Prescription Opiate Detox
Does prescription opiate detox have to be painful?
Break Free; Prescription Opiate Detox
For so many of us, the drugs we were originally prescribed for pain relief result in far greater pain than they ever resolved. Seductive, potent, and when prescribed by a doctor, seemingly legitimate; these drugs catch far too many of us in a web of dependency, and once caught, it's very hard to get free.
It Doesn't Matter How You Got Addicted
Because we buy these pills at the pharmacy we forget that these prescription opiates can addict as readily as heroin, and that some have called the eventual detox off of prescription medications even more painful than street corner and illicit opiates of abuse. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter at all how you got addicted, and whether you took a little extra for fun, or whether you just took them for pain…but for too long, the problems you face are one and the same, and the pains of detox must be endured.
Symptoms of Prescription Opiate Detox
Individually experienced symptoms vary greatly depending on the
severity of abuse, the duration of the addiction, and even the health and physiology
of the individual; but in general, some commonly experienced symptoms of opiate
withdrawal are:
Nausea
- Insomnia
- Pain
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Vomiting
- Seizures
- Irritability
- Leg restlessness
- Diarrhea
Symptoms will generally present within hours of the last dosage, and gain steadily in severity until peaking within a day or so of cessation of use. Symptoms will endure with intensity for a period of three or four days before gradually subsiding, although lingering symptoms of detox may persist for months.
No one addicted to opiate type prescription pain pills should ever attempt a detox without first consulting with a doctor about the safety of a cessation of use. Complete stoppage of use can in some cases result in convulsions and even life threatening seizures; and your doctor may advise that you slowly wean yourself off of the pills.
Treatment
Unfortunately, the days of opiate prescription pill withdrawal are very tough. So tough in fact that few people can withstand the pains of detox and the cravings to use, and even the most determined and committed of souls find themselves using again within days, if only to end the pains of detox.
Most people require sequestered and supervised detox away from access to any form of drugs or alcohol to truly break free from their addiction. In addition to shelter from access, a residential detox and treatment facility offers medical care and observation that may help to lessen the experienced pains of detox, and with continual medical monitoring, you can be ensured of the safety of the process.
Medications
Physicians use certain non intoxicating pain relievers to lessen the intensity of detox pains and in some cases, prescribed anti depressant and anxiolitics medications may help to reduce the severity of psychiatric depression and anxiety.
Opiates produce pleasure, and they demand pain, and there is no effective way around a necessary period of detox.
Get Help For Opiate Abuse
Unless you can resolve those things in your life that led you to seek intoxication, you may be destined to repeat the pains of detox many times. Detox alone offers little assistance to long term sobriety, and although at the end of a successful period of detox you no longer feel the pains of withdrawal, you will still feel cravings.
You cannot reasonably except to avoid temptation in life, and unless you possess strategies to keep you sober in the face of cravings and temptation, relapse is very likely. You need to understand what makes you want to get high, understand how to minimize the risks of relapse, and understand what steps you can take when you are inevitably faced with real temptation.
The therapies as offered in a residential drug rehab offer a solid foundation for a life of sobriety, and as anyone has gone through detox once knows, you don’t want to do it again.
