The opioid crisis has caught people’s attention on addiction, substance abuse, and other similar issues. The crisis hasn’t just taught people about how dangerous opioids can be. It’s also taught people how hard it can be to avoid getting addicted to something, and about the consequences that may entail.
People with any kind of addiction may see their personal relationships fall apart as they continue to get high. Working a steady job can also become difficult. It can seem difficult to maintain a relationship with a romantic partner.
One of the most overlooked kinds of addictions is inhalant addictions. People addicted to inhalants don’t commonly receive the same support and attention as people addicted to alcohol or harder drugs. Yet they struggle to control a dependency just as much as anyone else.
And that’s a shame because it can actually be harder to control an inhalant addiction. The products people use to achieve a high are usually found at any grocery store. They don’t need to maintain a network of contacts to get their high – they can just stop by a convenience store.
That makes treatment and recovery difficult. But being informed helps, so keep reading below to learn what treatment for inhalants is like.
Inhalants Inpatient
Inhalants are a unique set of drugs due to their sheer availability. They are retail products, yet produce a brief high that’s similar to any other kind of drug. And like any other drug, abusing it can have terrible consequences.
Since they can be acquired from practically any store, it’s not enough to remove someone from their network of friends. Normally, a person falls into addiction after their friends introduce them to a drug. Without those friends, they may not have access to the drug.
Inhalants aren’t like that though. There likely isn’t a network of people they’re getting their next high from. Instead, a person addicted to inhalants just needs to make a quick trip to a grocery store for their next hit.
And that sort of availability can be dangerous. It makes it easy for a person to take too much at once, or to start losing too much money to their addiction.
Avoiding inhalants can involve needing to avoid most stores and most of daily life. That’s where inpatient treatment comes in.
What is Inpatient Treatment?
To confront this, inpatient treatment literally removes people from their access to inhalants. That means taking away their access to retail stores and most of daily life. By spending a week or so in an inpatient facility, people will be forced to confront their addictions without the ability to buy more inhalants.
Inpatient facilities also provide access to a staff of supportive medical professionals. They are trained on how to handle withdrawal symptoms, and their support can help a person speed up their recovery.
Standard Length of Inhalants Inpatient Treatment
There are two kinds of inpatient treatment. Short-term care, which provides people with immediate support, can last as much as 7 days. However, long-term care can last as long as 90 days and is typically reserved for more severe cases.
Inhalants Outpatient
However, inpatient treatment may not be for everyone. It can get expensive, and some people don’t have a week to spend away from the world. Some people also just can’t stand being so disconnected.
For people who take that disconnection poorly, inpatient treatment may have the opposite of the intended effect. Since they end up feeling worthless, people addicted to inhalants may immediately seek them again after getting out. They may reach for inhalants as a way to quell their newfound feelings of inadequacy.
People like this may benefit more from outpatient treatments. During these kinds of treatments, people are grouped together and essentially watch out for each other while going about their daily lives.
It’s a much less formal kind of treatment. But for some people, it’s also much more effective.
What is Outpatient Treatment?
These kinds of treatments usually come in the form of support groups and support from medical professionals. Sometimes, it involves checking in with a therapist or sponsor a few times a month. But the end result is still the same as with inpatient therapy.
During outpatient treatment, people are gradually taught that they don’t need to get high. Inhalants are gradually replaced with a group of supportive people going through the same things. Then, that same group teaches people new ways to cope with problems and ways to have fun without drugs.
Standard Length of Inhalants Outpatient Treatment
Outpatient treatment can take longer than inpatient treatment since it isn’t as straightforward. There is also a higher risk of someone relapsing. At the end of the day, it’s up to them not to walk into a store and pick up some inhalants.
Since inhalants are so widely available, inpatient treatment is usually more effective. But it’s not available to everyone, and both kinds of treatment take a lot of work.
Sober Living
The goal of any treatment is to start living a sober life. After treatment, people should realize they no longer need their drug of choice to be able to live their lives. They should realize that they aren’t dependent on it anymore, and can start focusing on other things instead of their next high.
What is Sober Living?
Sober living means changing your whole life. It can mean changing the friends a person surrounds themselves with. It could mean moving into a sober living home. It could be as major as changing jobs or moving cities.
No matter how small or big, any change is still significant. It means that a person has grown, improved, and gotten sober. And they are stronger now because of it.
What to Expect
Kicking an inhalants addiction will take effort and time, like any addiction. Withdrawal is only one of the things people looking to kick an addiction can expect to happen to them. Some of the symptoms include:
- Depression
- Fatigue
- Anxiety
- Hallucinations
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Tremors
However, going back to living a healthy sober lifestyle will take more than a few days of extreme discomfort. Actually beating an addiction takes major changes in the way a person lives their life. They need to change themselves before anyone can be sure they’ve truly put their addiction behind them.
Ongoing Recovery
Going through treatment for inhalants is frightening and tough, but also worth it. People emerge on the other side of it capable of living their lives again. They can find new goals and work towards them.
People who go through treatment have new futures for themselves. However, it takes work to keep that same mentality.
It can be easy to fall back into addiction if a person faces tough times after leaving their treatment. Since they likely started using their drug of choice as a way to cope with something, they can do it again.
A good treatment program will teach people that they don’t need inhalants, or any other drug, to deal with the stress of life. It’ll teach them that they are capable of dealing with stress, or whatever else, without poisoning themselves.
It’s never impossible to finish treatment for inhalants, and it’s easier with a support system of people close to you. Contact us and we will help you get the treatment you deserve. We’ll be there for your first step towards recovery.
