4 Opioid-Related Drugs Parents Should Be Aware Of

The opioid epidemic continues to be a nationwide health crisis, and even younger people are vulnerable to the threat. High school and college students often begin experimenting with prescription painkilllers found in their family medicine cabinet. Many of these drugs are highly addictive and are also available for sale online and on the street. With these fundamentals in mind, here are four of the most common opioid-related drugs and what you need to know to protect your child.

1. Prescription Opioids

If your child has ever had surgery or a severe sports injury, they may have received a prescription for pain relievers such as oxycodone (brand name OxyContin®) or hydrocodone (brand name Vicodin®). However, due to these drugs’ documented high potential for abuse, addiction and overdose, many states have made it more difficult to get a prescription. These measures include strictly limiting the amount of time a patient can use opioid drugs, as well as total daily dosage.

2. Heroin

People who have developed an addiction to opioids, but can no longer get a legitimate doctor’s prescription for these medications, may begin buying their drugs in the street. Drugs like heroin can be easier to obtain, but they can also be deadlier than prescription opioids.

Heroin’s effects include:

• Extreme happiness
• Drowsiness
• Nausea
• Confusion
• Digestive problems
• Sedation
• Difficulty breathing
• Unconsciousness

3. Fentanyl

Fentanyl, a lab-created opioid, can be up to 100 times more potent than morphine. In legal prescription form, fentanyl has legitimate medical uses for treating severe, difficult-to-control pain. However, makers of illegal drugs often use non-pharmaceutical fentanyl to increase the heroin-like euphoria of their product, which is why fentanyl-laced drugs are a growing concern of organizations like the Drug Enforcement Administration. People may buy illicit drugs without being aware they’re laced with fentanyl, making an accidental overdose more likely. Because of fentanyl's potency, a dose as small as two milligrams is enough to be fatal for most people.

4. Naloxone

Unlike the other drugs on this list, there is no potential for abuse with naloxone, marketed as Narcan®. Instead, the timely use of naloxone can save people’s lives by reversing an opioid overdose. Because opioid overdoses typically involve the gradual suppression of the respiratory system, first responders can use naloxone to restart someone’s breathing. Naloxone works by rapidly binding to opioid receptors in the brain and blocking the effects of opioid drugs.

Naloxone is available in a nasal spray form that makes it easy for anyone to administer, even people with no medical training. If you suspect your child is misusing opioids, it’s smart to have a supply of naloxone on hand, and familiarize yourself with the steps for responding to an opioid overdose. In some states, naloxone is available from pharmacies without a prescription.

Know the Facts

As a concerned parent, you want to be prepared so you can protect your child in any situation. Knowing the ins and outs of opioid-related drugs can help you recognize, react and respond when your child is using these drugs, and take steps to prevent their use from becoming problematic. If you need to get help for your family, Hope Academy can provide the solutions you’re looking for. Learn more about the details of our treatment program, then contact us to start the application process.

New App Detects Opioid Overdoses

A new app may provide opioid users with a way to ask for help in the event of an overdose. The app, named Second Chance, can detect slowed or stopped breathing as a result of an overdose. It works by converting the speaker and microphone of the smartphone into a sonar system that emits high frequency sound waves that bounce off a user’s chest. In an emergency, the app could call 911 or send a message to friends or family who have access to and could administer the opiate antidote naloxone (Narcan).

“Being able to track an overdose when a person may be by themselves could significantly improve the ability to save lives,” psychiatrist Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in Bethesda, MD, told Science News.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 130 people die from an opioid overdose every day in the United States. And many of the individuals are alone and powerless to call for help.

"We're experiencing an unprecedented epidemic of deaths from opioid use, and it's unfortunate because these overdoses are a completely reversible phenomena if they're detected in time," Dr. Jacob Sunshine, an assistant professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the UW School of Medicine., told CNBC.

