Gabapentin Treatment and Rehab
Gabapentin Info
Gabapentin is a prescription medication with habit-forming properties. Addiction to gabapentin requires treatment, as continued abuse of the drug has been associated with adverse health effects. Long-term abuse has also been connected to cases of suicide and other psychological impairments. Treatment for gabapentin addiction is available. It involves a medically-assisted detox and various forms of psychotherapy through rehab.
Gabapentin belongs to a class of drugs known as anticonvulsants. It is used to treat medical conditions such as neuropathic pain, restless legs syndrome, hot flashes, postherpetic neuralgia, diabetic neuropathy, and epilepsy. The drug is applied in detox and withdrawal treatments for other substances like alcohol, benzodiazepines, and opioids.
While addiction to gabapentin is not common, it is possible. You can become dependent on the drug if you go beyond the recommended prescription, or use it alongside other substances for recreational purposes. Dependence can also take hold if you take the drug as a means to ease withdrawal from other substances without expert supervision. However, if you find yourself addicted to gabapentin, you can break free.
Help is available through specialised treatment and rehab. If you have a loved one struggling to break free from gabapentin abuse, please let them know they can get help too.
Treatment for addiction to a drug like gabapentin requires a careful approach and expert monitoring. This is due to the nature of the drug’s action mechanisms. Without proper care, complications may arise when you choose to quit the drug, or rapidly lessen your dosage after long-term abuse. You will likely relapse as well, if you don’t receive psychological treatment to help you cope without the drug.
Gabapentin travels to the Central Nervous System and alters the brain’s circuitry. It is known to induce pain-relieving and sedative effects by shutting down certain brain activities. Misusing the drug for a long time will cause your brain to become reliant on it for these effects. Your body will then build up a tolerance, which will lead you to ingest larger doses in order to enjoy the original ‘benefits’ of the drug. You are said to be addicted to the drug at this point and quitting will trigger a host of debilitating withdrawal symptoms.
This is why it is important that you go through treatment. Undergoing treatment will see these symptoms managed and made more bearable, and you can then move on to a full recovery.
Quitting your gabapentin addiction should be your next move if you have been caught up in dependence to the drug. It is the only way you can escape the imminent dangers of long-term abuse and overdose.
Gabapentin Addiction Treatment – What is it?
Treatment for gabapentin addiction is a holistic process made up of different stages aimed at helping anyone dependent on the drug to remove it from their system, and cope without it. Addiction to any drug is a mental disease and needs to be tackled both physically and psychologically. This is why treatment involves medication therapies and counselling. Though there is no standard treatment specifically designed for gabapentin addiction, some evidence-based approaches have proved successful.
First of all, you’ll need to go through a detoxification program, where your body will be rid of the gabapentin remnants in your system. This will ensure you’re free from the influence of the drug’s presence in your brain.
After this, you’ll be put through rehabilitation, where your psychological disturbances will be addressed, and you’ll be taught coping strategies that will help you live your life free of gabapentin.
Your treatment plan will be carefully devised by your doctor, to address your addiction specifically.
Treatment for Gabapentin Addiction is a Necessity
Addiction can be a harrowing ordeal to go through, and quitting can be just as difficult. But you shouldn’t choose to remain trapped in an addiction because you’re unwilling to go through the turbulent phase of withdrawal. Continued abuse of gabapentin will only draw you closer to serious health complications, that may even cause permanent damage. Overdose on the drug is always an imminent danger of addiction and it can lead to death.
Other aspects of your life can also be adversely affected by your compulsive and obsessive need to take gabapentin. You may lose the cognitive balance to carry out normal tasks, and may struggle to keep a job and maintain healthy relationships with others.
Please ensure that you seek help if you cannot control your consumption of gabapentin. You can put an end to your addiction by consulting a professional and getting the help you need.
Call our admissions line 24 hours a day to get help.
Effective Treatment for Gabapentin Addiction
Effectively treating gabapentin addiction involves employing a personalised approach. No two addicts go through the same experience, and you may have taken the drug under very specific circumstances. You could also be suffering from a co-occurring mental issue alongside your addiction. All these need to be accounted for before your treatment plan is drawn up.
The way you go through treatment should also be tailored to your particular needs. If your case of addiction is severe, inpatient treatment will be your best option.
You should understand that the safest way to kick your drug habit is to go through effective treatment under expert care. Quitting gabapentin on your own after long-term addiction and abuse is never advised. You may be doing extra harm to yourself if you don’t seek help and choose to try and fight it on your own.
