Coping with Opioid Withdrawal: Tips and Strategies

Are there any good tips for coping with opioid withdrawal? Is there really one thing that can make the opiate withdrawal process more tolerable?

People suffering from heroin addiction are very familiar with the terror of heroin withdrawal. At some point, a heroin user runs out of heroin and is unable to get more.

Just a few hours after the last heroin use, opiate detox begins to take place. Withdrawal symptoms start out as being moderately unpleasant, and then they quickly become severe and intolerable.

There is one thing that makes opioid withdrawal symptoms go away almost immediately. Unfortunately, that one thing is using an opioid drug.

For example, if a heroin user is experiencing severe opiate withdrawal symptoms, and they are given more heroin, the acute withdrawal resolves in minutes. however, now the heroin addict as that much further away from overcoming opioid dependence and drug addiction.

What Can Help With Coping With Opioid Withdrawal, Other Than Using More Opioids?

Anyone with an opioid addiction who has attended an addiction treatment center is likely familiar with treatments for withdrawal symptoms. Various medications, known as “comfort meds” are used to make the withdrawal syndrome more tolerable.

Some substance abuse treatment programs use medications such as clonidine. Clonidine is a blood pressure medication that happens to reduce the severity of heroin withdrawal symptoms and other opioid withdrawal symptoms.

Read more: What Are the Stages of Opioid Withdrawal?

Clonidine is effective for many people struggling to overcome opiate addiction, but it is limited by side effects. If a rehab client with opioid use disorder takes too much clonidine, their blood pressure may dangerously drop.

Another medication that may be used to ease withdrawal symptoms caused by quitting opiates is gabapentin. This anti-seizure drug has been used to treat chronic pain and drug withdrawal.

Health professionals must take care in prescribing gabapentin, because it may have some abuse potential. Drug users may combine gabapentin with opioid medication as a form of drug abuse, taking advantage of the fact that gabapentin may potentiate, or increase, the effects of other drugs.

Gabapentin may also be useful in treating alcohol withdrawal. In fact, alcohol withdrawal shares some elements in common with opiate withdrawal, though alcohol detox is a more dangerous process.

Read more: Opiate VS Opioid. What is the difference?

Are There Opioids That Are Safe To Take To Stop The Opioid Withdrawal Timelines?

Medication assisted treatment for opioid addiction often uses an opioid to help stop illicit drug use with street opioids. Methadone is an example of an opioid used to treat fentanyl addiction, heroin addiction, and prescription drug addiction.

Read more: Do Opioids Affect Heart Rate or Blood Pressure? Do Opiates Raise Blood pressure?

Buprenorphine is another opioid that is used, similarly to methadone. One difference is that bupe is also an opioid blocker, so doctors use the clinical opiate withdrawal scale (COWS) to determine when it is safe to start treatment without causing precipitated withdrawal.

While these opioids will continue the opioid physical dependence, they can give the opioid addicted person a chance to recover from the psychological dependence on opioids.

Suboxone is a brand of buprenorphine that contains both bupe and naloxone. The Suboxone sublingual films are prescribed to patients on a weekly or monthly basis as an effective form of addiction medicine.

Read more: Fake Pills: A Serious Danger For Opiate and Opioid Users

So, What Is The One Thing That May Be The Best Way To Deal With Opiate Withdrawal?

The above treatments discussed are effective and should be implemented as individual treatment plans for patients who will benefit from them. Interestingly, there is a medication that is approved by the FDA for treating opioid withdrawal symptoms that is currently underutilized by doctors.

The drug is known by its brand name, Lucemyra. Lucemyra is chemically related to clonidine.

In fact, many addiction specialists don’t bother prescribing Lucemyra, because they believe that it is simply an overpriced version of clonidine. They choose to prescribe clonidine, because it is an older, much cheaper drug.

What these addiction doctors may not be aware of is that Lucemyra does have a significant advantage over clonidine. This advantage can make all the difference in how effective the drug is in reducing the effects of opiate withdrawal.

Clonidine is limited by its effects on blood pressure. Most patients will only take it two to three times daily, because taking more will increase the likelihood of a low blood pressure event.

Patients who already have issues with low blood pressure must be additionally cautious with clonidine. Low blood pressure episodes can range from annoying to life-threatening.

What if clonidine could provide its effective reduction in withdrawal symptom severity without lowering blood pressure so much? This is where Lucemyra shines.

Lucemyra was originally developed as a blood pressure drug, but it did not work well at lowering blood pressure at all. Researchers discovered, however, that it was effective for treating opioid withdrawal symptoms.

In fact, the lack of efficacy in lowering blood pressure is a positive feature of Lucemyra. Lucemyra can be taken more often throughout the day, without as much concern regarding lowering blood pressure.

Read More: Does Methadone Cause High Blood Pressure? Should I Be Concerned About This?

Is Lucemyra an effective detox accepted at Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings?

First of all, people who want the most effective opioid addiction treatment should not necessarily worry to much about what is acceptable by 12-step groups. These groups date back to the early 20th century, and are often behind the times on modern medical addiction treatments.

Narcotics Anonymous, specifically, is against any use of medications in treating addiction. They have no opinion on medical treatment in general, until it is used to treat addiction.

Lucemyra is a non-controlled drug with no abuse potential. No one has ever become addicted to, or dependent on Lucemyra.

This medication should be accepted by NA group leaders, yet it is possible that they will have strong opinions about any drug prescribed to help with addiction therapy. However, this does not mean that a patient who takes Lucemyra should avoid 12-step meetings.

Medical treatment is a private issue, and there is no reason why someone who takes Lucemyra should reveal this fact in a public 12-step meeting. In fact, even if a person takes methadone, Suboxone, naltrexone, or any other addiction treatment drug, they should not feel compelled to reveal their prescribed medications.

Fortunately, there are newer, more modern group meetings that have no position for or against medical addiction treatment. For example, SMART Recovery is a science-based program that utilizes cognitive behavioral therapy.

Today, there are many options for treating opioid addiction, including heroin addiction, fentanyl addiction, and prescription drug addiction. Individuals looking for help in overcoming opioid addiction can make their own decisions about what will work best for them in their unique circumstances. We also provide alcoholism treatment, sublocade treatment, and subutex treatment.

For Florida residents, from Port St. Lucie to Miami, please contact us if you are interested in learning more about how medical treatment can help with Opiate Withdrawal Treatment in Fort Lauderdale.