Addiction Treatment Recovery Vaccine

heroin vaccine spoon and syringe

At the beginning of the summer we discussed a topic of the utmost importance regarding addiction. A vaccine for heroin and other opioids. A drug that could influence one’s immune system to keep opioids from passing the blood-brain barrier. Effectively removing one’s ability to get high or overdose on an opioid. If you are thinking that this all sounds like science fiction, you would only be half wrong.

In fact, using animal models scientists have been able to accomplish the aforementioned task. But, given that, there are several other phases of research needed before such a drug could go to market. Specifically, human trials are needed to bear fruit before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will give its approval. A requirement that could be a long way from fulfillment. So, how close are way to seeing a vaccine for deadly drugs like heroin and fentanyl? The answer to that depends on who you ask.

Health and Human Services (HHS) vs Reality

With 142 Americans succumbing to opioid overdose every day, there has never been a greater need for a vaccine. While such a drug would not cure addiction, it could have a salient effect on overdose rates. Earlier this week, HHS Secretary Tom Price talked at a press briefing about the potential for an opioid vaccine, stating:

“The numbers are absolutely daunting — 52,000 overdose deaths in 2015; 33,000 of those approximately related to opioids. The numbers in 2016 are no better, and the numbers in 2017 are even worse than 2016,” Price said. “One of the exciting things that they’re [The National Institutes of Health -NIH] actually working on is a vaccine for addiction, which is an incredibly exciting prospect.”

Please take a moment to watch a short video of the press briefing:

If you are having trouble watching, please click here.

Unfortunately, Dr. Price’s optimism may be premature. There are three more phases of trials needed before an opioid vaccine could hit the market, CNN reports. A requirement that could go on for several years. If the opioid addiction epidemic has showed us anything, it’s that time is not on our side. Many more Americans with untreated opioid use disorder will perish before such a drug is available. Assuming it makes it through human trials.

“It’s a long process, and it takes years,” said Dr. Ivan Montoya, acting director of the Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Sometimes, the translation from animals is not necessarily the same in humans.”

Addiction Treatment Recovery Vaccine

Addiction recovery is not a cure for this most serious illness. However, those who utilize the various programs of recovery protect themselves from relapse. It is not a guarantee, to be sure. Although, in a way, going to treatment and working a program of recovery is an antibody for preventing recidivism. Working a program can be considered a vaccine, but its effectiveness depends on the individual. Their ability to stay honest, willing and able to practice the principles of recovery in all their affairs. Day in, day out.

It is hard to say if the opioid vaccine will ever become a reality. In the meantime, those looking to save their life must turn to recovery. It is their best shot of breaking the cycle of addiction and avoiding fatal overdoses. If you are in the grips of opioid use disorder, please contact 10 Acre Ranch today.

Addiction and Mental Illness Help for the Homeless

photo of a homeless man

There is no telling where substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders will take you. In most cases, nowhere that would be considered ideal. People who seek help for addiction are, in many cases, destitute and are perhaps living on the streets. Homelessness and addiction can often go hand-in-hand. And with limited resources, getting off the streets and into recovery can be a real challenge.

It is not uncommon for people living on the streets to walk into the rooms of recovery. Usually at 12 Step meetings like Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous. Those who stick around can access resources that will help them change their lot. Members may be able to assist such individuals with finding temporary housing and employment. Thus, allowing them to get back on their feet while they are learning to live a life in recovery.

There are others, though, whose co-occurring mental health disorder may make it more difficult to accomplish such goals. Requiring state assistance, such as social security benefits. A number of people who have battled addiction find a way to keep their home and job. Whereas some people’s addiction and other forms of mental illness made it next to impossible. There are millions of Americans living on the streets, today. With a little support, they can find a way to live a fulfilling life.

SOAR With SAMHSA

As was mentioned earlier, one’s untreated mental disabilities can make it hard to hold down a job. Making it impossible to pay bills. It can be a real challenge to recover without a roof over one’s head, and food in the stomach. A vast number of homeless people have mental health disorders, helping them access social welfare benefits is vital.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration launched the SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) program in 2005. The goal was to assist homeless individuals navigate the arduous process of applying benefit programs Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance. Since the program was created, more than 27,000 Americans have gained access to SSI and SSDI benefits through SOAR.

