What You Can do About Opiate Withdrawal

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Going through opiate withdrawal is not an easy thing. Opiate drugs include drugs such as morphine, Dilaudid, methadone, codeine and heroin. There are others also. Many people try to and find the pain and discomfort is too much and they stop. If you can afford (or your insurance covers) it the best option may be checking into a medical detox unit. These are usually available at select hospitals, treatment centers or drug rehabs.

Of course, there is a stigma attached to being "addicted" to anything, especially opiates so many times people do not want to go to a drug treatment center if they can help it. They should at least go and see their regular doctor who will be able to advise them about the withdrawal process and even prescribe medicine that will make it easier to go through. It is better to go through the opiate withdrawal process in the safety of a drug treatment center. However, sometimes a person cannot afford treatment centers or are just to embarrassed to go.

You can try to go through drug detox on your own but this is definitely the hardest way. Statistics also prove that the odds of staying clean if you choose this method are much less than if you go to a drug treatment center. The pain you go through is also much more by doing it yourself than if you seek medical help of some sort.

There are actually two stages of opiate withdrawal and both are very uncomfortable if you don't have medical help. Very uncomfortable, but that does not mean you cannot do it on your own. The odds are against you staying clean but it still can be done and people do it and remain in recovery also. The early symptoms of opiate withdrawal are sweating, yawning, insomnia, runny nose, muscle achiness, anxiety and agitation. Later stage symptoms include diarrhea and cramping, dilated pupils, goose bumps, nausea and vomiting. Keep in mind while uncomfortable none of them are life threatening.

Opiates cause physical dependence; this causes you to need more and more of the drug over time to produce the same effect. Some people take them just to feel normal, it they take less or stop all at once that is when the withdrawal symptoms start. If you go to a medical facility or doctor for help, you will be given medicine to treat the anxiety, muscle aches, runny nose and to treat the vomiting and diarrhea. There are also some detox facilities that advertise withdrawal treatments under anesthesia. These are often called a "rapid detox". You are placed under anesthesia and are given large doses of opiate blocking medication. The idea behind this is that it speeds up the normal function once again of the opioid system in the body. Does it work? Yes, for some people. The thing about going through withdrawal and into recovery is a different process for everyone who is addicted. Different things work for different people and they have to find the one that works for them.