be outlawed in the United States.

Recovery from opiate addiction is possible with help from our facility for outpatient addiction treatment in Delray Beach. Call The Delray Center for Healing today at 888-699-5679 to learn more.


Heroin Use Rising in Young Adults

Over the past 10 years, the United States has seen an 80 percent increase in teens seeking Suboxone addiction treatment for heroin abuse. In fact, heroin abuse is on the rise around the nation. Many addiction experts blame the prescription drug epidemic for rising heroin abuse rates, saying that the abundance of prescription painkillers begin abused have served as a gateway drug into opiate addiction for many of the five to 10 percent of the population who are born with a susceptibility to it. According to the premiere episode of Oprah Prime, heroin dealers are using subterfuge to get teens hooked on their product.

A String of Senseless Tragedies

Many teens who become addicted to heroin after being tricked into using it never recover. That’s what happened to a 20-year-old named John, who bought white powder at a party from a dealer who told him it was crushed OxyContin. It wasn’t. In fact, the powder John bought was pure heroin. John snorted the powder for four months before he realized it wasn’t what he thought it was. Though he tried to get clean, his efforts failed, and he lost his life to an overdose.

And John isn’t the only young person to have lost his life after being fooled into taking heroin. The same thing happened to 24-year-old Luis, and the countless other young people. For the teens and young adults who have succumbed to heroin overdose, Suboxone addiction treatment programs are too little, too late.

Kids of All Ages Doing Heroin, Says DEA Agent

According to Jack Riley, DEA Special Agent in Charge, dealers are getting kids in college, high school, middle school and even grade school hooked on heroin by telling them it’s something else. “We see heroin traffickers really trying to hook prospective new customers into the heroin addiction simply by not telling them what it is they’re selling,” he told Oprah.

Twenty-four-year-old Vincent, a recovering heroin addict and former college football player, explained to Oprah how he used to trick others into taking heroin so he would have someone to do it with. “I used to trick people into doing heroin so that they would do it with me. I would tell them it was OxyContin, Vicodin, cocaine – really, anything. Anything less than heroin.”

Twenty-three-year-old Gabriela was only a freshman in high school when she started doing drugs with her older friends. She told Oprah, “I thought I was getting myself involved with cocaine. A year later, I found out that I was actually doing heroin. By then, I didn’t know how to stop. I couldn’t stop.” Gabriela’s story explains why Suboxone addiction treatment programs for young people are in such high demand.

Recovery from Heroin Addiction Is Possible with Suboxone Addiction Treatment

If you or someone you love is addicted to heroin, Suboxone addiction treatment is the answer. Suboxone is an opiate maintenance medication that was approved by the FDA in 2002. Thousands of recovering heroin addicts have successfully used Suboxone addiction treatment to cope with withdrawal symptoms and return to a normal way of life.

Abusing opiate drugs like heroin and prescription painkillers literally rewires your brain. These drugs stimulate the brain’s pleasure and reward centers. Over time, they take the place of endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and other neurotransmitters associated with feelings of pleasure, reward and well-being. That’s why, when you stop taking heroin or other opiate drugs, the withdrawal symptoms are so painful. It’s also why recovering heroin addicts are prone to post-acute withdrawal syndrome, which can last for many months after they get clean. Symptoms of post-acute withdrawal syndrome include depression, anxiety, trouble sleeping and an inability to feel pleasure.

It takes time for your brain to heal from the effects of opiate addiction. For Suboxone addiction treatment to be effective, you must usually remain on the medication for at least two years if not longer. However, when you enter Suboxone treatment for opiate addiction you can take a supply of your medication home with you. You don’t have to come into a methadone clinic every day to receive your medication; you can take your medication when and where you see fit. Many recovering heroin addicts hold down jobs, earn degrees, and live rich, full and fulfilling lives while participating in a Suboxone opiate maintenance program.

