Opiate Withdrawal Timelines, Symptoms and Treatment
The way your brain responds to pain stimuli is highly altered with the help of opiates. It can also result in a high feeling due to disruption of the pleasure and reward centers of your brain. The entire central nervous system, which includes your cardiovascular, brain, and respiratory systems, has opioid receptors which receive opiate drugs. These drugs can bring about a large array of emotional and physical effects. When you consume such drugs, your respiration, heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure get lowered and your pleasant feeling gets aroused. Addiction towards such drugs can easily hamper the normal functions of the brain towards such drugs. This will lead to more psychological and physical dependency on opiate drugs.
Opiate Withdrawal Symptoms
The withdrawal symptoms of opiate may differ from one person to another. It may range from mild to severe, which largely depends on how seriously addicted the person is towards opioid drugs. The dependency level can largely depend on the time duration for taking a specific drug, the actual dosage amount, the type of drug taken, the way the drug was taken, and several other factors. The withdrawal symptoms may be categorized according to different timelines.
- Early Withdrawal Symptoms: These symptoms normally start within a time gap of 6 hours to 12 hours for short-acting opiates. However, these start within 30 hours for longer acting opiates. These may include tearing up, agitation, muscle aches, anxiety, excessive yawning, trouble either falling or staying asleep, racing heartbeats, running nose, hypertension, fever, and sweats.
- Late Withdrawal Symptoms: These usually peak within a time span of 72 hours and last almost a week. These may include diarrhea, vomiting and nausea, drug cravings, stomach cramps, depression, and goosebumps.
In some cases, the psychological withdrawal symptoms, as well as, cravings for opioid drugs may even last longer than a week. The psychological support and therapy offered by a mental health professional can easily help lower the symptoms and side effects of such types of withdrawals.
Medical Detox
If you do proper research work, you will come to know that there are several options when it comes to treatment and detoxification of opioids from your entire body. However, there may be some options which will provide you with a more comprehensive model as compared to others. One of the most reliable amongst them is a medical detox option. It basically comprises of both psychological and pharmacological treatment methods, which is mainly performed under the eagle eyes of a medical and mental health specialist. Medical detox is performed in a comforting and safe residential setting. On the other hand, standard detox programs can be performed in an outpatient basis, as well.
It is true that opiate withdrawals can be a rather uncomfortable feeling. However, with the help of medical detox programs, you can easily get a safe and smooth way of overcoming the addiction. In this detox program, your body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration levels are closely monitored, which help experts prescribe proper medications to regulate the body and brain functions.
It is often seen that mental health professionals can easily evaluate and stabilize different individuals during a medical detox program. Although there is no specific timeline for the program, normally medical detox programs last between 5 and 7 days.
Medical Detox as a Part of the Entire Treatment Plan
It is needless to say that addiction of any type is both a chronic and relapsing disease, which involves both emotional and physical side effects, as well as, symptoms. This is why the treatment has to be a comprehensive one. Medical detox programs are relatively short scale programs and can prove to be the stepping stones for a more stable recovery plan. It is quite common to find that people, suffering from any type of addiction, may often suffer from a relapse. If you do not use a specific drug for a long time, your tolerance level towards those drugs will definitely get reduced. However, a relapse after a detox can prove to be very dangerous, since it may result in an overdose.
Amongst all the reasons for an injury death in the US, drug overdose is a major cause. According to a recent data published by ASAM or American Society of Addiction Medicine, almost 100 people die of a drug overdose on a daily basis and almost 46 die every day due to opioid overdose in the US. According to The New York Times, compared to any other drug or medication, opioids are the cause of most of the deaths. One of the best solutions to this problem is to opt for a medical detox program which can easily help you smooth out the withdrawal, prevent any serious complications, reduce various side effects, and also help reduce drug cravings in individuals. This can go a great distance in helping you recover and also maintain sobriety for a long time.
Common Medicines That Can Help With Opiate Withdrawals
There are some medicines which can help you overcome opiate withdrawals in a very simple manner.
- Methadone: This helps to relieve you from withdrawals symptoms and also assists with the medical detox program. Methadone is also used by many experts as a long-term maintenance drug for people suffering from opioid dependency. Once the maintenance period of over, the dosage can gradually be decreased. However, there are many cases wherein people are prescribed methadone for several years.
- Buprenorphine: This drug also treats withdrawal from opiates and can also successfully shorten the time taken in a detox program. Just like methadone, buprenorphine can also be used on a long-term basis for maintenance purposes. This drug can also be combined with naloxone in order to prevent misuse and dependence.
There are several rehab centers you will come across if you try to find them and this is a great site for answers relating to opiate detox. However, when it comes to getting proper and serious help with any type of addiction, you should always take your time and choose the best. After all, it is a matter of your own health.
