How Opiate Detox Works
According to a report, many of the Detox centers across United States report that upto 75% of the addicts who enroll with them are addicted to painkillers. Thus painkiller addiction has overtaken Heroin addiction as the number one cause of addiction in the country. A majority of painkillers are made, or have in some quantities, opium, and are commonly known as opiates. Incidentally, opium is also the major constituent of heroin, and is responsible for giving the high, and the real cause of addiction behind these opiates.
When opium is taken in certain quantities, what it does is numb the brain receptors that register pain and as a result, the person simply stops feeling pain. Thus such drugs (those containing opium) are prescribed to people who suffer from acute pain. These are prescribed drugs and need to be taken strictly under medical supervision. There have also been instances of people consuming heroin as it gave them instant relief from certain pain that they had been suffering. But the down side to this is that opium is highly addictive.
Studies have found that a majority that opt for opiate detox are addicted accidentally. Most of them were prescribed opiates by their doctors for pain that they were suffering from. However, many continued to use them even after they were asked to stop, or they went on taking higher doses without their doctor's consent. This was because opiates give instant relief from acute pain that these people were suffering, and once you get hooked to opium, it's a bit difficult to discontinue its use. The brain starts building resistance to opium; as a result, you need an additional amount of drug for the same effect. Also, the brain has now got used to certain chemicals that are released as a result of taking such opiates, and if their use is discontinued, there develops a chemical imbalance in the body, which is very painful, as is known as the withdrawal symptom.
Thus after a point, you are not able to kick off these drugs even if you want to. And every time the effect of these drugs wears off, the withdrawal symptoms make you crave for the drug, and you need to have your daily 'fix' in order to carry on. The effect is more or less the same for people dependent on opiates like hydrocodone, oxycontin, heroin, percocet, etc. These people find it extremely difficult to kick off the habit even if they want to, and this is when they need to seek professional help to help them come out of their addiction.
Such addicts need to enroll for special medical treatment or a detox program for opiates, where they are under supervision of expert doctors, who understand all the implications of opiate addiction, and who can help them out of this in a safe manner, within a controlled environment. However, enrolling for an opiate detox center is not an easy choice, and it requires great determination on the part of the addict to take such a decision, as well as help from friends and family members. An effective program needs to take into consideration that such addicts will have least resistance against the pain of withdrawals, and should give proper psychological treatment, along with the medical treatment. In fact, treating opiate addiction needs a complete holistic approach and more than anything, only giving the addicts some medical drugs will not suffice. Such programs need to understand the anxiety of the patients, and offer them a complete treatment regime to help them overcome their addiction. It has been observed that in absence of such treatments, an addict is likely to slip back into taking opiates even on the slightest trigger.