Treatment Options for Opiate Addiction

Opiate Addiction: Understanding The Signs and Withdrawal Symptoms

Opiate addiction usually starts from abusing painkillers. Controlled use of painkillers are not harmful, but once these are taken in large doses and are injected, their effect is very dangerous and can even become fatal.

Opiate abuse is the period when users are beginning to use the medications apart from the doctor’s prescription. Drug dependence starts when the body develops tolerance for the drug, requiring them to take more doses to get the same effect.

It is also in this stage when the body develops withdrawal symptoms when decide to stop. Opiate addiction begins when the addict displays psychological side effects as the dependence worsens.

Addicts start changing their behavior. They become extremely hooked with the drug pushing them into a drug seeking behavior.

Symptoms of addiction

Opiate addicts usually exhibit the following symptoms:

Euphoria (feeling high)                        Respiratory depression (shallow or slow breathing)

Sedation                                              Analgesia (feeling no pain)

Nausea, vomiting                                Small pupils

Itching or flushed skin                         Constipation

Slurred speech                                    Confusion or poor judgment

Opiate addiction is threatening that users experience drug withdrawal when they become physically dependent on the drug. If you know or suspect someone abusing opiate, watch out for the following withdrawal symptoms:

Anxiety                        Irritability                                Craving for the drug

Rapid breathing          Nasal stuffiness                      Yawning                     

Goosebumps              Runny nose                            Salivation                       Muscle aches

Vomiting                      Abdominal cramping              Diarrhea Sweating         Confusion

Enlarged pupils           Tremors                                  Loss of appetite

Although opiate withdrawal symptoms are not that harmful for the body, they are dangerous, unbearable and painful. The withdrawal symptoms vary in degree depending on the duration and the amount of drugs taken.

If the user decides to stop opiate addiction, the person can take medicines to prevent withdrawal symptoms in the process of detoxification. The recovering addicts are given medications such as methadone, buprenorphine (sometimes combined with naloxone), and naltrexone.

After the user surpassed the drug withdrawal stage, the recovering patient is no longer dependent on the drug. However, psychological dependence and relapse are always possible if the person is not strong enough to resist and fight the stress to go back to addiction.

Opiate addictiontreatment could be a painful process for the users. Some took the drug initially to relieve pain. For this reason, they developed a tolerance for the opiates and may require higher dosage to relieve the pain.

Addiction sets in when the user abuse opiates to the point that it becomes self-destructive and compulsive.Medically, to address the addiction, users are advised to have lower dosage over the course of some weeks.

Those who stop taking the drug and have no pain at the same time can successfully pass their addiction. Short-term users most of the times do not display withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal Symptoms From Opiate Addiction

Opiate dependancy has grow to be a major problem within the United States. Hundreds of individuals are overdosing on these medication every day. The epidemic has turn into so serious that cops are carrying Narcan, that is a drug with a purpose to reverse an overdose. The commonest opiate that folks overdose on is heroin. The individuals who make this unhealthy drug are including ache drugs, akin to Fentanyl to the drug, making it much more unhealthy. There also are a number of prescription opiates. The commonest prescription opiates include:

Codeine

Vicodin

Hydrocodone

Morphine

Oxycontin

Percoset

Dilaudid

Fentanyl

Why are Opiates So Addictive?

While an individual uses opiates, it offers them a feeling of well-being or euphoria. This sense makes the user wish to stay the usage of, and they're always chasing the high. Most of the people who shoot heroin several occasions a day began out taking prescription medications. After you have off the meds, they were not able to prevent short of the drug, and they turn to heroin that they are able to buy on the streets.

Opiate Withdrawal

The thing that makes it so tricky for an individual to quit taking opiates is the withdrawal symptoms. After an addict has gone only a few hours without taking drugs, their body can begin to activate them. There are a couple of horrible, debilitating withdrawal symptoms that can final anywhere from every week to a month.

Irritability

Agitation

Nervousness

Insomnia

Hot and cold sweats

Muscle aches and pains

Stomach ache

Nausea

Vomiting

Diarrhea

Opiate Treatment

The withdrawal signs that an addict can go through will also be very dangerous. The best way, and usually the only approach for an individual to get blank is to go into an inpatient rehab software. The first step to restoration goes through a detox software. The addict would be constantly supervised through clinical team of workers so that they aren't in any threat at the same time as the medicine are leaving their machine. There are also medicine available to assist with the method. Those drugs include Suboxone, Revia, and Methadone.

After the patient has detoxed from the drugs, they would move into inpatient remedy. They'd find out about their habit, and the things that led them to be an addict in the first place. The more the person knows approximately themselves and their triggers, the easier their likelihood is that of having clean and staying blank. The addict will even meet with other addicts within the facility, so that everybody can get a better working out of what reasons addiction. After the addict has finished their program, they'll repeatedly input a sober living facility and enter an outpatient application.

Whether or not an individual is hooked on heroin or prescription opiates, they want to get lend a hand. Without a remedy plan, the chances of the person living an extended and healthy existence are very slim.