What is Rapid Opiate Detox?
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, rapid opiate detox, also known as the ultrarapid detox technique, came into being about 15 years ago by clinicians who wanted to alleviate the discomfort of withdrawal from opiates. Through rapid opiate detox a person will be given an anesthetic and will be sedated for several hours while an opiate blocker advances withdrawal.
Rapid opiate detox will quickly remove opiates from a person’s body and it will cause them to detox quickly. The reason a person is put to sleep while their body is detoxing is because of the amount of stress their body would undergo if they were awake. It usually takes a person a week to go through the physical withdrawals of opiates once they begin detoxing, and while they are detoxing their body will slowly flush out any opiates in their system. With a rapid opiate detox this process is expedited, meaning that a person’s body will do a week’s worth of detox in several hours’ time.
The Problems with Rapid Opiate Detox
In this process the individual is put under anesthesia to endure opiate withdrawal symptoms.
Rapid opiate detox will quickly rid a person’s body of opiates while they are under anesthesia, and for many people this idea is pleasant since they think hey will be cured of their addiction after a few hours of sleep. However, that is not the case because addiction is a brain disease that will take time to heal.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, according to a NIDA funded clinical trial it was found that patients addicted to heroin that went through anesthesia-assisted rapid detox suffer from the same withdrawal symptoms as those who went through detoxification from traditional methods.
When a person goes through a rapid detox, even though they are sleeping, the process is still extremely stressful. Most people who wake up after a rapid detox are very weak and tired. Moreover, a rapid detox does not mean that a person is cured from their addiction; it only means that they no longer have opiates in their system. A person who has an opiate addiction will still have strong drug cravings and will still need to go through therapy and see a psychiatrist to deal with any psychological withdrawals.
Rapid opiate detox can also be dangerous and can cause a person to have seizures or experience heart failure. In addition, rapid opiate detox is not covered by any insurance and it does not help people recover from an addiction quicker.
