Anyone affected by serious MS Contin problems must seek out help from qualified, experienced addiction rehab professionals. If you or your loved one are experiencing these kinds of prescription drug problems, you’ll also want the highest level of recovery care possible. Begin your journey to top-quality care by learning more about MS Contin addiction and addiction rehabilitation treatment.
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What is MS Contin and Why Do Doctors Use It?
MS Contin belongs to a powerful group of drugs known as extended-release opioids. Its active ingredient is morphine sulfate, widely known for its role in the production of prescription drugs and street drugs. Rigid rules govern the proper medical use of extended-release morphine sulfate.
Specifically, no one can receive MS Contin legitimately unless they have severe pain that meets some clear criteria. First that pain must be present both long-term and at all hours of the day and night. Prior to receiving the drug, you must have tried weaker opioids or non-opioid alternatives that did not work. (Your M.D. may still give you MS Contin if you can’t tolerate less powerful pain medications.)
Morphine sulfate is also the active ingredient in other opioid pain medications, including Arymo ER, Avinza, Kadian and Duramorph. When sold on the street or consumed illicitly, Contin and these other morphine prescription drugs may go by slang terms such as:
- Monkey
- M
- Miss Emma
- White stuff
Morphine/MS Contin Addiction
Like other extended-release opioid drugs, MS Contin has clear treatment benefits for management of the worst forms of pain. Unfortunately, medications of this type share another trait in common. Namely, they can act as the source of prescription drug abuse and addiction, even when used according to all instructions from your physician.
MS Contin abuse increases your chances of transitioning into opioid addiction. You can initiate this slippery slope by taking morphine sulfate more often than prescribed, or by taking it in excessive strengths or amounts. If you take MS Contin without first obtaining a legitimate prescription, even a minor level of consumption fits the accepted definition for abuse.
If your non-addicted abuse of Contin damages your ability to maintain a safe or stable daily routine, you may qualify for a diagnosis of opioid use disorder. Abuse-related indicators of this disorder in MS Contin users include:
- A pattern of Contin/extended-release morphine sulfate intake that leads you to neglect important school, home or work obligations
- Taking morphine/MS Contin multiple times in circumstances that can lead you to injure yourself or anyone else
- Continuing a pattern of morphine/MS Contin drug abuse that damages or severs important social or personal connections
Indicators of addiction-related opioid use disorder include:
- Taking too much morphine/MS Contin and/or taking it too frequently
- A history of trying and failing to halt your abusive use of Contin
- An intense desire to take more Contin
- Withdrawal symptoms that arise if you stop taking morphine/MS Contin or make sudden decreases in your level of use
- Rising resistance (i.e., tolerance) to the typical drug effects of morphine sulfate
- Creating a routine that’s focused on obtaining morphine/MS Contin, drug intake or recovering after an episode of use comes to an end
- Failing to change a pattern of morphine/MS Contin intake that you can tell hurts your mentally or physically
- Failing to change a pattern of morphine/MS Contin intake that you can tell hurts your ability to form or keep important relationships
Symptoms of opioid drug abuse and addiction often appear together. For this reason, addiction specialists and other doctors check for both when making a diagnosis.
Detox Starts Your Recovery From MS Contin Abuse/Addiction
Active enrollment in morphine/MS Contin rehab can only take place after you go through something called medical detox. Detox is short for detoxification. This term refers to the need to halt your abusive drug/medication use and start correcting your altered brain chemistry.
When you enter recovery detox and stop abusing morphine sulfate, you will develop the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Withdrawal can have a range of unpleasant effects on your mind and body. Early on, you can expect to feel symptoms such as abnormal sweating, a frequent or constant runny nose, aches in your muscles and unusual feelings of anxiousness. At this stage, you may also notice or feel things such as abnormal yawning and frequent production of tears.
The classic symptoms of withdrawal will change as you progress further through morphine/MS Contin detox. Things you may notice or feel at this more advanced stage include nausea, vomiting and abnormally wide pupils. You may also develop abdominal cramps or go through bouts of diarrhea during second-stage withdrawal.
Long-term abuse of extended-release opioids like Contin can lead to severe withdrawal symptoms during recovery detox. To help curb the worst of these symptoms, your physician may prescribe Lucemyra, also known as lofexidine. Proper use of this prescription drug can increase your chances of making it through morphine detox without quitting or relapsing.
