Your Guide to Polysubstance Abuse and Effective Treatment
Seeking polysubstance dependence treatment is a smart move for anyone who is currently addicted to more than one drug. Using multiple substances simultaneously is incredibly dangerous and could lead to disastrous consequences at any time. Get help with this complicated substance use disorder now and turn things around before it’s too late.
Substance abuse is a problem that continues to grow throughout our culture and communities. Some people are addicted to a single substance, while others are fighting more than one substance battle at the same time. This kind of drug abuse often stems from underlying mental disorders, but every case is different.
Now is the best time to get help with this dangerous addiction problem. Call Ingrained Recovery in Georgia to speak with one of our friendly admissions coordinators and start with a medical detox as soon as possible.
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Understanding How Polysubstance Dependence Happens
As the name suggests, polysubstance abuse is the concurrent use of multiple substances. There are many possible combinations of drugs and alcohol that can be abused at the same time, and we’ll discuss those combinations more later on this page.
It’s possible for this type of substance use disorder to be intentional or unintentional. Sometimes, people will knowingly and intentionally use two different substances at the same time to achieve a desired effect. In other cases, the individual will simply use one drug and then later use another, not realizing they have the potential to react with each other in some way.
Drug addiction often leads to poor decisions. Someone who would know better than to mix drugs or drugs and alcohol may make a bad choice while under the influence and wind up doing something extremely dangerous. It’s absolutely possible for polysubstance abuse to be fatal.
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Commonly Abused Substance Combinations
There is really no limit to the types of drugs that can be abused as part of a polysubstance abuse situation. Polysubstance use disorder doesn’t have any rules, but there are certain substances that are more commonly connected with others.
Let’s look at a few examples to better understand how this type of drug and alcohol abuse can develop.
Alcohol and Benzodiazepines
These two categories are both central nervous system depressants. That makes them a natural pairing, but it also makes their combined use very dangerous. Alcohol use disorder alone is a serious condition, but teaming it up with the use of benzodiazepines can lead to disaster.
Profound sedation is possible when these two are used together. There will also be respiratory depression, and in some cases, it’s possible for complete respiratory failure to occur. This is why it is so important to understand how drug interactions work. Many people likely know that drinking alcohol and using benzodiazepines like Klonopin, could lead to health complications, but some may be surprised to learn that it could be fatal.
Opioid Drugs and Stimulants
This combination is so common that it has a name – speedballing. One of the biggest risks of using this combination of illegal drugs is that it can mask overdose symptoms, so the individual may not know something is terribly wrong until it is too late.
Mixing drugs in this way is sadly a tactic that frequently leads to deaths. A medical emergency is a likely outcome when blending opioid drug abuse with stimulant use. Polysubstance abusers who fall into this pattern are playing a dangerous game that has claimed the lives of many people before them.
Prescription Medications and Illicit Substances
There is a false sense of security that comes with abusing prescription medications. Even if the individual knows they are abusing the drug, they might feel protected from horrible outcomes because it is not a street drug. Nothing could be further from the truth. Alcohol and prescription drugs have caused many problems for people, and mixing illicit substances, such as cocaine, with prescription medications like Xanax can do the same thing.
Prescription drugs are not safer than any other kind of drugs when they aren’t taken in line with the doctor’s orders. Any kind of polysubstance addiction will always be dangerous, even if one of the drugs in the pairing was originally prescribed.
Causes and Risk Factors for Abuse of Multiple Substances
Addiction is complicated. There isn’t one single factor that you can point to as the cause of all polysubstance abuse cases. However, there are a few different elements that can contribute to this issue and the need for polysubstance abuse treatment.
Mental Health Disorders
This is a big one, to be sure. Mental health disorders like anxiety and depression play a huge role in all kinds of addiction. Medical professionals regularly see patients who have turned to drinking or doing drugs as a way to escape their mental health conditions.
Self-medicating in this way is a dangerous pattern. It’s always better to connect with a mental health professional right away to talk about the issues you are facing than to try to make them go away through the use of more than one substance.
