For many people and families, the holiday season kicks daily life into another gear; a time of year where the needs and desires of others take center stage. Naturally, stress levels rise as friends and loved ones hustle to work holiday preparations into their everyday schedules.

Under these conditions, someone struggling with opiate dependence faces certain risks in terms of being able to manage his or her drug intake from day to day. If you’re not careful, an opiate dependence can quickly turn into an opiate addiction without your even knowing it. Understanding how opiate dependence turns into opiate addiction can go a long way towards stopping the addiction cycle in its tracks.

How Opiates Work

Opiates include a large class of drugs ranging from prescription pain medications to heroin. Regardless of the type, these drugs work to block pain signals from reaching the brain. Opiates do this by forcing the release of neurotransmitter chemicals throughout the brain, and slowing central nervous system functions, according to the U. S. National Library of Medicine. Over time, the brain alters its own chemical processes to accommodate opiate effects. Both opiate dependence and opiate addiction develop out of these effects.

5 Ways Opiate Addiction Can Develop Over the Holidays

Holiday stress can lead to opiate addiction.

1. Stress

It’s not uncommon for people to abuse opiates as a means for relieving stress. While this may work initially, the longer you keep using opiates the less powerful their effects.

As the holiday season unfolds, a person may come to rely on opiate effects in order to cope with mounting pressures. The actual behavior or routine of taking a pill in response to stress, coupled with the anticipated relief the drug brings mark the beginnings of the opiate addiction cycle.

2. Increasing Tolerance Levels

Opiates trigger the release of neurotransmitter chemicals at individual brain cell sites. With frequent use, these chemical-producing cells undergo gradual structural damage, which accounts for the drug’s weakening effects. In turn, cells require increasingly larger doses in order to produce the anticipated effects of the drug.

In effect, the brain’s tolerance levels continue to increase with ongoing opiate use. These developments allow for a “smooth” transition from opiate dependence to opiate addiction.

3. Worsening Withdrawal Effects

With opiate dependence, the brain and body require the drug’s effects to function normally. Withdrawal effects become a sure sign that opiate dependency is at work.

Increasing drug use during the holidays will only bring on more severe withdrawal effects, which in turn prompts more frequent drug use at increasingly larger dosage levels. At this rate, the mind soon comes to depend on opiates to cope with day-to-day events, which is the hallmark of addiction.

4. Holiday Get-Togethers

The parties and get-togethers that take place during the holiday season provide ample opportunities to engage in drug-using behaviors. This, coupled with the cycle of drug use already taking place can easily tip the scales towards opiate addiction.

5. Psychological Impact

According to the University of New York at Buffalo, opiate addiction warps a person’s psychological make-up and overall character, stripping away the individual and everything he or she enjoys. As opiate addiction sets in, a person’s priorities shift. Getting and using opiates takes center stage while the overall meaning of the holiday season fades into the background.

If you’re struggling with opiate dependence this holiday season and have further questions or concerns about addiction, please feel free to call our toll-free helpline at  800-442-6158 Who Answers?  for more information.

As one of the fastest growing addictions in the United States, heroin addictions take a tremendous toll on the brain and body. Heroin, the strongest of the opioid drugs, takes hold of the brain’s regulatory processes quickly, creating a state of physical dependency in little to no time.

More often than not, fear of withdrawal keeps many people from even considering going through opioid withdrawal treatment. Not surprisingly, many of the most appalling symptoms of heroin addiction appear in full force during the opioid withdrawal treatment process.

Without needed treatment help, symptoms will only get worse in severity making it all the more difficult to follow through on any desire to get well. Opioid withdrawal treatment programs work to reduce symptom severity and equip you with the tools needed to maintain abstinence and improve your daily life.

Heroin Effects in the Brain

Heroin interacts with the brain in the same way as most all opioid drugs, slowing chemical processes throughout the brain as well as most all major bodily systems. In effect, heroin attaches to opioid brain cell receptor sites and forces the release of endorphin chemicals, such as dopamine and serotonin, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

With repeated and frequent drug use, these interactions cause damage to cell receptor sites. In the process, these sites grow dependent on heroin’s effects to produce neurotransmitter chemicals on their own and regulate the body’s functions.

