How to Manage Withdrawal Symptoms During Opioid Addiction Detox

When you’re seeking treatment for opioid addiction, your chances of recovery are very good when you have adequate support; however, the detox process of getting your body off the drugs is tricky and must be managed well.

When you try to detox on your own, your risk for failure is high; opioid addiction is extremely powerful. The providers at 2nd Chance Treatment Center explain more about why you can get a real chance to beat opioid addiction when you seek help for it and how we can help.

What is opioid addiction?

Opioid addiction often happens by accident. Many people are prescribed opioid-based painkillers, such as Percocet® or OxyContin®, to help them recover from surgery or an injury. But then, when their doctors say they’re fully recovered, they may still feel physically dependent on the drugs. Some people turn to more available sources of opioids, such as heroin. 

When you’re addicted to these substances, you feel physically ill when you stop taking them. You may experience vomiting, headaches, chills, sweating, irritability, anxiety, and blood pressure changes. All of these experiences tend to feel scary and make you feel like you’re out of control.

How to manage withdrawal symptoms

When you seek treatment at 2nd Chance Treatment Center, your first step after being admitted is a medically supervised detox period to get the drugs completely out of your system.

We can’t lie: this is rarely a fun process. You’ll have a few days of feeling generally awful, but you’ll gradually feel more normal the longer the drugs are out of your system.

We can prescribe withdrawal medications to help you feel a little more comfortable. But, in general, if you want your “detox” to stick, your best bet is to go through it with an experienced support provider who has done this many times before.

Moving on past detox

Once you have the drugs out of your system, that’s when your real work begins. You have to learn how to live without the presence of opioids in your body.

You’ll go through treatment with several different providers, who all see you as a patient from a holistic standpoint. You’ll have a psychiatrist, who prescribes antidepressants and possibly anti-anxiety medications. (Sometimes, these have to be changed, as we work to find the one that your body responds to the best.)

You’ll also have a personal therapist, whom you’ll see at least once a week but usually more often. This person can help you work through the past issues that may have led to your addiction so you can come up with alternative coping methods for your problems.

You’ll also go through group therapy with others who are also experiencing addiction treatment. We find this very helpful because you get to know more people who are going through the same things you are, which is usually pretty rare “on the outside.” They can relate to your struggles, offer input about your situation, and are supervised by a qualified therapist themselves.

If you or someone you love is addicted to opioids, know that hope is available. We can help you through the detox period as well as recovery, so you can get your life back. Call the providers at 2nd Chance Treatment Center, or request an appointment online.