Road To Mental Wellness with Desert Rose

Welcome to another edition of “The Road to Mental Wellness”. A while ago, I did a piece about drug addition and how/why persons with poor mental health, abuse drugs to self medicate among other reasons. I suppose you could call this “Addiction Part 2”.

We are going to discuss withdrawal, the part of addiction they don’t tell you about. Once a person becomes addicted, withdrawal fuels the urge to continue using among other reasons. No one starts using with the intention of becoming addicted. Addiction is an illness.

What Is drug withdrawal? Drug withdrawal, also known as drug withdrawal syndrome or substance withdrawal syndrome, refers to a range of symptoms that occur when an individual abruptly reduces or stops the intake of drugs to which they have become dependent. This dependence is physical, psychological, or both and typically develops after prolonged use of a substance. Stopping the use of the substance that a person has become dependent on results in withdrawal syndrome.

Dependence develops with regular use of substances such as alcohol, opioids, stimulants, and benzodiazepines. The symptoms of withdrawal vary depending on the substance but generally include both physical and psychological symptoms. The physiological basis of withdrawal involves changes in brain chemistry and neurotransmitter function, leading to the body’s struggle to regain equilibrium without the substance.

Drug Withdrawal symptoms vary depending on the type of drug used. However, many of the symptoms remain the same for the majority of drugs that can cause physical dependence that leads to withdrawal. Some symptoms seem to have no direct cause.

Withdrawal symptoms can be divided into the following categories:

Pain

Whole-body

Psychological

Cognitive/mood

Gastrointestinal

Sleep

Nose/eyes

Pain - Pain is a common withdrawal symptom, particularly when withdrawing from opiates. Alcohol, benzodiazepines, and methamphetamine can cause pain during withdrawal as well. The pain may be felt in the muscles, joints, or bones.

Whole Body - Whole-body symptoms include fatigue, changes in appetite, shaking, feeling hot or cold, night sweats, and malaise. These symptoms, particularly malaise and fatigue, are common with most drug withdrawals.

Psychological - Psychological symptoms may linger long after the physical signs of drug withdrawal have passed. They include severe anxiety, paranoia, irritability, and depression.

Cognitive/Mood - Cognitive symptoms are usually present in one of two ways. Either the patients’ thoughts are racing, even overwhelming, or they feel their thought process has slowed. Either can cause disorientation and difficulty concentrating. They may lose interest in pleasurable activities and become withdrawn, or become restless or aggressive.

Gastrointestinal - Gastrointestinal drug withdrawal symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps. These symptoms are the most common and pronounced during opiate withdrawal.

Sleep- Excessive sleep or insomnia are also signs of drug withdrawal. Generally, withdrawal from stimulants will cause you to sleep more than usual or struggle to stay alert. Opiates and Benzodiazepines withdrawal will cause sleeplessness. This is because the effects of the drug are often reversed in withdrawal because the body became accustomed to compensating for the drug.

Nose/Eye - Nasal drug withdrawal symptoms are a runny nose or sinus congestion. The eyes may be watery. In the case of acute opiate withdrawal, the pupils will be dilated.

Treatment approaches for drug withdrawal include detoxification, psychotherapy (cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing), medication-assisted therapy (buprenorphine, methadone, disulfiram), and holistic and natural options (yoga, Mindfulness and Meditation, Supplements).

With substance addiction comes withdrawals. Withdrawals are unpleasant to say the least and substances should not be stopped “cold turkey “ It is dangerous. There is help out there for someone seeking help. There is life without drugs.

With that said, my first step to mental wellness involved quitting drugs. I am in a medical assisted detox clinic and as I’ve mentioned before I’ve been clean since 09/10/21. Recovery isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done but it was the best.

Addiction isn’t easy to overcome because of withdrawal along with the habit of using because your bored or simply needing to self medicate. Next week we will learn about hoarding. People hoard for many different reasons and it isn’t a form of OCD as many believe. However, a person can have OCD along with hoarding. This is Desert Rose signing off and I wish you all good mental health.