Opiate withdrawal symptoms occur when an individual (usually an opiate addict) stops taking opiates for over 12 hours after they have been using them for a consistently long period of time.
Opiate Withdrawal Symptoms
At this point, the body is unable to produce the dopamine necessary to keep the body feeling normal, so the individual feels intense pain. This pain is usually described as muscle aches, bone chills, sweats, restless leg syndrome, lower back pain and restlessness, and sensitive and painful skin, just to name a few symptoms.
Depending on the intensity of the opiate withdrawal symptoms, the chances for relapse can be slim or very high. The painful withdrawal symptoms caused by opiates are the reason so many people have such a hard time getting off of the drug. They may not want to be on opiates mentally, but their body physically needs them in order to feel good. In some rare cases when the opiate withdrawal symptoms are so bad from the individual’s high tolerance, death can occur.
Opiate Withdrawal treatments
Many treatments have been created to suppress opiate withdrawal symptoms to allow the addicted person to more easily get off of the drugs but often the problem remains the same only with a different drug. For example, Methadone is one common treatment that many opiate addicts turn to for getting clean, however, when they stop taking Methadone, the withdrawal symptoms from it can be intense as well, sometimes more intense and painful than the withdrawals from heroin or morphine that the individual was originally addicted to. So in this case, one problem just leads to another similar problem with a different drug.
Another more successful and effective drug for treating opiate addiction is Suboxone. Suboxone is unique from other treatments because it contains a mixture of chemicals that are designed to simply take away the opiate withdrawal symptoms and make the person feel normal. Suboxone is a partial opioid agonist while Methadone is a full opioid agonist. This prevents the individual from getting “high” and reduces the risks of Suboxone abuse.
The chemicals in Suboxone are Buprenorphine and Naloxone. The buprenorphine delivers a calming effect on the central nervous system and partially activates the opioid receptors in the brain while the naloxone acts to reduce the full effect of the buprenorphine to keep the person from getting high and craving more.
Final thought
If taken correctly and as directed by a Suboxone Doctor, Suboxone can be very effective at treating opiate addiction and opiate withdrawals. However, it’s important to taper off of the drug in order to lower your tolerance over time to prevent having painful and long-lasting Suboxone withdrawals which can almost be as bad as heroin, oxycontin, or morphine withdrawals.