Therapy and Specialised Treatment Options
The main goal of treatment is to ensure you’re able to live and cope in your life without using gabapentin. Your individual situation will be unique and will call for a customised treatment plan. In some cases, you may have an intrinsic and complex condition that may call for a specialised treatment option. Some of these issues include:
- Mental and physical health conditions
- Educational or employment ramifications
- Damaged interpersonal or family relationships
- Legal and/or financial woes
Specialised treatment programmes put the right steps in place in an effort to tackle the entire range of issues along side your substance abuse. This is to ensure that these issues don’t cause you to return to your addiction.
In dual diagnosis cases, it will take a specialist that is cross-trained in the discipline of healthcare and addiction to make a proper evaluation and carry out effective treatment.
Inpatient and Outpatient Rehab for Gabapentin Addiction
Your treatment programme can be carried out in an inpatient or outpatient setting. This will be dependent on your living arrangement, your level of addiction, and general state of health.
Inpatient rehab involves getting treatment while living in a rehab facility. It includes daily activities such as group and individual therapy sessions, drug checks, and other activities that foster abstinence from gabapentin. It is considered the best route towards recovery, as you’ll be residing in an environment that is free from drugs and relapse triggers.
Outpatient rehab, on the other hand, is reserved for those with a considerably milder case of addiction, and time-limiting responsibilities that may preclude them from going through an inpatient program. If you go through outpatient care, you’ll receive treatment,both through group and individual therapy,as a visiting patient.
When to Choose Inpatient or Outpatient Rehab
Inpatient rehab is highly recommended among clinicians. This is because it gives you more focus and speeds up your recovery. Dedicating each day of your rehab duration to therapy and counselling will boost your chances of a speedy and successful recovery.
Inpatient programmes are mainly ideal for addicts that have gone through a spell of chronic dependence on gabapentin. If you fall in this category, you’ll need to be closely monitored even after your detox. That is why your doctor will recommend this programme after your evaluation.
However, if you have abused gabapentin for a relatively short period of time, and your doctor considers you free from potential withdrawal complications, an outpatient programme will be arranged. This programme will also be ideal if you have time-restraining responsibilities that may prevent you from going through inpatient rehab.
That being said, it is important that you go through the rehab option recommended by your therapist to ensure successful recovery and avoid relapse. If your environment is a drug-enabling one, please try as best you can to go through rehab in a drug-free environment.
Private Gabapentin Rehabs and Confidentiality
If you want to go through rehab, and are worried about your personal information making it to the public, you can go through a privatised rehab programme where confidentiality is taken seriously. To make sure your treatment from gabapentin is effective, you may need to divulge some personal information, like history of drug use, medical history, allergies, and other conditions. This is to ensure that every situation is accounted for before certain medications and therapy methods are undertaken.
Most rehab centres make efforts to secure confidentiality so that your worry about privacy and information security won’t get in the way of your treatment. The centre may sign a confidentiality agreement with you and also add confidentiality clauses in the contracts of their employees.
Duration of Treatment
The duration of your entire treatment will hinge on your level of addiction, personal situation, and the treatment method you go through.
Detox is known to last for a few weeks, but yours may be shorter, or longer, depending on the circumstances surrounding your addiction. If your addiction is severe and your doctors choose to taper you off gabapentin as a result, your detox may be longer.
For rehab, the duration tends to span between 30 and 90 days. This will also depend on the severity of your addiction and how you go through rehab. Inpatient rehab programmes are know to be shorter than outpatient rehab.
A Synopsis of Treatment Programmes and their Lengths
One factor that largely affects the length of treatment forgabapentin addiction is the programme you go through. There are diverse treatment modalities that have gone beyond traditional methods being presently employed.
A short-term residential or inpatient rehab programme will see you stay in the facility for 28-30 days. This will happen when your therapist believesyou can continue to receive care from home and have responded positively to treatment. Your stay may be extended if further attention and monitoring needs to be carried out.
Long-term residential programmes, on the other hand, tend to typically last for 90 days. This is the most recommended rehab option as doctors believe the longer you stay in a facility, the better your chances of successfully attaining a sustained recovery.
Another known treatment option is outpatient care. You will be treated as a visiting patient. This programme spans longer than inpatient rehab, and may take as long as a couple of months to even a year, depending on how you respond to treatment.
Call our admissions line 24 hours a day to get help.
Gabapentin Withdrawal
Gabapentin withdrawal is a phase where a set of, often painful although mostly discomforting, symptoms flare up when you drastically lessen your gabapentin intake or choose to abruptly discontinue taking the drug after a spell of dependence on it. These symptoms are the biggest reason that quitting usage of gabapentin is difficult. This is because you will feel compelled to use the drug again in order to quell their harsh effects.