Before long, chemical imbalances start to develop throughout the brain and body. Ultimately, symptoms of heroin addiction begin and end with the brain’s ability to manage neurotransmitter production processes.

Heroin Addiction Effects

With frequent heroin use, the brain’s state of chemical imbalance reaches a point where problems start to develop within the brain’s reward system. This critical area relies on stable levels of dopamine to function normally. This area of the brain also determines what types of things motivate a person’s behaviors and priorities.

Over time, heroin’s effects on dopamine levels reconfigure reward system functions, making heroin a primary motivation in a person’s daily life. Once heroin addiction set in, users become obsessed with getting and using the drug, which accounts for the obvious changes in behavior, priorities and overall lifestyle addicts make.

Ways of Using Heroin

More than a few of the appalling symptoms of heroin addiction develop out of the various ways the drug is used. Heroin can be smoked, snorted and injected. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, over time, any one of these routes of ingestion cause considerable damage to the areas most affected.

The different ways of using heroin also produce varying effects in terms of how quickly addiction sets in. As injecting produces the most intense “high” effect, addiction sets in more quickly when using this route on a regular basis. From there, smoking and then snorting produce less intense effects.

Appalling Symptoms of Heroin Addiction

Hostility is a common symptom of heroin addiction.

Physical Symptoms

Physical symptoms of heroin addiction can vary depending on the method of use:

• Smoking – hacking cough, burn marks on the mouth and fingers, sores on the lips or nostrils
• Snorting – nosebleeds, persistent nasal congesting
• Injecting – needle marks, bruises, abscesses, infections

In general, heroin’s effects on the body can bring on frequent flu-like symptoms, such as vomiting, fever and achiness. Heroin’s effects can also leave the skin itchy and dry, which leads to sores and scabs from constant scratching and skin picking.

Behavioral Symptoms

The more appalling behavioral symptoms of heroin addiction entail how a person treats others as well as how one treat’s his or herself. Heroin’s effects in the brain essentially “fry” a person’s emotions causing mood swings, angry outbursts and hostility towards others in general. Someone addicted to heroin will also tend to neglect personal hygiene and grooming practices and may not bathe or change his or her clothes for days on end.

Opioid Withdrawal Treatment

While heroin withdrawal can be quite uncomfortable, opioid withdrawal treatment works to reduce symptom discomfort, and help you start the process of working through the underlying issues that drive addiction behaviors. Using a combination of medication therapies, behavioral treatment interventions and support group work, patients leave opioid withdrawal treatment with a solid footing in the recovery process.

Medication Therapies

Heroin addiction can cause considerable damage to brain cell structures that persists for months or years into the recovery process. Consequently, recovering addicts stand to experience residual withdrawal effects and strong drug cravings for as long as it takes for the brain to return to normal. Under these conditions, a person remains at high risk of relapse.

For these reasons, opioid withdrawal treatment programs offer medication therapies to help support damaged cell structures and restore a normal chemical balance in the brain, according to the U. S. National Library of Medicine. Medications commonly used include:

• LAMM
• Methadone
• Suboxone
• Subutex
• Clonidine

In effect, medication therapies help a person feel more like his or herself and better able to re-engage with everyday life, such as resuming work, attending to family and enjoying life overall.

Behavioral-Based Treatments

While medication therapies treat the physical effects of heroin addiction, opioid withdrawal treatment programs use behavioral interventions to address the psychological aftereffects of addiction.

Behavioral interventions help you replace addiction-based thinking and behavior with healthy behaviors, habits, routines and an overall drug-free mindset. This line of treatment also helps you develop coping strategies for managing everyday stressors and overcoming urges to use heroin.

