Opiate Addiction Is A Very Serious, But Treatable Illness

Opiate addiction is a very serious illness, which can lead to depression, hopelessness, and sometimes death. Opiate addiction is a brain disease characterized by increased tolerance leading to more and more substance needed to achieve the same effect. Addiction To Opiates is both physical and psychological, requiring an intense inpatient program in order to best detox off the drug and transition into living without drugs. One thing that you need to understand about opiate addiction is that it is a lot different from other cases of substance dependency. Currently, the only FDA approved option for treating opiate addiction is through the use of methadone and buprenorphine, both of which are synthetic opiates with their own addictive tendencies.


Getting off heroin and other opiates isn't easy, but detox is the first step. Detox in and of itself is simply the removal of a drug from a person's body. Detox may eliminate opiates from the body, but it doesn’t restore the body’s natural, healthy chemistry. Detox from opiates like heroin, OxyContin, Lortab and Vicodin requires close supervision. But, if a person is successful in detox and dedicated to kicking the habit, the chances are greatly increased.


Withdrawal symptoms from opiates start within a few hours of your last missed dose and include nausea and vomiting, sweating, irritability, body and muscle aches, insomnia and an increase in intensity over the next few days, lasting for weeks. Rapid opiate detox is a procedure which allows patients to undergo the severe opiate withdrawal symptoms associated with detoxification while under anesthesia. In clinical studies, Buprenorphine has proven effective in minimizing the extremely painful side effects of opiate withdrawal without patients feeling either euphoria or sedation.


After prolonged opiate use, the nerve cells in the brain, which would otherwise produce endogenous opiates (natural painkillers, or endorphins), cease to function normally. When these nerve cells degenerate, a need for the drug or high physical tolerance is present, requiring that more and more of the drug be ingested in order to avoid the onset of painful withdrawal symptoms. During professional opium treatment, detox pains can be managed through continual medical observation and care, and through the use of non narcotic pain relievers, anxiolitics and anti depressant medications.


Buprenorphine treatment can eliminate or reduce many withdraw symptoms and allow an addicted person to address the root problem without the pain and discomfort of withdrawal. Buprenorphine works by acting on the brain's own opiate receptors , targets for heroin, morphine and prescription opioids , to relieve drug cravings without prompting the same intense high or dangerous side effects.