Opioid Addiction Effects, Withdrawals, Symptoms & Signs

Content

Products and Services
Related Health Topics
Learn more about the genes associated with Opioid addiction
Maintenance Therapy
Learn about opioids and substance abuse
Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
Causes and Risk Factors for Opioid Abuse

Doctors use Subutex for acute opiate detox and Suboxone for both acute opiate detox and maintenance prevention or opiate relapse. Nowadays, with the available medication and professional counseling, the chances of succeeding are vastly improved. Thousands of people are helped by traditional therapies (12-step programs) or newer drugs to stay focused on their recovery journey. Opioids reduce the feelings of pain by acting on the limbic system, the brainstem, and the spinal cord. They attach to receptors in the brain, sending signals to block out the pain and induce a calming and relaxing effect. Whether we’re talking about Vicodin or the street drug, heroin, the primary effect is the same.

What are the side effects of opioid addiction?

Prescription opioid use, even when used as prescribed by a doctor can lead to a substance use disorder, which takes the form of addiction in severe cases. Withdrawal symptoms include muscle and bone pain, sleep problems, diarrhea and vomiting, and severe cravings.

Drug addiction is a mental illness, so anything that falls under the substance abuse category is going to have some effects on a person’s mental health, as well. Women face a higher risk of developing opioid addiction largely because they are more likely to experience chronic pain than their male counterparts. While the percentage of men that die from drug overdoses is overall greater than that of women, there is evidence that shows that women are the ones that are more prone to initiate opioid use. That is because doctors usually prescribe opioids to women for longer periods, increasing the probability of them developing an addiction.

Products and Services

Opiates create a sense of euphoria and well-being, which can be extremely appealing to many individuals. Opiate, or opioid painkillers are narcotic medications prescribed by a opioid addiction treatment medical doctor to manage pain in many individuals. Opioid narcotics include such medications as codeine, morphine, dihydrocodone, methadone, OxyContin, hydrocodone, and heroin.

Opiate narcotics act upon the opioid receptors in the central nervous system and the brain. The United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services have discovered that next to marijuana, the nonmedical usage of prescription painkillers is the second most common form of illegal drug use. In 2007, SAMSHA reported that 5.2 million individuals – 21% of people over the age of twelve – used a prescription painkiller for nonmedical purposes. The US DEA believes that estimate to be closer to 7 million individuals.

Related Health Topics

Patients who sporadically misuse small doses of opioids may have a completely normal physical exam and no clear historical findings. Patients with chronic oral opioid use may have sedation if actively using the drug, along with miosis and hyperactive response to pain. Potencies of opioids also vary drastically, with more potent synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, carfentanil, and newer compounds causing overdose deaths and necessitating large doses of naloxone for reversal. Opioid addiction treatment can vary depending the patient’s individual needs, occur in a variety of settings, take many different forms, and last for varying lengths of time.

symptoms of opioid addiction

However, painkillers are rapidly becoming just as prevalent and are equally as dangerous. While opioid abuse can begin at any age, studies have shown that the average age for experimentation is getting younger and younger. 1 in 12 high school seniors report nonmedical use of prescription pain pills like Vicodin, while 1 in 20 report abusing OxyContin. https://ecosoberhouse.com/ In the United States, 18% of people who enter treatment for addictions are abusing opiates. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse , between 26 and 36 million people throughout the world abuse opioid substances. In America alone, NIDA reports that over 2 million individuals suffer from prescription opioid-related substance use disorders.

About Ken Decorte