What Is ANR?
Accelerated Neuro-Regulation (ANR) approaches opioid dependence and addiction from a scientifically based medical perspective.
ANR addresses the following 3 major key elements responsible for fueling opioid dependence on a neurobiological level:
- What normal brain function looks like prior to opioid use
- The neuroadaptation that occurs from continuously exposing the nervous system to opioids
- How modern medicine can re-regulate the endorphin-receptor system and return the brain to its pre-drug-dependent state
Normal Brain Function Prior to Opioid Use
The human body and brain naturally produce endorphins. Both internal and external stimuli (or signals) determine endorphin production. Examples of these stimuli include pain, excitement, fear, anger, exertion, thought, physical exercise, and love.
For the most part, the body produces an adequate amount of endorphins in relation to the stimuli it experiences. Once the stimuli have subsided or are extinguished, endorphin levels return to a baseline level which is often biologically “insignificant.” The brain always seeks to return to this state of balance, but with prolonged use of opioids, it becomes increasingly difficult for it to regulate itself.
How Opioid Use Alters Normal Brain Function
Individuals who develop an opioid dependency through the use of an exogenous (or external) stimulus like opioid drugs, suppress the brain’s natural endorphin production. Every time you expose the brain to an opioid, such as heroin or painkillers, you are depleting the endorphins that your body normally creates to block pain, trigger positive feelings, and carry out other normal functions.
As natural endorphin production decreases, the nervous system simultaneously begins to increase the number of active opioid receptors. The brain produces more opioid receptors in anticipation of binding to the external stimulus, AKA opioid drugs, which have been flooding the brain.
As more and more receptors are created, the individual requires greater and greater amounts of opioids or narcotics to satisfy the neuro-biochemical demand that is now present in the brain.
When this change happens in the brain, it is a sign that tolerance has developed. The increase in the number of opioid receptors is now associated with a ravenous bio-physical and neuro-chemical hunger known as “cravings.”
Effectively, the brain is now in a state of imbalance and the cravings being experienced are a manifestation of a physical change in the endorphin-receptor system. Unless the endorphin-receptor balance is restored to its original state, an individual abusing opioids will find themselves caught in a perpetual cycle of drug abuse, relapse, and dependence.
How ANR Uses Modern Medicine To Treat Opioid Drug Dependence
The goal of Accelerated Neuro-Regulation is to bring the nervous system back into balance by modulating it to decrease receptor production, while allowing the body to resume proper levels of endorphin production. ANR also allows the metabolizing and elimination of unnecessary exogenous opioids from the body.
It is in achieving this cellular, neuro-chemical, and endorphin-receptor re-balance that bio-physical cravings, which are a hallmark of opioid dependence, are rendered obsolete and irrelevant.
The ANR treatment method is conducted under deep sedation to avoid the active suffering of opioid withdrawal, guaranteeing that all patients who undergo ANR will complete it, by eliminating the chance of drop-outs (as experienced with most conventional treatment programs or rehab facilities.)
ANR Treatment Overview
During the treatment period and while under sedation, withdrawal is induced and the process of Accelerated Neuro-Regulation begins. Endorphin-receptors are re-regulated and modulated to their “pre-addiction” state.
This medical process is overseen by a physician and anesthesiologist with the use of state-of-the-art ICU equipment, displaying monitoring data in real time. The anesthesiologist continuously observes and reassesses the progress and physiological status of the patient over the course of approximately 4 hours, and is able to make the appropriate modifications in order to achieve proper modulation and regulation at the endorphin-receptor level.
Patients and feedback are consistently re-evaluated to ensure the resolution of the withdrawal symptoms and abatement of the adrenergic response. Each individual patient has unique requirements depending on their medical history and treatment is tailored accordingly.
For example, an individual with a ten-year history of opioid dependence, hypertension, COPD, and obesity will require a unique individualized treatment approach when compared to a healthy professional athlete.
ANR is considered a safer choice for nearly anyone including individuals with complex medical conditions seeking opioid addiction treatment, as our team of board-certified critical care specialists have a vast breadth of understanding and experience.
Is ANR Right For You?
In addressing opioid dependence and addiction from a modern scientific and medical approach, Dr. Andre Waismann has ushered in a new era of opioid addiction treatment via Accelerated Neuro-Regulation.
ANR has given new-found hope to thousands and has shattered the archaic, conventional models of opioid addiction treatment. Rapid detox, medication replacement therapy, long-term inpatient rehab, and drug detoxification cannot and will never achieve the same results ANR does consistently. Only one available opioid dependence and addiction treatment allows patients to avoid active withdrawal, brings the brain and body into a state of pre-addiction balance, and promises a life free of cravings and the looming fear of inevitable relapse: Accelerated Neuro-Regulation — ANR.