Genetic Predisposition
A history of addiction in a family can increase the likelihood of someone facing addiction in their lifetime. If you know that you have a family history of addiction, it’s important to be particularly careful and watch for any patterns that are developing around your use of drugs or alcohol.
Polysubstance use disorder, like all kinds of addiction, tends to start slowly. In fact, you may not even notice it at first. You are just gradually getting deeper and deeper into your addiction cycle, and starting to experiment with more drugs. This is particularly powerful if you are facing mental health issues and have a history of addiction in your family. It doesn’t take long for the casual use of a substance to turn into combining substances and the need for urgent health.
Environmental Influences
It will sometimes be the case that simply being around the wrong people can lead to addiction. If you don’t have the right coping skills to deal with certain things in life, and people around you choose to medicate with a specific substance, you might fall in line with them. Research suggests that people who spend time with individuals who are addicted will be more likely to wind up addicted, as well.
You may need to seek ongoing support to break out of this cycle that is powered by your environment. You’ll want to locate treatment options that give you distance from your current group of friends – perhaps at treatment centers that are far from home.
The Importance of Polysubstance Abuse Treatment
One of the biggest mistakes made in polysubstance abuse cases is the individual trying to solve this problem all on their own. That’s just not likely to work. We aren’t here to say that it’s impossible to work your way out of this matter on your own, but it certainly won’t be easy. Working with a care team is a much better plan.
Professional healthcare providers understand how these situations work and they know what to provide you in order to get the recovery journey started. Effective treatment can make changes in your life that you might not have thought were possible any longer.
Medical Detox
It’s a great idea to start your journey with a medical detox. Before anything else can happen, you need to get the substances that you have been using out of your system. This won’t be easy – or fun – but it can be done with the help of experts by your side.
Your brain chemistry has likely adjusted to the use of the substances you have been abusing. As a result, your body will rebel in various ways once you stop providing it with the drugs or alcohol. The withdrawal symptoms can be strong and you would be tempted to give in and go back to using the substances if you didn’t have help to keep you safe and heading in the right direction. Having the opportunity to get help during detox is one of the best reasons for seeking treatment.
Behavioral Therapy
Think of the detox process as the starting line for your recovery journey. You have done a great thing when you manage to get off the multiple substances you have been using, but you are far from done. In fact, you are never really done – recovering from addiction is a lifelong process.
With detox completed, you’ll likely move into some behavioral therapy sessions. These will give you an opportunity to address the underlying psychological issues that have been contributing to your need to use substances to escape. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one of the many modalities that can be applied in this stage of your treatment to get great results.
Medication Assisted Treatment
For some individuals, recovery will mean using medication assisted treatment to cut down on cravings and prevent a relapse. When cravings are strong, it’s hard to avoid the outcome of a relapse, even when a person is determined to stay clean. As long as the medications are used properly and are prescribed by a doctor, this is an effective tool to wage the battle against addiction.
Support Groups
Support groups are a huge part of the recovery journey. Working with peer support groups will help you understand that you aren’t alone and that there are many other people who are fighting the very same battles that you are. That’s an important revelation, as you might be the only person you know in life who is dealing with such a serious problem.
Participating in support group meetings could quickly become your favorite part of addiction treatment. You will meet plenty of people who want to help you, and you will have the opportunity to return the favor. That mutual support is a valuable thing and the people that you start to spend time with during meetings may wind up becoming some of your best friends.
Even if you find yourself skeptical at first of the value of these kinds of treatment meetings, go in with an open mind and see what they have to offer. Most likely, your group meetings will serve a valuable purpose for you both now and throughout the rest of your life.
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It’s tempting to think that you can deal with your addiction problems on your own. That’s an uphill battle to say the least, however. If you are addicted to multiple drugs or other substances, that’s not a problem you are likely to fix alone.
Ingrained Recovery is here to help. Instead of trying to find a way to get life back on track without help, turn to our professional team for a proper treatment plan and the kind of support that makes lasting recovery a likely outcome. We would be honored to serve you.