Withdrawal is a clear sign that you have grown dependent on gabapentin. Though it has been reported that taking it under prescription may cause withdrawal when you quit, these casesare mostly mild. If you want to quit your gabapentin use for any reason, please ensure you consult a medical professional.
Detoxing from Gabapentin- All youNeed to Know
Your body will initiate a process known as detoxification when you quitgabapentin or choose to reduce your intake. This process involves an elimination process where your body naturally gets rid of the drug’s toxic remnants, in order to regain its balance and adjust to functioning without the drug.
The detox process comes with a number of withdrawal symptoms that may discourage you from seeing it through. These withdrawal symptoms may also cause complications that may be fatal. As a result, it is important that you go through a medically-assisted detox program where your situation will be monitored by medical professionals, and your withdrawal symptoms can be controlled.
When you go through addiction treatment in a treatment facility, detox will be the first step in your general treatment. This phase will help you get rid of the drugs from your system and prepare you for rehab in a sober state.
Psychological Therapy
Rehabilitation mainly consists of psychological treatment. Addiction is classed as a psychological health condition that affects the way you think and behave. Your addiction may have been caused by a mental issue in the first place, or may have been caused by a previous case of addiction, or through prescription. In any case, there’s a huge possibility that your addiction will directly or indirectly induce some mental impairments.
Psychological therapy aims to get to the roots of your mental connection to addiction. This includes those that may have caused your addiction, or those that may be consequences of your drug abuse. You’ll go through psychotherapeutic activities that will help you form new behaviours and make lifestyle changes that will sever your psychological bond with gabapentin addiction.
You will get psychological treatment through different forms of therapy, that you’ll undergo during inpatient or outpatient programmes.
Individual Counselling
Individual counselling involves one-on-one sessions with a licensed psychiatrist. These sessions aim to help you tackle the psychological difficulties that have stemmed from your addiction, or that may be the reason for your substance abuse.
You psychologist will collaborate with you to devise therapeutic activities that will help you cultivate a healthy lifestyle and behaviours. During your rehab, your therapist will try to understand the difficulties you’ve been going through and help you find ways to overcome them.
Behavioural Therapy
This is a form of therapy that examines your behaviours that may have led to your substance dependence, and those that may have resulted from your addiction. Your therapist will help you identify unhealthy and undesirable behaviours that pose a challenge to your recovery.
Together, you’ll come up with plans and assignments that will facilitate new behavioural changes, level of communication, drug use prevention techniques, and distress tolerance.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), like behavioural therapy, also seeks to cultivate changes in behaviour, but also places emphasis on thoughts and feelings as much as it does on behaviours. CBT is founded on the theory that bad behaviours are affected by patterns and feelings, and negative feelings and thoughts also lead to unwanted behaviours.
CBT aims to address issues concerning the interrelatedness between behaviours, thinking patterns, and feelings, that causes addiction and results from substance dependence. Your therapist will help you chart a course and prepare activities that will see to it that these issues are properly addressed.
Group Therapy
This type of therapy is carried out by a trained psychologist and involves therapy classes of more than one participant. It creates a platform to help you form new relationships and acts as a means to bolster your resolve to quit your drug use, as you see others going through the same thing.
Group sessions often last one hour. Members usually take time to narrate their difficulties during meetings and others get to learn from them. The therapist will also provide activities that will foster therapeutic benefits regarding addiction.
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Twelve-Step Programme
The twelve-step facilitation programme is a support group that is based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. It helps addicts to recognise and accept their powerlessness to addiction, and the consequences of their behaviours. It includes steps taken to gain the strength to overcome from a higher power, and efforts made toward restitutions regarding past mistakes and wrongdoings.
Risks of Treatment
Generally, there will be risks if your treatment doesn’t follow proper individualised evaluation and planning. Gabapentin affects the brain in ways that may make you lose cognitive and coordination balance. Seizures are known withdrawal symptoms that require close monitoring as well.
Self-treatment can also lead to complications. If your addiction is severe, abruptly quitting gabapentin can result in harmful health consequences that may leave permanent damage. A number of over-the-counter medications and addictive substances, such as opiates and alcohol, can interact with gabapentin and cause health issues.
It is important to go through a medically-assisted detox in a competent facility if you want to quit using gabapentin. This way, your physician can come up with a plan that specifically tackles your situation.
Addiction Recovery Types
Recovery types mainly include inpatient and outpatient programmes. Going through an inpatient rehab programme will give you an advantage since you’ll be living in an environment that is specifically optimised for addiction treatment and recovery.
There are also professional facilities where you’ll be closely monitored and given emotional support throughout your stay. There are also community support programmes, such as the twelve-step programme where you’ll get help from the collaborative effort of other recovering addicts.