Behavioral-based treatments commonly used include:

• Group therapy
• Individual psychotherapy
• Drug education
• Drug counseling
• Motivational therapy

Support Group Work

Support group work plays a vital role within the opioid withdrawal treatment process, providing day-to-day guidance and instruction on how to overcome the pull of heroin addiction. Most support groups employ the 12-Step model, which incorporates a step-by-step personal development plan that acts as an overall roadmap for recovery. In addition, support groups provide opportunities for talking through the challenges of staying drug-free and receiving support and guidance along the way.

Considerations

Opioid withdrawal treatment provides you with the much needed time and space to focus on getting well. Time in treatment also creates a needed distance between you and the people, places and activities that “support” or encourage drug-use.

If you’re struggling with a heroin addiction and considering opioid withdrawal treatment, please feel free to call our toll-free helpline at 800-442-6158 Who Answers?  for more information on treatment programs in your area.

Clonidine is a drug in the medication class of centrally acting alpha-agonist hypotensive agents, according to the National Library of Medicine. It is often used as a medication to treat high blood pressure, but it is also the most common pharmacological treatment for opioid withdrawal (as well as several other withdrawal syndromes). It is not, however, a full method of treatment for addiction itself.

Clonidine’s Effectiveness as Withdrawal Treatment

The drug not only is the leading medication for opioid withdrawal, but it can also be used to treat alcohol withdrawal and as “an aid in smoking cessation therapy.” Because of clonidine’s calming effects on the body, it helps to minimize many of the symptoms commonly experienced during withdrawal, such as:

• Anxiety
• Agitation
• Sweating
• Muscle and bone aches
• Runny nose
• Abdominal cramping
• Restlessness

Though it can sometimes increase the amount of diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting one would experience during withdrawal, these symptoms can often be minimized with another medication. Clonidine is very effective in treating many withdrawal syndromes, and as such, is still used more commonly for this purpose than any other drug, including methadone and buprenorphine.

However, the National Institute on Drug Abuse states, “Treating withdrawal is not the same as treating addiction,” and medically-assisted detox, or the process of managing withdrawal symptoms while the individual becomes less and less dependent on the drug, is only the beginning of the addiction treatment process.

Why Is Clonidine Not a Treatment for Addiction?

Clonidine can help relieve withdrawal symptoms.

Clonidine is an exceptional medication for minimizing withdrawal symptoms from alcohol, opioids, and nicotine, but it does not itself treat addiction. First and foremost, this is because it cannot manage the cravings caused when addicted individuals attempt to stop abusing their drug of choice. These cravings instead can be decreased with certain pharmaceuticals for different substances (such as methadone and buprenorphine for opioids, nicotine replacements for nicotine, and naltrexone and acamprosate for alcohol).

Clonidine is also not an official treatment for addiction because, as stated previously, going through detox is not the same as going through addiction treatment. If a person successfully ends their dependence on a drug, this can be wonderful, but it does not mean their addiction is gone. Addiction is a compulsive need to seek out the drug, whereas dependence often occurs when any habit-forming drug is taken over a long period of time, even under a doctor’s care.

How Effective is Clonidine in Addiction Treatment?

In the first stage of treatment, or during medically assisted withdrawal, clonidine can be very beneficial. However, sometimes patients who are severely dependent on opioids need a stronger substance even during withdrawal, and as stated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, methadone may be needed for opioid withdrawal treatment in this case. As part of the same issue, other drugs may be needed to treat serious dependence or intense withdrawal symptoms, such as benzodiazepines for alcohol withdrawal, etc.

Clonidine is effective in treating certain levels of withdrawal during the first stage of addiction rehab, also called detoxification. But one should never count on this medication to treat their entire addiction syndrome because it would not be effective for this task.

With opiate addiction on the rise, a growing number of people have come to search for information on treatment options, staying sober in the future, and much more.

The abuse of opiates – such as morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, and heroin –is extremely dangerous. On the surface, this does not always appear to be the case. The reason for this is simple: these types of drugs are prescribed by medical professionals to treat pain. For this reason, it is easy to believe that the drugs cannot be that dangerous.

