If you’re disabled and struggling with a drug or alcohol addiction, it can be hard to know where or how to get help. Here, ARC Rehab talks through the different considerations that need to be made for different disabilities, and the technological solutions that might work for you.
People going through detox after being addicted to drugs or alcohol have a difficult and often long road to travel before they can see the bright light at the end of the tunnel.
Drug withdrawal is an extremely challenging process on its own, but it can be much more difficult if you have a physical or mental disability. Using a rehab facility can also be more difficult or even impossible if it’s not accessible or can’t accommodate your needs.
As the range of disabilities differs so widely – sense impairments, such as being partially sighted or deaf, full-body to partial paralysis, or cognitive and developmental difficulties – treatments also vary.
That is why it is essential to thoroughly understand the particular type of condition a person has before getting the appropriate treatment for them.
ARC Rehab can provide all the essentials required to get anyone who is mentally or physically disabled better, including adequately trained and experienced staff.
Read on for more about the different types of treatments for physical and mental disabilities.
Battling addiction if you’re disabled
If you have a physical disability, you might be using medication, alcohol or even opioids to manage your pain. With regular use and eventual dependence on them, they can become addictive, overused and difficult to come off.
Unfortunately, many of the affordable rehabilitation facilities turn physically disabled people away because they can’t provide the best treatment.
For instance, if you have a spinal cord injury and use a wheelchair, a facility will need to be accessible. Separately, someone who is blind or deaf will need a facility with braille materials or sign language.
If you have suffered from traumatic experiences, have anxiety, or developmental difficulties, abusing substances can become easy to do as a way to manage your symptoms.
Because of the differences in how information or instructions are processed, treatment needs to follow a different course. You would, therefore, need the right services to help cater to your specific learning needs.
Like anyone else, your needs must be properly taken care of through the delicate detox stage. Here are some special programs an excellent facility provides for.
Integrated substance abuse treatment and vocational rehabilitation
These treatments are typically offered to all addicts undergoing withdrawal but can be crucial if you have a physical disability.
Integrated substance abuse treatment involves directly addressing your needs as a whole, rather than simply looking at the drug problem. This type of treatment is generally recommended if you have a co-occurring disorder, and it takes a very gentle approach to adequately cater to your needs.
Vocational rehabilitation is when you need help getting back to work. It generally includes training, upgrading general skills, career counselling, refresher courses, and any other kinds of help you need to enter or get back to work and having a professional life.
Both can be a great source of motivation and give meaning to the process. They enable you to keep fighting.
Exercises and physical therapy
A proper facility providing assistance for anyone who is disabled, no matter what your ability, usually incorporates many exercises within the program.
They can involve various exercises, which can be personalised to your requirements. Depending on your condition, the facility might offer a range of options for you to choose from.
This can be crucial in the long battle towards sobriety. Physical therapy can help reduce your cravings and triggering emotions that can lead to relapse.
Technology to help with addiction
There is also a range of technological advancements that can help with treatment. Whether something is right for you to use because of your disability or medications will need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis first.
Bridge Auricular Stimulator
Bridge Auricular Stimulators are used to help opioids users. You simply have to keep the device around your ear throughout the detox process.
It aims to helps you feel better by sending electrical impulses to the brain, which block pain and discomfort.
Nerve Stimulators
Nerve stimulators are excellent in treating symptoms of many different types of drug and alcohol withdrawal.
One of the most popular devices of this sort is the Neuro Jet, which is small enough to fit in your pocket.
You can quickly attach the electrodes to your earlobes and carry on with their usual activities.
You would need to wear it continuously for the first three days and two nights. It can be removed while sleeping on the third night.
It is useful if you need to control severe symptoms and still carry on with work or studies.
Brain Stimulators
If when going through withdrawal you feel a range of symptoms, including imbalanced emotions, brain simulators can help.
They essentially aim to keep your emotional state balanced by using audio-visual methods, such as bright lights you’re attracted to, such as a candle flame or firework, along with matching sounds.
The device’s settings can be varied to produce signals of different intensities and frequencies to either activate or block mental processes. It may not seem like much, but they have been seen to do wonders.
By ARC Rehab
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