“SAMHSA’s SOAR Technical Assistance Center helps states and communities increase access to these benefits for people with behavioral health disorders who are also experiencing homelessness, as well as for those returning to their communities from jails and hospitals.”

Those who have access to financial assistance are in better position to succeed at working a program of recovery. Managing both substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health disorders, such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Getting Addiction Help for A Loved One

Do you have a loved one whose addiction has brought them to the depths of despair? Living without hearth or home? Perhaps your loved one has resigned him or herself to a life of addiction. Thinking that recovery is not possible. They are not alone, many a recovering addict and alcoholic once thought that way, too. However, recovery is possible and it works. It is a difficult process to be sure, and requires (often) the full support of one’s family.

Please contact 10 Acre today to discuss options for helping your loved one find the miracles of recovery. The longer their condition persists as is, the greater the danger of tragedy.

Self-Medicating Toward Addiction

beautiful lady self-medicating toward addiction

Regarding mental illness, when it rains it pours. At least that is often the reality in the field of addiction medicine. To be clear, addiction is a form of mental illness with many symptoms, one of which is the misuse of drugs and/or alcohol. It’s a disease of the mind that has no known cure to date, but there are effective methods of treatment. Upon completing treatment, those who redouble their recovery efforts via a program like the 12-Steps often have positive outcomes.

Again, drug and alcohol use is but a symptom. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. Work which will mitigate the risk of relapse and spiraling back into active use. But, for a significant number of addicts and alcoholics, addiction is not the only mental health disorder on the table. It is extremely common for people meeting the criteria for addiction to have co-occurring mental health disorders. Often referred to as having a dual diagnosis.

Anyone working in the field knows firsthand the consequences of not treating both addiction and the dual diagnosis, together. This makes sense. Addiction is often precipitated by another form of mental illness, such as depression. The symptoms of untreated depression lead to the dangerous practice of self-medication. Which does the opposite of help, in any respect.

Self-Medicating Toward Dependence and Addiction

People whose anxiety, bipolar disorder or depression is left untreated, are essentially left to their own devices. Functioning under the cloud of depressive or manic symptoms is rarely tenable. In an attempt to quiet one’s troubled mind, drugs and alcohol often become the preferred method of treatment (escape, actually). The continued practice of using mind-altering substances to cope is a slippery slope to dependence, and ultimately addiction. People who engage in this practice actually convince themselves that the substances are helping. When, in fact, they are not.

Research has shown that illicit substance use makes the symptoms of one’s mental health disorder worse. Having the unintended effect of exacerbating the symptoms one is trying to keep at bay. The longer the act of using drugs to cope with mental illness continues, the more severe and often episodes occur. People living with a co-occurring mental health disorder are at great risk of harm. Every year, a significant number of people who meet the criteria for a co-occurring disorder take their own life. Therefore, it is so vital that people living with a mental health disorder are encouraged to talk about their condition. And by doing so, they become empowered to seek treatment.

So, just how common is mental illness in America? A new government report showed almost 1 in 5 American adults struggles with mental illness or addiction each year. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s (SAMHSA) report indicates nearly 44 million American adults living with mental illness, HealthDay reports.

“The presence of [any mental illness] in every state reinforces that mental illness is a major public health concern in the United States,” the report noted. “Overall treatment levels remain low, and addressing the mental health of U.S. adults remains a concern for state and national public health officials.”

Treatment Is The Answer, It Works

While treatment rates are low, they are effective for most people who seek assistance. At 10 Acre Ranch, we have helped many men, from young adults to seniors, recover from co-occurring mental health disorders. If you are battling regular episodes of depression, et al., and are dependent on substances, please contact us today. We can help you break the cycle of addiction, while simultaneously addressing the co-occurring mental illness.

Prescription Opioids: Reducing Pain Patient Use

Bottles of prescription medicine opioids

As long as doctors continue to prescribe opioids, certain patients will be in need of addiction treatment. That is a fact. Prescription opioids, or opioids of any kind for that matter, are addictive. While not everyone who takes opioids will fall into the cycle of addiction, the odds are extremely high. Millions of Americans have found that out the hard way, just by going to a doctor and complaining of pain.