From Detox to Active Rehab Recovery
You should be well aware that prompt entry into a rehab treatment program is universally recommended for people who have gone through detox. If you delay entry into morphine/MS Contin drug rehabilitation or don’t go at all, you can jeopardize your chances for recovery in several ways. First, and perhaps most importantly, you boost your chances of experiencing an opioid overdose.
This is true for two reasons. First, if you don’t receive further help, you have increased chances of abandoning your recovery and relapsing back into Contin abuse. If you relapse after you finish going through withdrawal, drug overdoses are a major possibility. That’s because of the way your tolerance to opioids has dropped by this time.
Basically, a level of MS intake that was normal for you in the past may now be too much for your system to handle. If this scenario occurs, your lungs and other vital organs may begin to slow down past their point of stable function. As a result, you may need immediate medical help to avoid dying.
Participation in a supervised withdrawal/detox program also gets you ready to participate in morphine-oriented drug rehab. This recovery preparation familiarizes you with what to expect in the addiction treatment environment.
Addiction Treatment Options for MS Contin Rehabilitation
In rare circumstances, people affected by MS Contin addiction have symptoms severe enough for them to start addiction treatment rehab in a hospital. But an overwhelming percentage of recovery cases only require enrollment in an outpatient or inpatient drug rehabilitation program. Reputable outpatient facilities feature the same basic program options as inpatient facilities. However, by allowing you to stay at home most of the time after completing detox, they can make the treatment process more convenient.
If you have a moderate or severe case of Contin addiction, your M.D. will almost certainly recommend that you follow up detox with residential inpatient care, not outpatient care. Inpatient recovery facilities provide you with the margin of safety needed for treatment of these more serious types of symptoms. They also allow you to focus your rehab and recovery efforts and avoid any influences that may put those efforts at risk.
The benefits of inpatient rehabilitation treatment may appeal to you (and provide a higher level of care) even if you qualify for outpatient recovery treatment. In addition, mild opioid use disorder symptoms can still qualify your for round-the-clock inpatient rehab care if you have certain additional problems. For many people, these problems center on the presence of a mental illness. Such conditions include personality disorder (PD), major depression and other types of depressive disorder, schizophrenia and other schizophrenic disorders, and panic disorder and other anxiety disorders.
Addiction Treatment Plans for Morphine/MS Contin Problems
Serious problems with Contin and other opioid substances are treated during rehabilitation with both behavioral therapy and approved medications. Behavioral therapy comes in a variety of forms, all of which help you change attitudes and actions that support MS Contin addiction. Research supports the use of several of these rehab options for people in recovery for opioid problems including:
- Family behavior therapy
- 12-step facilitation
- Community reinforcement approach (CRA) plus vouchers
- Motivational incentives and contingency management
While they may seem like an odd choice, certain opioid medications are proven options for treating MS Contin addiction. They’re useful because, when used as intended during your recovery, they help you avoid relapse and the worst effects of withdrawal. Crucially, both of the medications approved for use — methadone and buprenorphine — achieve these goals without getting you “high” or supporting your addiction.
Most MS Contin/morphine rehab programs gradually reduce your intake of buprenorphine or methadone until you reach a substance-free state. At that point, your M.D. may help you avoid relapse by prescribing an anti-opioid medication called naltrexone. While it’s in your system, naltrexone stops any opioids in your bloodstream from reaching your brain.
Finding the Top MS Contin Recovery Facilities
With a bit of knowledge and planning, you can simplify the process of spotting the best rehabilitation options for recovery from morphine/MS Contin addiction. For starters, any program worth your time will feature the proven combination of effective medications and behavioral therapies. To deliver these treatments at the highest possible standard, they will maintain a staff of experts with years of addiction-related experience.
When you make inquiries online or call an MS Contin rehab facility’s hotline, you should receive a straightforward explanation of what to expect if you enroll. Number one on that list of expectations should be a thorough screening process. That screening must address your mental and physical health, as well as your Contin addiction symptoms.
If you want the very best MS Contin rehabilitation treatment available, you should also look for programs that do more than meet the minimum professional expectations. The majority of such recovery programs take a holistic perspective on your health. This broad-level point of view means you’ll be treated as an individual throughout your stay in rehab, rather than a just another Contin addiction patient.