Researchers tested the app on 94 users in Vancouver at a legally sanctioned injection facility where people use heroin and fentanyl under medical supervision in an effort to prevent overdoses. The app detected 47 out of 49 cases where the user stopped breathing and 41 out of 47 cases where a patient was breathing too slowly. The app misjudged five of the 47 cases where the user was breathing frequently enough. Researchers also simulated overdoses with 20 volunteers who received standard anesthetic medications that caused 30 seconds of slow or no breathing. The app detected abnormal respiration in 19 patients.

The team, which is applying for FDA approval, anticipates that the app will be on the market in roughly eight months – and hopefully sooner if they get fast track priority approval by the FDA, researchers told CNBC.

Opioid Addiction Treatment for Young Adults
Young adults (age 18 to 25) are the biggest abusers of prescription opioid pain relievers, according to the NIDA. And early intervention is the most successful treatment. If you or someone you love is struggling with opioid addiction, don’t wait to get help. Call today: 866-930-4673.

College Students Suffer Secondary Exposure to Opioid Addiction

Do you know someone addicted to opioids? If you answered, yes, you’re not alone A new study by researchers from Penn State University Lehigh Valley found that roughly one in five college students know someone who was addicted to opioids. And, of that number, roughly one-third knew someone who had overdosed on painkillers.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the findings: 

• 20.5 percent said they currently know someone who is addicted to pain meds.
• 32.5 percent said they knew somebody who overdosed on either painkillers or heroin.
• 15 percent reported worrying that someone they knew may be misusing pain medication.
• Women were twice as likely to report having intimate ties to those who misuse or overdose on opioids.

These findings confirm what many addiction experts already know: family members and friends of loved ones of those addicted to painkillers are also feeling the effects of the opioid epidemic. 

"Since the beginning of the opioid epidemic, public debate and prevention strategies have focused on the primary victims, misusers themselves, while surprisingly little attention has been paid to the burdens felt and experienced by those who are intimately or socially tied to them," said lead researcher Jennifer Parker, who is an associate professor of sociology at PSU Lehigh Valley.

The researchers hope that these findings will encourage others to delve deeper into how secondary exposure to the opioid epidemic will impact the students’ mental and physical health as well as academic performance. "It makes me sad to think that so many [students] are carrying around this worry because being a student in today's world is already hard enough," Erica Hughes, an undergraduate student in Health Policy Administration, said in a statement.

Sobriety College at Hope Academy

If your friend or family member is a college student struggling with opioid addiction, we can help. At Hope Academy, we provide the safety and support students need to succeed in school and at sobriety. To learn more about our sobriety college, call today: 866-930-4673.

Opioid Abuse on College Campuses

First, the bad news: The opioid crisis continues to ravage American communities, with rates of fatal overdoses nearly tripling from 2000 to 2015. 

Now, the good news: Only a small portion of college students are misusing opioids, with 7 to 12 percent of students reporting use for nonmedical reasons and 2 to 3 percent turning to heroin after prescription drugs, according to the American College Health Association (ACHA). 

In general, research has found that individuals with less education are more likely to develop an addiction to opioids. 

Still, college students are far from exempt from the epidemic and the devastating effects of these addictive drugs. In 2016, the ACHA released a set of guidelines to universities on prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse. 

ACHA advises college health centers to:

• Avoid prescribing opioids when possible; NSAIDs and acetaminophen are effective for most pain.
• If an opioid is necessary, prescribe for time-limited use only. 
• Discuss the risks and dangers of these opioid medications, including the risk of addiction and overdose.
• Consider close follow-up for confirmed discontinuation.
• Screen for substance abuse, poorly-controlled depression, family history of substance abuse, concomitant use of benzodiazepines, and other major psychiatric disorders.
• Add naloxone to the emergency box or cart.
• Ensure adequate expertise and equipment to manage the airway of an unconscious patient.
• Ensure adequate expertise and equipment to provide intravenous fluid support.
• Plan and practice emergency response, including EMS system activation.

Since that time, many colleges have introduced opioid-related policies, including training sessions for students and employees on opioid use and the distribution of naloxone to campus police and health centers. 

