The effects of opiate use disorder

Introduction: All diseases go through stages of severity, and the Addictive Disease is no different. There are three stages to a disease, early, middle and late stage. Beyond the late stage is DEATH.

I. Early Stage (Adaptive stage) Hallmark sx. TOLERANCE

a. Tolerance is the body’s ability to consume large amounts, cells adapt.

b. With most diseases the body begins to display illness, however with Addictive disease in the early stage the body appears to improve in performance.

c. There is no sickness, pain or visible abnormalities during this stage other than the ability to use large amounts.

d. There are very few negative consequences.

e. There are physiological symptoms, behavioral symptoms and psychological sx.

1. physiological symptoms

*cells and tissue adaptation

*body performance improves

*you feel better

2. behavioral symptoms

*begins to seek drug on your own

*buys and hordes drug/alcohol

3. psychological symptoms

*powerful memory effects

*uses to heighten sex

*rationalizes reasons to use (celebration, happy, sad, depressed, etc.)

II. Middle Stage (Dependent stage) Hallmark sx. PHYSICAL DEPENDENCY

a. Physical dependency (withdrawal syndrome) occurs as a result of the body rebelling against you not maintaining a level or increasing the amount of drug/alcohol.

Symptoms: irritability body aches hallucinations

insomnia sweats seizures

cravings nausea & vomiting depression

tremors diarrhea loss of appetite

b. Behavioral symptoms (loss of control-unmanageability)

change friends

grandiose behavior

missing social events

isolates

decreases in performance on the job

begins to deal drugs

behaves in a manner that you would not normally behave (selling, trading sex for drugs, missing work, staying out all night or for days at a time, etc.)

c. Psychological symptoms

paranoia

mood swings (caused by physiological changes)

depression

suicidal thoughts

d. Maintenance use begins to prevent the withdrawal syndrome.

e. Loss of control over time, amount, place and duration.

III. Late Stage (deteriorative stage) Hallmark sx. PATHOLOGICAL ORGAN CHANGE

a. Pathological organ change (damage to cells and tissue begin much earlier, but are not noted until the late second stage indicating you are going into the third stage of your disease)

ex. gastritis ulcers abscess

cirrhosis hepatitis hole in nasal septum

heart disease

b. Decrease in tolerance (resulting from organ damage)

c. Total loss of control

d. If disease is not arrested, patient will die!!!

Conclusion: It is very hard to get someone in treatment in the first stage of their disease because they have not suffered any negative consequences of their disease. A person in the first stage perception has not been affected that would interfere with learning how to treat the disease.

A person who is in the second stage of their disease, comes into treatment because of negative consequences. They usually do not identify these consequences with the disease because the consequences resemble social, behavioral, medical and psychological problems instead of SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE.

People in the third stage are usually more willing to come into treatment because they are so sick, but it is hard for them to internalize the information needed to treat their disease. When feeling better they leave treatment.

Some of these symptoms overlap into the next or previous stage, but the presence of the HALLMARK symptom helps to establish what stage you are in. You do not need to have all the symptoms to be in _____ stage.