Month: July 2016

When you think of pain killer and heroin users, you may not picture your neighbor’s teenage daughter, or your son’s teammate on the baseball team, or even your own adolescent child. But, with one in 10 children ages 12-17 having a substance use disorder, the scary and serious disease of addiction may be closer than … Continue reading Adolescents and Addiction: Helping Teens Change the Course of Their Lives

One in 10 children ages 12-17 has a substance use disorder, with 1.9 million having a substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers and 586,000 involving heroin. Brightside Clinic’s Adolescent Treatment Program provides an effective, one-of-a-kind approach in the Chicago area to helping adolescents overcome addiction. The unique program couples medically assisted treatment with ongoing … Continue reading Brightside Clinic’s Adolescent Treatment Program Provides Revolutionary Approach to Helping Youth Overcome Addiction

This month saw historic advancements in providing treatment to people suffering from pain drug dependence and heroin addiction. First, on July 6th, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule to increase access to Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) with buprenorphine. Then, on July 13th, the Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction and … Continue reading Regulation Update on Opiate Addiction Treatment – July 2016

Anxiety. Vomiting. Insomnia. These are just a few of the symptoms that people recovering from opioid addiction experience as they go through withdrawal. It’s no wonder that 40 to 60 percent relapse and turn back to drug and opioid use as a form of self-medication, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse. But, there … Continue reading Is Medically-Assisted Treatment Trading One Addiction for Another?

Brightside Clinic, the premier treatment center for prescription drug dependency and heroin addiction in the Chicago area, celebrates its first anniversary of helping patients regain their life and manage their addiction. The clinic has also hired four new physicians and added Fridays to its treatment schedule to meet the needs of its patients. Since opening … Continue reading Brightside Clinic Celebrates First Anniversary, Hires Four New Physicians and Extends Treatment Schedule to Better Serve the Needs of Patients

Drug dependence has severe consequences on virtually every organ system in the body, according to Dr. Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The chemical structure of opioids wreaks havoc on many aspects of the brain and cognition because of its chemical structure, leading to severe changes in personality, memory, learning and … Continue reading The Many Health Risks Associated with Dependence on Opiates