Drug addiction is a progressive disease that causes people to lose control over the use of a substance, despite the worsening consequences of that use. Without drugs, an addicted person cannot produce natural amounts of happiness-inducing chemicals in their brain. As a result, people who detoxify often suffer from depression. To help ease these feelings, antidepressants such as Zoloft and Prozac can be prescribed.
However, these medications can be abused, so it is important to obtain them from specialized clinics and take them under the strict supervision of a physician. David, a member of the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC), works closely with area treatment centers and recovery-oriented nonprofit organizations. He is also the keynote speaker at several recovery-focused events. In addition to antidepressants, many conventional and investigational drug therapies combine drugs that attack cancer cells at different points in their growth cycles. These drugs are very different from each other, but they all strongly activate the brain's addiction center. When it comes to treating drug abuse and addiction, many people are afraid of the pain they'll feel when they try to detoxify from drugs.
To help ease this pain, medications used to treat addiction must be administered under strict guidelines and under the supervision of the doctor. In addition, painful withdrawal symptoms can cause a person to return to taking medications or start taking a replacement medication. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies drugs, substances and certain chemicals used to make drugs into five distinct categories or lists, depending on the acceptable medical use of the drug and the potential for misuse. Many medications can alter a person's thinking and judgment and can create health risks such as addiction, driving under the influence of alcohol, infectious diseases and adverse effects during pregnancy. When it comes to treating cancer, sometimes cells may be resistant to the initial drugs that were used or they may become resistant to drugs after a period of time. In this case, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) is often used as an evidence-based treatment option.
This type of treatment is not limited to replacing one drug with another. The brain becomes insensitive to the drug over time, so more of the drug must be used to produce the same effect. In the past decade alone, new drugs and new uses of existing drugs have significantly improved cure or referral rates for patients of all ages. The type of medication your doctor chooses to treat you may depend on your age, the type and stage of the disease, your response to previous treatments, and other factors.