Scientists and researchers continue to work hard to find opioid alternatives. Or find ways to make opioids less addictive. But, in the meantime opioids will continue to be prescribed to most people experiencing moderate to severe pain. Which is why it is so important that physicians and medical practices do everything in their power to mitigate the risks of patient addiction. Such as:

  • Only prescribing opioids when it is absolutely necessary.
  • Screening patients for a history of addiction and utilizing prescription drug monitoring programs.
  • Prescribing in low doses and mild strengths.
  • Limiting the number of refills.
  • Drug testing patients to ensure the drugs are actually being taken, and not diverted.

Everything listed above may seem like common sense. But, as a matter fact, many doctors have been resistant to being told how to prescribe. Or being instructed on how to care for their patients. This is the case, even though most physicians lack training in addiction, or spotting the signs of it. Hubris, perhaps. With so many patients succumbing to overdose, the aforementioned suggestions can’t be ignored. And fortunately, some doctors have been receptive to prescribing guidelines that could save lives. Managing to reduce the amount of opioids their patients are taking, potentially saving lives.

TOPCARE Model for Opioids

A study conducted by researchers at Boston Medical Center’s Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine showed that reducing prescription opioid use among patients significantly was possible. Using the Transforming Opioid Prescribing in Primary Care model, doctors were able to reduce patient opioid use by 40 percent, according to the research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The TOPCARE model involves a nurse care manager who oversees chronic pain patients’ treatment plans. Ensuring that patient monitoring occurs, assisting prescribers and coordinating opioid educational sessions for doctors.

“The TOPCARE model was so effective in lowering opioid use that two of the study sites hired nurse care managers to continue the intervention and expand services to their primary care providers. Future research should look at data from state prescription drug monitoring programs and data on other substance use to get a more comprehensive view of how patients are using opioids,” said Karen E Lasser, MD, MPH, co-principal investigator of the study.

Opioid Addiction Treatment

While TOPCARE monitoring may help to limit the number of new opioid addicts, it does little to reverse patient addiction. Primary care physicians and nurse care managers must do everything in their power to spot signs of addiction in their patients. By doing so, they can intervene and refer patients to addiction treatment services in their area.

Getting addicted to opioids is easy, breaking the cycle of addiction usually requires help. If you have become addicted to your pain medication, please contact 10 Acre Ranch. We specialize in the treatment of opioid use disorders. The longer one puts off treatment, the worse the condition will get. Along with an increased risk of overdose.

MDMA Now Even More Risky Due to Rising Impurities

MDMA Ecstasy

In the past, we have written about synthetic drugs, including synthetic cannabis or bath salts, perhaps the two most popular types. Such drugs are most commonly used among young people, the impoverished or people looking to beat a drug test. The news has been good about scaring some people away from trying or using these chemical regularly— being both dangerous and addictive. Overdose death rate stats are difficult to determine in the U.S., as people present in emergency departments with various side-effect symptoms.

While individuals will continue to use such drugs, if they are available, hopefully access will begin to decrease. However, even when people think they are doing one type of drug, they may in fact be doing something altogether different. You may have heard reports about the highly potent opioid fentanyl being stamped into pills resembling OxyContin? If so, then you probably know that many overdose deaths have resulted from disguising one drug as something else.

Fentanyl is not the only drug being mislabeled. It turns out that drugs that are popular among “clubbers” and music festival goers are commonly adulterated with other substances, some of which are potentially lethal. We don’t hear much anymore about Ecstasy. It is still used and abused to be sure, but these days people are more interested in 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA). The psychoactive ingredient used to make Ecstasy. Most people prefer to use MDMA because it is purer than Ecstasy, which is usually mixed with fillers like caffeine or other harmful additives. But is it really more pure? Is it even MDMA that people are doing? Sometimes, not always.

MDMA, Or Something Else?