If you or someone you love needs help for heroin addiction, don’t wait to ask for help. Call The Delray Center for Healing today at 888-699-5679.


Outpatient Detox Delray Beach Facility Investigates What Makes Certain People More Prone to Painkiller Addiction

Our outpatient detox Delray Beach programs have helped hundreds of people overcome addiction to prescription painkillers. But for every person who forms an addiction to prescription painkillers, dozens more use them without experiencing lasting harm. What makes some people vulnerable to prescription painkiller addiction, while others can take or leave the medication?

Safe When Used as Directed

Prescription painkillers are considered safe when used exactly as directed. But as the specialists here at our outpatient detox Delray Beach program know, the high potential for addiction associated with these drugs makes it all but impossible for many people to use them exactly as directed. These pills stimulate the brain’s reward system, to cause a euphoric rush that, for many, plants the seeds of addiction.

Some People Become Instantly Addicted

Addiction experts believe that some people are born with brains that are especially susceptible to addiction – so much so, in fact, that using prescription painkillers or other substances a single time leads to an almost instantaneous substance abuse problem. Five to 10 percent of people are born with this susceptibility to addiction – and there’s no way to know if you’re one of them until addiction strikes.

Risk Factors for Addiction

The experts at our outpatient detox Delray Beach program would like all people struggling with addiction, and their families, to know that many risk factors for addiction have been identified. Genetics is one of them – if someone in your immediate family struggles with addiction to alcohol or drugs, you have a 50 percent chance of developing an addiction yourself!

However, heredity isn’t the whole story when it comes to addiction. There are multiple environmental factors that increase a person’s risk of developing a drug or alcohol addiction over his or her lifetime.

A history of trauma in childhood is a major risk factor for addiction later in life. Emotional, sexual or physical abuse, losing a parent, or other traumatic events in childhood cause physiological brain changes and raise your risk of developing and addiction later on. Indeed, the majority of the people we help in our  outpatient detox Delray Beach program have endured some kind of childhood trauma.

Untreated mental illness is another significant risk factor for addiction. Though mental illness doesn’t cause addiction, it can be the catalyst that drives a person to heavy substance abuse. People suffering from anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression and other mental illnesses may use prescription painkillers, illicit drugs or alcohol to self-medicate their symptoms.

That’s why we offer a dual diagnosis component for the treatment of mental illness at our outpatient detox Delray Beach program . If you are struggling with prescription painkiller addiction and an untreated concurrent mental illness, you will need treatment for your mental illness symptoms if our outpatient addiction treatment program is to be a success.

If you have a history of abusing other substances, like alcohol, illicit drugs or even tobacco, you could also be at a higher risk of developing an addiction to prescription painkillers. Younger people are at a greater risk of prescription painkiller addiction than older people. If you have been exposed to substance abuse and addiction in childhood, then you may be more likely to develop an addiction as an adult, because you may subconsciously believe that substance abuse is an acceptable means of coping with the normal stresses of life.

Treating Prescription Painkiller Addiction at Our Outpatient Detox Delray Beach Program

If you become addicted to prescription painkillers, our outpatient detox Delray Beach program can help. It’s important to seek treatment as soon as you realize that your use of prescription painkillers has become a problem. As with other conditions, addiction is easiest to treat when it’s caught early.

Here are some signs that your use of prescription painkillers may be developing into an addiction:

  • You’re using more than you intended, and at times when you didn’t intend to use at all.
  • You’re using prescription painkillers to fill an emotional void or meet a need – for example, to ease your anxiety or perk you up when you’re depressed.
  • Your drug use is causing problems at home, school or work, or problems with the law.
  • You need to use more and more of the drug to feel the same effects – you’re building a tolerance.

The sooner you get help from a program like outpatient detox in Delray Beach, the better your chances of a successful long-term recovery. Don’t wait; if left untreated, addiction devastates lives and can ultimately be fatal.

Call us at 888-699-5679 to learn more about our outpatient detox Delray Beach program.