Opiate Addiction Treatment: The Sooner, the Better

When you start taking pain relief medications, it may never occur to you that you could one day need opiate addiction treatment, especially if your meds have been prescribed and are being used for a legitimate purpose in the beginning. Yet, an increasing number of individuals enter treatment for addiction to painkillers. Here’s why:

• Tolerance for opiates is quickly built, meaning those using them have to take more and more to find relief from their pain.
• Withdrawal symptoms begin to occur within 12 hours of the last ingestion, and they become severe as withdrawal progresses, so it’s difficult to just stop taking them on one’s own.
• The deep relaxation and slowing down obtained with the use of opiates is appealing to those who simply want to experience the high associated with opiate painkillers. That’s why some individuals try to obtain painkillers illegally, without a prescription.

When an individual refills prescriptions more frequently than necessary or borrows the medication from others to supplement his or her own prescription, it’s time to consider the possibility of opiate addiction – and the sooner the better. Walking into the depths of opiate withdrawal can mean exhibiting desperate behavior in order to get the drug, irritability that can escalate into violence, or accidents like car crashes or serious falls.

Treatment for Opiate Addiction Requires Holistic Approach

Once withdrawal symptoms are evident, seeking treatment for opiate addiction is in order. Before acute withdrawal sets in, some of the first signs of addiction are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, depression and insomnia. It’s important to find a drug addiction treatment center with expertise in handling a variety of specific addictions, since treatment may differ depending on the substance. Heroin addiction treatment will differ from opiate addiction treatment, for instance, and meth addiction treatment will likely be different from cocaine addiction treatment.

Detoxification is likely to be the first phase of treatment for an individual addicted to opiates. It’s important to go through this process with professionals trained in opiate withdrawal, especially if symptoms are acute, such as intense anxiety, severe leg cramps, chills, and relentless restlessness. Symptoms could be present for several weeks or even months. The two primary goals of a qualified detox program are (1) protect the brain from seizures; and (2) make the client comfortable.  Skilled addiction experts can get people through withdrawal as comfortably as possible, sometimes with the help of non-opiate drugs that help relieve the most severe withdrawal symptoms.

It’s important that more than just the addiction and withdrawal symptoms are treated in recovery. If opiates were used for pain relief, it will be important to find a treatment center that can helps clients learn how to deal with pain in non-addictive ways. In addition, finding a facility that offers a wide variety of therapeutic remedies and considers treatment of the whole person will help assure not only long-term abstinence but also a full and rewarding life moving forward.

Our Opiate Addiction Treatment Plans Are Integrated, Holistic

We provide a detox program that protects the client’s brain from seizures and helps take opiate abusers through the challenging symptoms of withdrawal.  In some cases the medications are used to help ease the intensity of symptoms.  We also offer residential treatment, partial hospitalization program and an Intensive Outpatient Program.

We are versed in all forms of drug treatment, including marijuana addiction treatment, benzodiazepine addiction treatment, and Xanax addiction treatment, as well as treatment for other common drug addictions.  In fact, Anaheim Lighthouse provides a wide array of programs and therapies to address the overall disease of addiction, including alcohol addiction treatment.

We are staffed around the clock to assure the safety and comfort of our clients in opiate addiction treatment.  Our holistic approach assures that the whole person is treated, and not just the addiction and withdrawal symptoms.  Diet, exercise, and spiritual healing are important aspects of our integrated treatment plans, as well as family counseling when appropriate.

Get in touch with our Southern California drug and alcohol rehab directly. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, call us at (877) 959-5909.