Drug Addiction Treatment

Drug addiction treatment seeks to help addicted individuals stop compulsive drug seeking and use. Treatment can occur in a variety of settings, in many different forms and for different lengths of time. Because drug addiction is typically a chronic disorder characterized by occasional relapses, a short term treatment one time is usually not sufficient. For many, treatment is a long term process that involves multiple interventions and regular monitoring. Clinical research suggests that there are many approaches to treating addiction. Drug treatment can include behavioral therapy, like individual or group counseling, cognitive therapy or contingency management, medications or a combination thereof. The specific type of treatment or combination of treatments will vary depending on the individual needs of the patient and, often, on the types of drugs a patient uses. The severity of addiction and previous efforts to stop using drugs can also influence the approach to treatment. Finally, people who are addicted to drugs often suffer from other health, occupational, legal, familial and social problems that doctors should address concurrently. The best programs provide a combination of therapies and other services to meet the needs of the individual patient. Specific needs may relate to age, race, culture, sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy, other drug use, other existing morbid conditions, parenting, housing and employment, as well as any history of physical or sexual abuse.

Weight Loss

If a person is overweight, losing as little as five percent of body weight may lower the risk for several diseases, including coronary heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. If a person weighs 200 pounds, this means losing 10 pounds. Slow and steady weight loss of one-half to two pounds per week and not more than three pounds per week is the safest way to lose weight.
To lose weight and keep it off over time, try to make long term changes in eating habits and physical activity. Choose healthy foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains and low fat meat and dairy products more often. Eat just enough food to satisfy the hunger. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as walking, on most or all days of the week. To lose weight or to maintain weight loss, many people need to do more than 30 minutes of moderate physical activity daily.

Sleep Apnea

In people who have sleep apnea (also recalled sleep-disordered breathing), breathing briefly stops or becomes very shallow during sleep. This change is from intermittent blocking of the upper airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and partially or completely closes the airway. Each breath­ing stop typically lasts 10 to 20 seconds or more and may occur 20 to 30 times or more each sleeping hour.
If a person has sleep apnea, not enough air can flow into the lungs through the mouth and nose during sleep, even though breathing efforts continue. When this happens, the amount of oxygen in the blood decreases. The brain responds by waking up enough to tighten the upper airway muscles and open the windpipe. Normal breaths then start again, often with a loud snort or choking sound. Although people who have sleep apnea typically snore loudly and frequently, not everyone who snores has sleep apnea.
Because people who have sleep apnea frequently rouse from deeper sleep stages to lighter sleep during the night, these people rarely spend enough time in deep, restorative stages of sleep. These people are therefore often excessively sleepy during the day. Such sleepiness can trigger mood and behavioral problems, including depression and such sleepiness more than triples the risk of being in a traffic- or work-related accident.
The many brief drops in blood-oxygen levels can result in morning headaches and a decreased ability to concentrate, think prop­erly, learn and remember. In sleep apnea, the combination of the intermittent oxygen drops and reduced sleep quality triggers the release of stress hormones. These hormones in turn raise blood pressure and heart rate and boost the risk of heart attack, stroke, irregular heartbeats and congestive heart failure. In addition, untreated sleep apnea can lead to altered energy metabolism that increases the risk for developing obesity and diabetes.
Anyone can have sleep apnea. Approximately 12 to 18 million American adults have sleep apnea, making it as common as asthma. More than one-half of the people who have sleep apnea are overweight. Sleep apnea is more common in men. More than 1 in 25 middle-aged men and 1 in 50 middle-aged women have sleep apnea along with excessive daytime sleepiness. About 3 percent of children and 10 percent or more of people over age 65 have sleep apnea. This condition occurs more frequently in African Americans, Asians, Native Americans and Hispanics than in Caucasians.
More than one-half of all people who have sleep apnea do not receive a diagnosis. People who have sleep apnea generally are not aware that breathing stops in the night. These people just notice not feeling rested when in the morning and are sleepy throughout the day. Some bed partners are likely to notice, however, that the other person snores loudly and frequently and even often stop breathing briefly while sleeping. With these symptoms present, doctors suspect sleep but must confirm the diagnosis with overnight sleep monitoring. (See "How Are Sleep Disorders Diagnosed?"). This monitoring will reveal pauses in breathing, frequent sleep arousals and intermittent drops in levels of oxygen in the blood.
Like adults who have sleep apnea, children who have this disorder usually snore loudly, snort or gasp and have brief stops in breathing while sleeping. Small children often have enlarged tonsils and ade­noids that increase their risk for sleep apnea. But doctors may not suspect sleep apnea in children because, instead of showing the typical signs of sleepiness during the day, these children often become agitat­ed and may be considered hyperactive. The effects of sleep apnea in children may include diminished school performance and difficult, aggressive behavior.