New research suggests that MDMA, commonly called “Molly,” often contains dangerous additives, notably the chemicals used to make bath salts, according to a press release from The Johns Hopkins University. DanceSafe, a nonprofit, tested samples of pills or powder thought to be MDMA by people at music festivals and such. The service was conducted discreetly and free of charge. Of the 529 total samples collected between July 2010 and July 2015, 318 (roughly 60 percent) actually contained MDMA or the closely related drug MDA. The adulterated Molly contained:

  • Methylone and cathinones used to make synthetic drugs.
  • Methamphetamine
  • PMA, a dangerous form of amphetamine associated with overdoses and death.

The results show that the likelihood of taking something even more dangerous than MDMA is high.

“People who take pills and first responders need to know that no matter how the pills are branded or what name they are sold as, they almost always contain a mix of ingredients,” says Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Our results should discourage a false sense of security about the purity and safety of so-called Molly.”

MDMA Addiction

If you are using drugs like MDMA regularly, there is a good chance that you will be exposed to substances that are both addictive and dangerous. “Club drugs” are far from safe. Pure does not mean that a substance is without risk. Please contact 10 Acre Ranch for help.

Addiction Stigma In The Language

Prescription painkillers oxycodone spilling from a bottle on a table with other bottles out of focus

Alcohol use disorder and opioid use disorder. Addict, alcoholic, alcohol and/or substance abuser. Junkie, crackhead, dope fiend, pill head, et al. If you are in recovery, you’re acutely familiar with all of these terms. Many of you have even referred to yourself using such pejorative names. The language we use to describe people who have been touched by the insidious disease of addiction can, and does, have an effect on the afflicted. Even if those suffering from such conditions don’t know it.

Addiction is a complex disease that is centered in the brain. The causes are debatable, but the treatment is not—generally speaking. Despite the fact that use disorders are accepted mental health conditions, the general public remains skeptical about how much choice is involved. To be sure, people suffering from addiction made an initial choice to try a substance. But what followed for those predisposed to the disease had little to do with choice.

When we refer to people as abusers, a word still used among people even in the field of addiction, the condition becomes stigmatized. The word abuse is hardly ever accompanied by something good. Yet, even in modern times when addiction is understood better than ever, it is hard to change the language of addiction. Rest assured, however, that by altering how we talk about the disease, more people can be encouraged to seek help.

Addiction Stigma In The Language

Changing how we label substance use disorders is difficult. Even experts struggle to agree on the correct way to go about the renaming. Even when a label sounds scientific “use disorder,” dis-order still carries a negative connotation. The word “abuse” needs no explanation. Some people have even raised concerns about the word alcoholic, after all, there are centuries of negative undertones associated with the word.

What’s more, there is likely a huge contingent of people in recovery who would not be receptive to identifying as, “My name is John D., and I have an alcohol use disorder.” But changing how people in recovery refer to themselves is not as important, at the end of the day. Changing how society refers to people in the grips of addiction, could have a profitable effect. People who are described as having a form of chronic disease, are far more likely to seek help. Compared to people who are labeled as “X” abusers. And researchers tend to agree on this.

In fact, recent studies have shown that the language we use actually matters. Dr. John F. Kelly, director of the Recovery Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and associate professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Harvard Medical School, conducted a study which supports this idea. His findings showed that medical professionals are more likely to treat people with substance use disorders differently if they are described as “abusers,” according to U.S. News & World Report.

“Dropping the use of stigmatizing language “can save lives,” says Dr. John F. Kelly. Certain language “could suggest willful misconduct, which some people believe should be punished, not treated.”

From Stigma to Treatment

Dr. Kelly’s sentiments are shared by the former Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the article reports. Michael Botticelli, the executive director at the Grayken Center for Addiction Medicine at Boston Medical Center, says:

“Changing the Language of Addiction,” a 2016 paper he co-wrote for JAMA. “Stigma isolates people, discourages people from coming forward for treatment and leads some clinicians, knowingly or unknowingly, to resist delivering evidence-based treatment services.”

Botticelli co-authored a paper on this very subject that was published in JAMA.

Changing the language of addiction in America could help some of the millions of people who are resistant to seeking help. Fear of reprisals for seeking help is deeply rooted, due to the government’s response to addiction in the past. The stakes are extremely high, people are dying from the disease every day. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, please contact 10 Acre Ranch, today.