Various Opiate Addiction Treatment Techniques

By Peter Price


Opioid addition is neither a mental nor a moral weakness. It is just a medical condition that occurs due to changes in the brain after consumption of opiate drugs. Addicted people are advised not to stop the consumption of these drugs abruptly as this may make them experience unpleasing withdrawal symptoms. Medical detoxification is one of the most important stages during Opiate addiction treatment.

Withdrawal symptoms are experienced by addicts who may plan to stop using these addicting drugs without following appropriate procedure. Examples of withdrawal symptoms are abdominal pain, nausea, large pupils, severe negative moods, body aches, yawning and diarrhea. Detoxification stages helps in either preventing or reducing the withdrawal symptoms. Furthermore, it enhances the removal of toxins from the body.

Patients intending to withdraw from addictive drugs safely should consider going for medical detoxification in a residential treatment center or a hospital. He or she is likely to find a detoxification unit in such areas in order to quicken the recovery process. This is an important thing for patients who have been using the addictive drugs for a very long time or those with related health problems.

Physicians and other medics help in monitoring the progress of recovering patients during medical detoxification process. Patients are properly guided to ensure that they take the right medications. Furthermore, they are not allowed to engage in activities that may make their condition worse. An example of different types of detoxification is rapid detoxification. For this case, the patient is treated while he or she is a sleep. An addict is given medications known as opiate blockers with intent of minimizing the impact of opiate. One may also be injected with substances such anti-nausea medications and even muscle relaxants.

When a patient is given opiate blockers like nalmephine, naltrexone, and naloxine, physical detoxification is acquired after less than eight hours. Rapid detox is mainly done within intensive care unit. Addicts are normally discharged within a period of about 48 hours. This type of detoxification is most appropriate for people who are addicted to narcotics like Vicodin, Percocet, heroin, OxyContin, opium, codeine and morphine.

Rapid detox spares patients from discomforts such as severe pain by shortening the normal detoxification procedure. This method is most appropriate for individuals who cannot go through the usual conventional withdraw programs. Stepped Rapid Detoxification is another good treatment method where the addict is injected with naloxine and advised to take naltrexone through the mouth.

Ultra rapid detoxification technique starts when an addict is given anesthesia so as to minimize pain in course of treatment. The patient is then given naltrexone that blocks endorphin receptors. This is an important step because it accelerates the detoxification process.

In case you are a patient and you are not experiencing severe symptoms, consider going for outpatient detoxification. It is very effective and also safe. In this case, you will be given a drug known as Buprenex and you will definitely get better after one or two weeks. Methadone can also be used during opiate detoxification. With this, a patient recovers after about three weeks.




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