Paying for Gabapentin Addiction Treatment
You can make payments for your treatment and rehabilitation through a number of possible methods. Most rehab centres accept insurance. If you have insurance coverage, ask your provider if you have a policy that covers this type of treatment.
Other methods include credit card payments, cash deposits, and public funding. If you don’t have policy coverage, you can make direct enquiries to the rehab centre. Confidential addiction helplines can also point you in the right direction concerning payment options.
Gabapentin Duration of Treatment
The level of your dependence on gabapentin will be a prominent factor when it comes to how long your treatment will take. If you’re heavily addicted to the drug, your treatment will take much longer than a mild case of abuse.
Rehabilitation normally lasts for 30,60,or 90 days depending on the individual involved. However, the 90 day treatment is considered the best as it will strengthen you the most for your next exposure to the outside world.
Ending Your Gabapentin Treatment
Staying off gabapentin requires a lot of work and procedures. From detox to rehab, the fight to recovery can be a difficult one. However, with the right professionals in place, and a good support structure, you can attain recovery with relative ease.
Your treatment should naturally come to an end when the drugs are out of your system and you have gone through a holistic rehab programme. Most importantly, you should only end your treatment when your doctors and therapists believe you can handle drug situations on your own, and prevent a relapse.
Your treatment shouldn’t come to an end when you leave the facility. You can also take advantage of aftercare programmes conducted by rehab clinics so that you can gradually adjust to life without gabapentin when you return to your natural environment and face some of those issues that may have caused your addiction.
What to Expect from Treatment
You should expect to go through an individualised form of treatment devised around your personal situation and unique addiction experience. During your intake, your doctors will carry out an evaluation process where they will run tests and ask you personal questions. From there, a treatment plan that mirrors your addiction will be created.
During rehab, you’ll go through daily therapeutic activities that will emulate a drug-free lifestyle. Through inpatient or outpatient programmes, you’ll undergo various forms of therapies including individual and group sessions.
Call our admissions line 24 hours a day to get help.
Benefits of Holistic Rehab
A holistic rehabilitation is important to your general recovery. The benefits it provides stem from efforts geared at helping you create appropriate behaviour towards addictive substances such as gabapentin.
With a well-planned rehabilitation programme that targets your particular issue, the deep-seated issues that are tethering you to gabapentin will be examined and rooted out through effective therapy.
A holistic rehab will not stop at providing care and support once you leave the treatment facility. You will receive continuing care that sees to it that you’re well set-up and can stand on your own two feet when you’re out there in the world again.
Post-Rehabilitation Support – Live a Sober Life Again
Post-rehab care is a support structure carried out by competent rehab centres to help you re-adjust into society as a sober and drug-free individual.
There are certain environmental and social cues out there that may compel you to use gabapentin again. In cases of medical conditions, such as diabetes, neuropathic pain anxiety, and others, you may also feel the need to use gabapentin again to dull the symptoms that are associated with these conditions.
That is why experts will continue to provide care until you get used to alternative methods of dealing with these issues.
H3: The Risk of Relapse for Gabapentin Addicts
Relapsing on gabapentin is possible and can be fatal. This is because once you go through detox and have stayed off the drug for a considerable length of time, your body’s tolerance to the drug will drop significantly. When you use the drug again, at the normal dose you have taken before, this is like a completely new experience and your body will likely not be able to handle it.
Consequences of overdose include slurred speech, drowsiness, blurred vision, and possibly death. Please get help as soon as you can if you feel you may want to relapse or if you have used again after initiating abstinence.
Sober Living Support
Sober living support is another platform that will help you practice what you have learnt through rehab and how to handle triggers and relapse situations. It involves a number of addicts coming together to live in a home that is free of drugs, away from their usual environments.
This is an ideal option if you feel you have not solidified your new behavioural changes towards drugs.
Peer Counselling
Peer counselling is handled by well-trained peer counsellors who handle situations among same age-groups and societal colleagues. This kind of therapy allows for a therapist that understands the struggle of the addict in question to come up with an ideal solution for combating their drug addiction.
Family Therapy
Family therapy in the case ofgabapentin addiction addresses the issue as it affects the entire family. This kind of therapy involves various forms treatment styles that aimto heal the individual, as well as the entire family. In fact, the primary objective of this therapy is to get to the roots of the entire group rather than just the individual.
Your addiction may be caused by issues within the family, and may also lead to other problems in your family. Both issues are what family therapy works to address.
Seek Help
You can kick your dependence on gabapentin and lead a productive life without the drug if you seek help. While going through treatment won’t be the most pleasant of undertakings, it is one of the most fruitful. You will be happy you sought help after your addiction has been kicked and you progress to a sustained recovery.
