How can you help your aunt or uncle with addiction?

aunt or uncle with addiction

One of the harsh conditions of human life is drug addiction!  It is detrimental to one’s mental health and overall vitality. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in 2015, assessed that about 22 million people need treatment for substance abuse. One of the best drug treatment programs are offered by socaldetox.com, allowing addicts to detox and gradually proceed to the recovery stage. Here is how you can help your aunt or uncle detox from drugs or alcohol.

The saddest part about drug abuse is when you have to watch a loved one suffer from it! There is no age at which you can become a drug addict. At times, an older adult can also get into drug abuse. It could be your aunt or uncle who you discover to have a drug addiction issue. You will have to consider the behavioral and physical signs before concluding that your aunt or uncle is into drug abuse.

The physical signs

  • Waking up at unusual times, not being able to sleep, and unusual laziness.
  • Shaking hands and cold, sweaty palms.
  • Change in appetite or a complete loss of appetite.
  • Excess talking and hyperactivity.
  • Unusual smells in the clothes, body, or breath.
  • Poor physical coordination and slowed or staggering walk.
  • Excessive sweating, vomiting, and nausea.
  • Needle marks on the feet or lower arm.
  • Irregular heartbeat.
  • Excess shaking of head, feet, or hands and tremors.
  • A pale or a puffy face.
  • Frequently rubbing the nose.
  • Deterioration in physical health or hygiene.
  • Twisting the jaw frequently.

Behavioral signs

  • Skip work or is always late for work.
  • Change in the overall personality for no reason.
  • Change in hobbies and activities.
  • Meeting a different set of people suddenly.
  • An overall drop in the productivity level.
  • Chronic dishonesty.
  • Sudden temper tantrums, resentful behavior, and oversensitivity.
  • Forgetting tasks and important dates.
  • Lack of focus at work and personal life.
  • An overall lack of motivation and energy.
  • Losing interest in family members and family activities.
  • A state of paranoia.
  • Being silly in a questionable way.
  • Having sudden mood swings that have debilitating consequences.
  • A suspicious behavior.
  • An excessive need for privacy.
  • A complete change in grooming habits.
  • A change in the friend circle.
  • Possessing a false ID card.
  • Always in need of money and stealing for money.
  • Missing prescription pills.
  • Having sore jaw complaints.
  • Presence of boxes and spray cans in the trash can.

These are some of the potent behavioral signs that can help you determine whether your uncle or aunt is into drug abuse or not.

The treatment

Once you are sure that your loved one is into drug abuse, it is necessary to invest in the remedy. One of the best ways is to opt-in for a drug rehab center and admit your loved one. There will be several treatment options that will help them to recover completely. To know more about this, you can check out Maine rehab centers. Some of the best treatments for drug abuse treatment are:

  1. Detoxification

It is one of the first steps taken by many drug rehabs for treating drug addicts. Several inpatient rehab centers might ask the individuals to detox before they walk into the drug treatment program. The detoxification process takes place when the person rids all the drugs from the body. It might lead to several withdrawal symptoms if the person was heavily into drugs.

Additionally, there are inpatient rehabs that provide in-house detoxification. It is one of the best features of drug rehab. The outpatient detoxification process includes regular trips to the treatment facility and hospital for comprehensive mental health check-ups. Over here, the individual might get prescribed a couple of medications ease their withdrawal symptoms. At times an outpatient detoxification process might lead to relapse. Hence, it would be best if you were careful about which detoxification process you want to choose for your uncle or aunt. Make sure you make the best choice based on their condition. To know more about this, you can check out the list of New Hampshire drug rehabs.

  1. Medical treatments

When the detoxification process gets over, the inpatient and outpatients can provide ample treatments to help your loved one. It is called MAT (Medically Assisted Treatments). It is useful in removing the addiction that a patient might have towards any drug. For instance, if your uncle or aunt is addicted to opioids, such as heroin or painkillers, it can get treated with methadone or suboxone. However, this treatment will also get combined with behavioral therapy to better the patient’s life quality.

  1. Motivational Interviewing (MI)

MI therapy can help resolve the ambivalence in healing your aunt or uncle to accept the treatment process. This process makes the patient realize that they have to change their perspective and lifestyle to recover from the drug addiction problem. MI gets facilitated by a therapist. Hence, it provides the patient with motivation and encouragement to pursue their treatment plan.

These are some of the steps that can help you to identify that your uncle or aunt has a drug addiction problem and treat them as well.

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