Endocarditis and Opioid Addiction Posted: April 26, 2018 @ 2:42 am

A New And Scary Illness Associated With Opioid Addiction

It is very well known that when you have any type of drug or alcohol addiction you place your overall health at risk. Decisions made about your personal health are often not in your best interest when you are suffering with an addiction. Substance abuse becomes so powerful that all choices are made to meet the needs of the addiction. It is because of these desperate choices being made that a new type of illness is cropping up in people who are fighting opioid addictions.

Endocarditis: A Life Threatening Illness

Endocarditis is a serious bacterial infection of the heart. This infection causes your heart and heart valves to swell. As a result, the heart has to work harder. If left untreated, endocarditis can lead to complete heart failure and death.

People who use needles to inject opioids are at the highest risk for developing this disease. This is because using a needle that is dirty or a clean needle on dirty skin opens up the potential for bacteria to be introduced to the bloodstream.

Since most people who are struggling with an addiction are in poorer health, even the introduction of the smallest bacteria can lead to a serious infection in the heart or other areas of the body.

Sadly, the beginning symptoms of endocarditis are very similar to those a person with an addition faces when they are in withdrawal.

These symptoms include:

• Fever, chills, and shaking

• Racing heart beat

• Nausea and upset stomach

• Pain in the chest area

Because these infection symptoms are so similar to unregulated withdrawal, the person with the addiction simply gets another fix to diminish the symptoms and relieve the pain. This is how these infections go for so long without treatment and become so severe.

In the past, endocarditis was considered an illness that was occasionally found in the elderly or the very sickly. It was an infection that was most often treated with heavy antibiotics and bed rest, and on the rare occasion with heart valve replacement surgery.

Now, in what seems like an overnight change in the medical industry, the hospital emergency rooms are becoming flooded with this infection, and a majority of the people who are being diagnosed are young.

Diagnoses are being made across all backgrounds and economic settings with the only connecting factor are the use of opiates through injections. What is even more astounding for the medical profession is how rapid these infections are moving through the bodies of those who have an opiate addiction.

One report from the American Medical Journalstated that four out of five cases now being checked in the ER of endocarditis are being experienced by someone with an addiction and that over half of these patients need life – saving treatments, including emergency surgeries, to correct the issue.

Opiate Addiction Harms Your Entire Body

In addition to this dangerous heart infection, opiate addiction can lead to many other serious medical conditions that are a direct result of the addiction. Serious diseases such as AIDS and Hepatitis can occur from shared instruments.

Viral and other bacterial infections can occur from lifestyle choices, and your weakened immune system can lead to a common cold becoming dangerous. Your organs also suffer when you have an addiction. With opiates, your entire body functions at a slowed pace. This means that your liver and kidneys do not cleanse your system like they should.

Your slowed heart and respiratory rate can lead to breathing issues, and even your slowed digestive system can lead to lasting medical conditions. It is very common for people with an opiate addiction to be malnourished. Even if they eat regularly their diet does not usually include good foods or whole foods that have the nutrients they need to be healthy.

Almost every person suffering from an addiction of any kind is dehydrated. This leads to organ problems as well as issues with the skin and hair. Everyone thinks that addiction is just a brain problem. They think it is an emotional problem or a physical problem. These are all true. However, addiction is also a very dangerous overall health problem.

The Many Benefits Of An Addiction Recovery Center

When you have come to the decision that you are tired of being subjected to the needs of an addiction and you are ready to enter into recovery, your first step is selecting an addiction recovery center.

No one should have to face overcoming an addiction on their own, ever. This is why rehabilitation centers were created.

Drug rehab is about overcoming your physical, mental, and emotional addiction to a substance. There are many benefits of drug rehab programs but the single most important aspect is that you are taking back control of your life and your health and creating a new tomorrow. It is about becoming healthy again.

A quality rehabilitation center will address all issues involved with addiction, not just the physical detoxing of your body. Drug rehabs will address the reasons that you became addicted and what it meant then and now. It will address how you can break that emotional attachment to the substance now and in the future, and it will address your health.

Your substance abuse counselor will teach you about being physically healthy again. Proper nutrition, exercise, choices in foods and drinks, and how to stay overall healthy are just a few of the things that you will learn while in rehab. Being healthy physically is an essential part in your recovery process.

One very important thing that you should remember during your recovery is that there is always hope for a better tomorrow. Even if your health has deteriorated because of your addiction, there is always hope. You can make a difference, even if it is only a little each day, to become healthier as you enjoy your new life in recovery.

Although there are many ways to fight drug addiction, we recommend addiction recovery centers which approach recovery in a holistic manner. We believe that by guiding you back to good physical and emotional health you will be able to manage your new substance free life much easier.

Author:

Charles Perry

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