Reach Out Today
The first milestone you will achieve towards recovery is taking the bold move to reach out for help. You can get your friends and family on alert and notify them about your situation and what you’re facing. Better still, there are confidential addiction helplines that you can call to get expert advice on the next step to take from trained counsellors.
Call our admissions line 24 hours a day to get help.
Gabapentin Abuse Facts
- Gabapentin is a prescription medication that can be habit-forming
- It is sold under the brand name Neurontin
- Prescriptions for the drug in the UK have risen more than 140% over the past seven years
- There were 17 deaths connected to the drug in 2013 in the UK
- Gabapentin is a prescription-only medication in the UK
- Out of the people who have abused opioids, 26% have also abused gabapentin
- People with a history of drug abuse are most likely to misuse gabapentin
FAQs
What is Gabapentin Addiction Treatment?
Gabapentin addiction treatment involves professional measures taken to rid your system of the drug and help you continue your life without taking gabapentin.
Are There Any Home Remedies for Getting Clean Safely?
You can go through detox at home if your doctors deem it safe to do so. However, you should consult your doctor to get guidelines before you undertake home detox.
What Recovery Program is Right ForMe?
A recovery plan will be recommended by your doctor based on your level of addiction and your personal circumstances.
Should I Travel for Rehab?
If you call a helpline, you can be connected to a rehab centre close to your home. In the case where there are facilities around your environment, measures will be taken to connect you to the facilities closest to you. However, this depends on your preference, like type of treatment centre, and confidentiality, and other arrangements can be made.
Who Benefits From Gabapentin Treatment?
Those who are dependent on the drug and don’t know how to quit will enjoy substantial benefits from treatment.
What are the Options if You Don’t Have Insurance?
Other options include cash payments, credit cards, and public funding. Please contact your rehab centre to get further payment options.
What are Some Common Gabapentin Withdrawal Symptoms?
Common symptoms of withdrawal include anxiety, nausea, difficulty sleeping, and pain. Mood swings and psychotic issues such as depression and suicidal thinking can also be triggered by gabapentin withdrawal.
Why Do People Start Taking Gabapentin?
People take gabapentin mainly on prescription to treat certain medical conditions, including restless legs syndrome, neuropathic pain, hot flashes, diabetic neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, and epilepsy. Other situations involve treatment for other drug use disorders, and recreational use, especially among opioid abusers.
What is the Gabapentin High Like?
Gabapentin spikes the activities of GABA receptors and encourages them to shut down certain brain activities in order to induce calmness and reduce pain sensations. Most users have reported feelings of pleasure and euphoria after taking gabapentin.
What are the Practical Dangers of Gabapentin Use?
Side effects of gabapentin include difficulty with memory, difficulty sleeping, sweeping in the extremities, heartburn, fever, dry mouth, and others.
What are the Options for Gabapentin Detox?
Options for detox include inpatient and outpatient treatment. It’s important that you go through an evaluation before making a choice.
What Happens During Treatment?
During treatment, you’ll undergo evaluation and a personalised plan will be drawn up. This personalised plan will cover your detox and rehab treatment options. During detox, you’ll be given a number of medications to ease your withdrawal symptoms so that your body can get rid of gabapentin. When it comes to rehabilitation, you’re going to undergo a host of therapeutic exercises that will get to the roots of your psychological problems.
How Long Does Inpatient Gabapentin Rehabilitation Take?
Rehabilitation normally lasts for 30, 60, or 90 days. The length of your particular rehab will depend on how reliant you have become on the drug.
What are the Risks of Addiction?
Risks of addiction includes various damaging health effects, as well as overdose. If you overdose on the drug, you risk death and other complications including slurred speech, drowsiness and anxiety.
Is It Possible to Avoid treatment and Rehab?
If you have become addicted to gabapentin, please try as much as possible to go through treatment in order to avoid dangerous complications down the line.
Why Is Treatment Necessary?
With treatment, you can prevent an overdose, which is imminent if you continue to abuse gabapentin. You will also be taught life-changing techniques that will allow you to live free from the drug.
What Types of Treatment Are Available?
Inpatient and outpatient treatment programmes are available. You can go through recovery as a residential patient, or a visiting one, depending on the level of addiction and living situation.
What If Gabapentin Addiction Goes Untreated?
If you choose not to go through treatment, you will face dangerous health issues that may claim your life. Overdose is also a possible consequence of continued abuse.
Does Insurance Cover Gabapentin Addiction Rehab?
Yes. Insurance can cover your gabapentin treatment and rehab but you need to have a policy that does.
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