Before we discuss the finer details of opiate addiction treatment, let’s take a closer look at some of the statistics that prove the seriousness of this problem. Here is a passage shared by the National Institute on Drug Abuse:

“It is estimated that between 26.4 million and 36 million people abuse opioids worldwide, with an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012 and an estimated 467,000 addicted to heroin.”

These numbers should open your eyes to just how big of a problem this has become.

Treatment Facts

Behavioral counseling helps with opiate addiction.

While there is nothing good about an opiate addiction, it is important to understand one thing: treatment options do exist. If you or a loved one goes down this path, if you don’t know what to do next, it is imperative to consider one of the many treatment options that are currently available. Choosing the right strategy at the right time can help you overcome an addiction and regain control of your life.

Here are several facts associated with opiate addiction treatment:

• There is more than one option available for effectively treating opiate addiction. This is good news for anybody dealing with an addiction, as they should be able to find a strategy that puts them on the right path to a better future. Some of the most commonly prescribed medications for the treatment of opiate addiction include methadone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine.
• Behavioral counseling has been proven effective for opiate addiction. As important as it may be to deal with the physical side of addiction, it is also essential for people to focus on what this does to their brain. This is where behavioral counseling comes into play. With one on one and group therapy, people with an addiction can learn more about their problem, and most importantly, how to avoid relapse in the future.
• Treatment typically begins with detoxification. This is the process of withdrawing from the drug, both mentally and physically. There is nothing comfortable about detoxification, but it goes a long way in helping a person overcome his or her addiction. Even more important is the way that this helps prevent relapse.

Harvard Medical School touches on this subject in great detail, noting that detoxification may not be a solution on its own, but it is necessary for a variety of reasons, such as avoiding relapse.

Some of the symptoms associated with opiate detoxification include tremors, agitation, anxiety, muscle aches, nausea, hot and cold flashes, diarrhea, and vomiting.

It is not uncommon for a withdrawal reaction to last one week or longer. Fortunately, once this part of the treatment process comes to an end, the person is in good position to move forward and complete the rest of their rehabilitation.

• Support groups do exist. It doesn’t matter if you are currently battling an opiate addiction or are attempting to keep this out of your life forever, there are support groups that can help. For example, SMART Recovery and Narcotics Anonymous have been proven successful in the past. These groups make it simple for people to get the help they need, without being judged, to ensure that they give themselves the best chance of success.

Getting Started is Often the Hardest Part

Along with the four facts detailed above, there is something else you need to remember: getting started is often the hardest part of overcoming an opiate addiction. You know that you need to change your life. You realize that now is the time to do so. However, there is more to this than simply saying you will change.

Getting started means that you are ready to change your life forever. An opiate addiction may have controlled your mind and body for quite some time, but this doesn’t mean you have to remain on this path in the future. Once you understand the facts and figures, once you realize that treatment options exist, you can put yourself in position to overcome your addiction once and for all.

These clear and unbiased facts about opiate addiction treatment will allow you to approach this difficult time in the appropriate manner. In the end, what matters most is that you receive the treatment you need to beat this addiction and prevent it from causing trouble again.

Opiates do not cause life-threatening withdrawal effects. Although the symptoms of the opioid withdrawal syndrome can be incredibly uncomfortable, they seldom become complicated or dangerous. However, it is still important to seek professional treatment for opiate withdrawal for many reasons, the greatest of which is that dependence on these drugs is often is an indicator of abuse and addiction, which must also be treated medically.

Many People Choose to Withdraw from Opiates Without Medical Assistance

It is not the safest choice to do so, but many people do choose to gradually minimize their dependence on opioids by tapering the drug on their own and without a health professional’s assistance. In addition, other individuals decide to stop taking the drugs altogether when attempting to withdraw, a method called going “cold turkey” which, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, was coined based on the goose bumps and chills these individuals experience.

Many individuals make this choice because they either feel that they do not need medical assistance for their withdrawal syndrome or because they do not believe they can afford medical help. This is untrue, as many treatment options exist that are low-cost for patients with financial problems, and even though opioid withdrawal isn’t usually dangerous, it can become more so if it is not properly treated.

