Suboxone addiction treatment is perhaps the most effective way to overcome opiate addiction and rebuild your life. Suboxone can manage your withdrawal symptoms and help you return to a normal way of life, but Suboxone addiction treatment should include counseling to address the emotional and psychological roots of addiction. It’s rare indeed that a person in Suboxone addiction treatment doesn’t need any form of counseling. Addiction is about far more than the physical dependence on drugs; it’s often the result of a combination of factors in a person’s life.
As a result, even with effective Suboxone addiction treatment, you’re still at risk of relapse, and you should do your best to avoid or mitigate relapse triggers – the people, places, things and situations that make you want to use opiates or that remind you of opiate use – while you’re going through Suboxone addiction treatment. Here are some of the most common relapse triggers that you’ll encounter during Suboxone addiction treatment, and how you can cope with them.
Change
For many people going through Suboxone addiction treatment, just as for many recovering alcoholics and non-opiate drug addicts, entering recover itself constitutes a relapse trigger. This is, of course, especially true when you first enter Suboxone addiction treatment. You’re used to living your life a certain way, and changing can be scary. Even though the way you’ll be feeling as you begin Suboxone addiction treatment is technically “normal,” it doesn’t feel normal to you. At this point, it’s important to remember that going through Suboxone addiction treatment is vastly preferable to continuing to live in active opiate addiction.
Daily Stress
As a recovering addict going through Suboxone addiction treatment, you probably don’t have the tools to cope with the normal stresses of daily life. As a result, every little thing may feel like a crisis, and you may have trouble stepping back and looking at stressful situations with a cool head. Don’t give up at the first sign of trouble. Work with a therapist who specializes in addiction to develop the coping skills you need to avoid relapse brought on by stress.
Lack of Self-Care
Self-care is a crucial part of what makes your Suboxone addiction treatment program a success. Self-care means eating well, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, making time for the things you enjoy, and adhering to your Suboxone addiction treatment program. When you fail to take care of yourself properly, you set yourself up for failure in your Suboxone addiction treatment program.
You can avoid relapse most of the time by keeping yourself well-rested and well-fed. If you feel like using again, you should try eating or taking a nap instead. You might also be feeling lonely, overwhelmed, angry or frustrated. Remember that you have social and emotional needs as well as physical ones. Call a friend or make some time to spend with your family instead of taking drugs.
Inadequate Commitment to Your Suboxone Addiction Treatment Program
Recovering from addiction takes years of hard work. In order for your Suboxone addiction treatment program to work, you need to be willing to commit to it for the long haul. That means trusting your
Suboxone addiction treatment team to administer the best therapies. It means going to your counseling sessions and taking your maintenance medication. If you feel yourself beginning to lose faith in any aspect of your Suboxone addiction treatment program, it could signal an impending relapse. Better yet, ask a friend or relative to help you look out for signs that your commitment is lagging.
Hanging Out With Your Old Drug Buddies
It may be hard to accept that you can’t spend time with your old drug buddies anymore, but once you enter Suboxone addiction treatment, you need to restrict yourself to only hanging out with people who don’t use opiate drugs. You can hope that your old buddies will get clean, too, but hanging around with them will only tempt you to use opiates again and it will eventually derail your Suboxone addiction treatment.