Opiate Abuse
The top
prescription drugs abused in the US are opiate painkillers (called opioids),
including codeine, Vicodin, Percocet, and OxyContin. Additionally, illegal
opiates like heroin were abused by 1.1% of 12th graders in 2012. This
means that at least 10,000 kids aged 17-19 who were in high school used heroin
last year alone. An even larger number of high school seniors abused Vicodin
(7.5%) and OxyContin (4.3%). In total, it’s estimated that 9% of the population
in the US abuse opiates. This is about 2.8 million people.
Out of all of
those people taking opium-based drugs, how many of them experienced withdrawal? Well, the fact is that you can become
addicted after one use of an opiate.
What is an “Opiate”?
Opiate: A
drug derived from or containing opium. Morphine
and heroin are opiates.
Opioid: A drug that is made out of chemicals in a
lab to act like opium. Also called
painkillers.
The two terms
are also used interchangeably. The difference is in the chemistry – not necessarily
the effects. In fact, opiates and opioids have a similar effect on the
body. They are all classified as “depressants”.
This means that they slow down breathing, heart rate, and brain
function. When these drugs are taken or
abused, in addition to stopping pain, they cause the person to feel a euphoria
that usually lasts between 5 and 30 minutes.
Opiate Withdrawal
Withdrawing
from opiates is no cakewalk. Movies like Trainspotting
and Requiem for a Dream demonstrate
the symptoms in their withdrawal scenes. However, how much of that is reality
and how much is fiction? The scenes in
those movies are dramatized…right? Unfortunately, for those looking at
withdrawing from any painkiller or opiate – from Vicodin to heroin – the answer
is no. However, in these movies, the withdrawal process was unsupervised and
unaided by anything except perhaps a glass of water.
Holistic drug rehab is quite different. Many
withdrawal symptoms listed below can be substantially mellowed (reduced) during
the drug detoxification process
by various vitamins, attention, and care given to each person withdrawing, and treating
each symptom appropriately. Here are some of the withdrawal symptoms someone
can experience when coming off opiates:
·
Agitation
·
Anxiety
·
Insomnia
·
Nausea
·
Vomiting
·
Muscle and bone aches
·
Itching
·
Runny nose and watery eyes
·
Diarrhea
·
Abdominal cramping
·
Sweats – hot and cold
·
Exhaustion
·
Depression
·
Psychosis
·
Hallucinations
Additionally,
if a person suffers through withdrawal without trained help, they can die.
Proper supervision is vital. Withdrawal symptoms can begin as soon as a person
stops taking the drug for any length of time.
In fact, you can experience withdrawal symptoms when the high wears off.
The depression and anxiety felt after the drug has worn off is a mild
withdrawal symptom – and avoiding this is one thing that motivates a person to
take opiates again and again.
The Solution
A dose of
prevention is always the best medicine when it comes to addiction. This means drug education in schools and
parents talking to their kids about drugs.
However, if
you are already addicted to painkillers or opiates, what should you do? At A
Forever Recovery, we have an in-patient treatment center dedicated to
helping people through the withdrawal symptoms in a holistic manner. This means
we don’t hook them on another addictive substance – like methadone – to get
them off the opiates they are already addicted to. We gently help them get through the
withdrawal process. Once this process is complete, we help them discover why
they started abusing drugs in the first place – and how to handle those issues
so they will not return to drugs in the future.
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