Opiate Withdrawal is Painful––and Can Cause Relapse

Though not fatal, the symptoms caused by opioid withdrawal are often so intense, painful, and uncomfortable that many individuals who attempt to stop abusing opioids return to drug abuse to end their symptoms. This can be incredibly dangerous, as it perpetuates the cycle of abuse and can possibly become deadly.

As stated by the National Library of Medicine, “The biggest complication [with the treatment of opioid withdrawal] is return to drug use. Most opiate overdose deaths occur in persons who have just withdrawn or detoxed.”  This is because a person’s tolerance diminishes while they are attempting to withdraw, causing them to be more likely to overdose if they relapse back to drug abuse.

In medically assisted withdrawal treatment, patients are given medication that treats and minimizes their symptoms, decreasing the intensity of the syndrome and making them less likely to return to drug abuse. According to the NIDA, “medications offer help in suppressing withdrawal symptoms during detoxification,” greatly decreasing the possibility of a person returning to opioid abuse because of the intensity of their withdrawal symptoms.

Medically Assisted Withdrawal Opens the Door to Addiction Treatment

Many individuals also are in danger of relapse after their withdrawal symptoms begin to subside because they did not receive the treatment necessary for their addiction to opioids. It is important to note that “medically assisted detoxification is not in itself ‘treatment’––it is only the first step in the treatment process,” and many individuals do not realize this if they don’t receive medical help for their withdrawal symptoms. Someone who withdraws from opioids is no longer dependent on them but may still be addicted to them. This is why addiction treatment is a necessary follow-up to detox, something the medical staff that cares for detox patients fully understands.

Therefore, if you attend withdrawal treatment, you will be more likely to receive the further treatments you require and less likely to relapse. As stated previously, this is necessary, not only because relapse is an issue but because tolerances diminish after and during withdrawal, leading those who do relapse to a stronger likelihood of overdose.

Medication Must Be Prescribed by a Doctor

Opiate withdrawal is a painful process.

Some individuals do attempt to taper off the amount of opioid drugs they are using or abusing in order to experience less intense withdrawal symptoms and to avoid professional help. This is also very unsafe. Opioids can only be safely prescribed by a doctor, and no one should change their prescription amount without discussing it with their physician. For individuals who are already abusing these drugs, it is dangerous to attempt to taper off the amount themselves, as this can possibly cause relapse as well.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration states, “Management of [opiate] withdrawal without medications can produce needless suffering in a population that tends to have limited tolerance for physical pain.” The only way to safely––and legally––take opioids is through a doctor’s care so it is very important for those attempting to treat their opioid withdrawal by tapering off their dosage amount or taking a medication such as buprenorphine or methadone to only do so through with physician’s prescription.

Should I Seek Professional Treatment for Opiate Withdrawal?

By all accounts, yes. It is much safer and more beneficial to the patient to seek help during the difficult time of opioid withdrawal. Even if you have financial issues or other problems with seeking treatment, it can be assured that it will be much safer to do so and that you can find help at a treatment center, doctor’s office, or another type of professional healthcare option where you can receive the type of treatment you need.

The only question is what type of treatment you should attend for opiate withdrawal. Generally, you can go by a few rules, but every individual is different.

• Most people undergoing opiate withdrawal do well in outpatient care. Afterwards, the healthcare professionals who treated you can help you find addiction treatment if necessary.
• If you are experiencing mental or physical issues associated with your drug abuse that cause you to require intensive care, if you do not have a strong support system at home, or if you are struggling with a severe addiction to opioids, you may want to consider inpatient or residential treatment.
• If you are not addicted to or abusing opioids and have only become dependent on them through prescribed treatment, it is important to speak to your physician about the best way to diminish your dependence on the medication. Likely, you will be slowly tapered off the drug under your doctor’s care.

Do You Want to Seek Treatment for Opiate Withdrawal?

Call 800-442-6158 Who Answers? today, and we can help you find rehab centers near you or answer any questions you may have regarding opiate withdrawal and its treatment.