Opioid Addiction Treatment for Young Adults
Early intervention is the best way to help opioid addiction from destroying the life of a young adult. If you or someone you love is struggling with opioid addiction, don’t wait to get help. Call us today: 866-930-4673.

College Students Learn to Use Narcan

More than a year ago, students at the University of Texas at Austin began learning to use naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan, which is used to rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. The goal: to save a friend or peer showing symptoms of an overdose. 

Program supporters compare Narcan availability to fire extinguishers or automated external defibrillators – both mainstays on college campuses. “The majority of the doses are likely going to go unused — that’s a good thing,” Lucas Hill, a UT-Austin pharmacy professor who directs a program called Operation Naloxone that UH students plan to expand into Houston this semester, told the Houston Chronicle. “Most fire extinguishers get tossed out without being used. This is similar.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2,588 people overdosed from drugs in Texas in 2015 and the figure rose to 2,831 in 2016. What’s more, four percent of Texas college students misused opioids in 2017, noted the Houston Chronicle. Still, noted Hill, it’s difficult to know how widespread the issue is on Texas campuses, as families often keep overdoses private.

Despite these rising figures, many Texas public universities lack written policies on naloxone distribution. “We felt as a medical organization that it was best for us to ensure that everyone who might encounter this within our facility be trained,” Martha Dannenbaum, who directs A&M’s student health services, told the Houston Chronicle. “Drug use, misuse and abuse exists everywhere. It’s not just the homeless population or the poor, it’s everyone from the highest administrative areas to young people that are functional.”

Do You Know the Signs of an Opioid Overdose?

Recognizing the symptoms of an opioid overdose and taking prompt action is critical to potentially saving a life. Although all of these signs might not be present, it’s best to seek medical assistance right away if you notice any of them: 

• Unable to wake up or respond to your voice or touch
• Very slow, irregular or stopped breathing
• Center part of their eye is very small, often called “pinpoint pupils”
• Fingernails and lips turning blue or purple
• Slow heartbeat and/or low blood pressure

Opioid Addiction Treatment for Young Adults
Young adults (age 18 to 25) are the biggest abusers of prescription opioid pain relievers, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. And early intervention is the most successful treatment. If you or someone you love is struggling with opioid addiction, don’t wait to get help. Call today: 866-930-4673.

Questions to Ask Your Doctor If You or Your Loved One Is Prescribed an Opioid

With around a hundred people overdosing every day due to opioids — and doctors still relying heavily on these addictive painkillers to treat chronic pain — it’s more important than ever to be an active member of your healthcare team. Simply put: Patient education must be part of your pain med RX.

Here are some key questions to ask your doctor if you or someone you love is prescribed pain pills:

• Are there any non-opioid alternatives or complementary therapies that could help with pain management?
• When should I schedule a follow-up appointment to check how well the meds are working?
• How do I stop using or taper off opioids safely?
• What can I do to reduce the risk of potential side effects from opioids?
• What if I have a history or family history of addiction?
• Are there any serious signs that prompt a call to the doctor or visit to the hospital? For example: excessive sleepiness or craving more of the medication.
• What should I do if I’m still feeling pain?
• Are there any possible interactions with other medications I’m taking? For example: prescriptions for anxiety or sleep problems or any over-the-counter meds that contain acetaminophen.
• How can I tell if I’m developing a tolerance to the medication?
• What are some of the early signs of abuse? For example: watching the clock for your next dose; getting in more arguments with your friends or family members; trouble sleeping; calling for early refills.
• What are the signs of an opioid overdose?
• Do I need a prescription for a naloxone kit? (This medication temporarily restores breathing during an opioid overdose.)
• What’s the best way to safely store my opioid medication?
• How do I dispose of unused opioids?

Addiction Treatment for Young Adults
Young adults (age 18 to 25) are the biggest abusers of prescription opioid pain relievers, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. And early intervention is the most successful treatment. If you or someone you love is struggling with opioid addiction, don’t wait to get help. Call today: 866-930-4673.

