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Doctors prescribed opiates as a medical management to treat moderate to severe pain. Even though opiates can effectively relieve pain it can also generate addiction. A person can quickly develop dependency even if they following a medical prescription.
Withdrawal symptoms and tolerance can manifest in drug dependency. This can result in the need to take higher doses of the drug. Meanwhile, compulsive abuses along with physical and mental desires characterize addiction.
If you are hesitant about your opioid use, here is a list of some signs and symptoms that you may have an opioid addiction problem.
If you answered yes to more than two of the questions above, then chances are you are already addicted to opioids. It is also best to seek medical attention to ensure effective and safe treatment for drug addiction. Tapering off from addiction seems impossible at first, but it doable.
Half of the battle is won, when you decide to stop your drug addiction. This means you are willing to change the bad habit and turn your world around to live a happy and healthy life. The next step will require you to prepare a recovery plan.
Addiction is an intricate physical and mental dependency on your drug of choice. Determination plays a very significant part of overcoming addiction. Admitting you have an addiction and willing to solve the problem remains the most important step of your recovery.
You may also want to join a support group it can help you to understand more the source of your addiction. People in a support group can recognize your feelings since these are the same individuals fighting the same battle. Even though you may already have supportive family and friends, it can help you a lot to know individuals who are currently in the same situation as you are.
If you are taking opiates because of medical reasons and taking only what on the presctiption, then you can stop using the drug without tapering down your usage. You may feel an increased pain after ending your medication but should not experience any major withdrawal symptoms.
However, if you are consuming opiates daily and acquires moderate to severe dependence, you may need to reduce your intake.
When you reduced your dosage intake you can safely stop opiate use. Once you stop, it is important you avoid opiate use in the future, unless instructed or recommend by your doctor.
People who already develop opioid dependency or became addicted to the drug can experience mild to severe withdrawal symptoms. Going “cold turkey” serves as the biggest challenge for users to stop their addictive behavior. Withdrawal symptoms vary depending on the drug of choice but usually include:
Always trust your doctor about your opiate use. They can easily detect people vulnerable to opiate addiction. Here are the usual medical reasons why doctors advised patients to reduce opiate intake.
Some users can successfully end opiate use without any medical assistance. However, for most cases, users need medical professionals to assist them in tapering off from the drug. Experts may recommend inpatient detoxification for long term or severe addiction. One of the advantages going into inpatient rehabilitation is the safety and comfort of the users to undergo detoxification process. Medical practitioners can monitor the vital signs of the users who suffer from extreme withdrawal symptoms.
There are several detox programs available in the medical community. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is always best to talk to your doctor or a rehab expert on what serves as an effective detox program that will suit you.
In this plan, it involved reducing the dosage of opiates in safe levels. This can promote comfortable withdrawal symptoms compare to abruptly stopping the drug intake.
This program increasingly grows popularity. This program involves ending all opiates intake immediately. Users are then given anesthesia and intravenous opiate blockers like naltrexone, nalmefene, and naloxone. These drugs can block any opiates you will take afterward. The body then goes sudden and quick withdrawal but the user will not suffer any unpleasant symptoms. Within 48 hours the patient can then be discharged from the health care facility.
Methadone program is the most frequent method of opiate detox. Doctors recommend methadone treatment to assist users to end opiate addiction.
Approved clinics can administer methadone for 21 days until users stop their opiate addiction. Users can still experience intense withdrawal symptoms. This program may not guarantee you from developing other opioid addiction.
Dr. Vikram Tarugu, M.D, is the CEO of Detox of South Florida, Inc and medical professional focused on addiction. A veteran in the medical field with over 25 years of professional experience. He is a consultant for many South Florida Rehab centers. Patients travel from allover the US to seek his help with addiction and Hepatitis C treatment.
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