Substance Abuse Stats in Merrimack, New Hampshire
Merrimack is a small town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. It has a population of about 25,600 people, making it the ninth-largest town or city in the state. Merrimack is located in a state that finds itself at the center of the national opioid crisis.
New Hampshire has major issues when it comes to substance abuse. Despite the number of opioid prescriptions declining in recent years, the state suffered 424 overdose deaths from opioids in 2018. This number might not seem drastically high when compared with large states, but because New Hampshire’s population is so small, it means that the state has twice as many opioid overdoses per capita than the national average.
Choosing Between an Outpatient and Inpatient Rehab
If you or a loved one in the Merrimack area is looking into substance abuse treatment options, you have probably found that there are many different types of care. Two of the main kinds of care offered for addiction are inpatient rehab and outpatient care. Inpatient rehab means putting your life on hold and living full-time in a treatment center for a given period of time.
Outpatient treatment is for people with less severe substance abuse issues. It allows people to continue to live at home and go about their daily lives, while receiving treatment in their off-hours from work or school.
How Long Can Treatment at a Rehab Last?
If you already know that you will need to attend inpatient rehab, you might be wondering how long you’ll end up staying there for. Peoples’ time spent at rehab varies quite a bit. It could last as little as two weeks, or as long as a year.
Ultimately, how much time you spend in rehab should depend upon your specific needs. When you leave rehab, you want to be solid enough in your sobriety that you can transition back to your life without relapsing. It takes everyone a different amount of time to achieve this, but some popular program lengths are one, two, and three months.
What to Expect at Rehab
Rehab is a place where people go when they need to get away from distractions and triggers. It is somewhere you can completely focus on regaining your sobriety, and receive professional help to do so. You will be surrounded by peers who are also in recovery, as well as various members of the rehab staff who are there to help you.
Your daily life at rehab will consist of both formal treatment such as therapy and group meetings, as well as restorative activities such as yoga, healthy meals, and meditation. Usually, addiction professionals will work with you to come up with a daily routine that meets your needs.
When Would You Need to Go to Detox?
Some individuals must attend detox before they can begin their treatment. Contrary to popular belief, detox is not a form of substance abuse treatment in and of itself. Rather, it is a stepping stone towards treatment.
The point of going to detox in Merrimack is to give patients a safe environment as they experience withdrawal symptoms from drugs and/or alcohol that they have been abusing. Since withdrawal is highly unpredictable, anyone who has been using these substances recently needs to go to detox as a precautionary measure.
How Long is Detox?
Detox ends when medical staff clear the patient to be released. They do so only when they are confident that all of the patient’s withdrawal symptoms have passed. Usually, this process takes between 3 and 10 days.
Withdrawal can last anywhere from a couple of days to multiple weeks, and symptoms can range from mildly uncomfortable to life-threatening. The length and severity of withdrawal depend mainly upon what substances were abused, how long they were abused for, and what the dose was at the time they were last taken. Additionally, personal factors such as age, weight, gender, and overall health can play a role.