5 Scary Effects of Opioid Addiction

The growing opioid epidemic is downright scary. Fatal drug overdoses more than tripled to 52,404 between 1999 and 2015, and the majority of them involved an opioid. What’s more, in 2015, more than 1.1 million young adults, ages 12 to 25, reported misusing prescription pain relievers and 238,000 had used heroin in the past year.

Even if you don’t OD, these drugs have devastating neurological and physical consequences, especially on young adults. A recent article in Teen Vogue, “This Is What Happens to Your Brain When You’re Addicted to Opioids” pinpointed some of these effects.

Here’s a brief summary:  

• It can cause anoxic brain injury. “When you aren’t getting adequate oxygen, your brain cells die, which can severely interfere with who you are and what you are able to do,” David Wilkinson, M.D., former medical director at the Foundry Treatment Center in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, tells Teen Vogue. This can be as extreme as being in a vegetative state for the rest of your life to more subtle consequences, including speech, vision, or hearing difficulties, impaired cognition and motor skills, and poor emotional regulation. 
• It can hijack your brain and hinder your excitement for life. "You start doing poorly in school, lose your job, eat poorly, can’t maintain relationships, accrue a criminal record, miss out on milestones…the list goes on and on," David Wilkinson, MD, former medical director at the Foundry Treatment Center in Steamboat Springs, CO, told Teen Vogue.
• It can provoke mental disorders like depression, anxiety or psychosis. “You may have a susceptibility to a psychological illness that only manifests upon exposure to certain triggers, such as a drug,” John F. Kelly, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry in addiction medicine at Harvard Medical School and founder and director of the Recovery Research Institute, told Teen Vogue. 
• It stunts your emotional maturity. When you’re using drugs to self-medicate, “you don’t have a chance to build the skills you need to tolerate stress in your daily life,” Dr. Kelly says. He adds: If someone starts using drugs at age 15 and has been addicted for 10 years he would still have the E.Q. (emotional quotient) of a 15-year-old — despite being 25. 
• It increases your risk of infectious diseases. "Sharing needles, which may not be clean, can transmit infectious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV," Kelly says.

Getting Help for Opioid Abuse
For information about Hope Academy's young adult substance abuse treatment program, or to begin the admissions process for a loved one, call today: 866-930-4673.

Addiction: A Call for Action

It's been a busy week when it comes to raising the profile of addiction and advocating proven treatment options. A first-ever report dedicated to addiction, titled "Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health," was just released on Thursday. 

Similar to the landmark Surgeon General’s report on smoking and tobacco, this report is set to change our national conversation and improve the health of Americans. But this time around, the topic is addiction – and how prevention, treatment, and recovery are all possible. 

"The most important thing is, we have to change attitudes towards addiction and get people into treatment," Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, said in an interview. "Addiction is a disease of the brain, not a character flaw." 

Some highlights of the report include: 

• One in seven Americans will face substance use disorder, but only 10% of those addicted receive treatment.
• Every 19 minutes an American dies from opioid or heroin overdose.
• The economic impact of drug and alcohol misuse and addiction amounts to $442 billion each year — topping diabetes at $245 billion.

In similar news, CNN ran a letter penned by Dr. Mehmet Oz and co-authors that urges President-elect Trump to focus his energy and resources on addiction and, in particular, opioid addiction. Part of the plea read: 

“Simply put, there is no reason we shouldn't approach addiction with the same focus and determination we do diabetes, heart disease or cancer.... [We] implore you, the 45th president of the United States, to make addiction a top priority in your administration. With millions of American lives on the line, how we respond to this crisis is a moral test for America; and how our next president responds to this crisis is a moral test for you, Mr. Trump.”

To correspond with the Surgeon General’s report, Dr. Oz also held a “National Night of Conversation,” urging “everyone across the country to have dinner with the people they care about and to break the silence on drugs and addiction by discussing it.” He created a printable guideline to help start the conversation at anytime.

Don’t Wait to Get Help
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, Hope Academy is here to help. Our addiction treatment programs provides young adults with the tools needed to recover from drug or alcohol abuse, build confidence, and develop life skills for lifelong sobriety. To learn more, call: 866-930-4673.