Opiate Detox Overview
Opiate detox is the process by which one detoxes from the effects of opiates such as heroin, methadone, vicodin, oxycontin, percocet and many more.
What are opiates?
Opiates are addictive. Heroin is the of the most common, illegal, and highly addictive opiate. It is both the most abused and the most rapidly acting of the opiates.
This drug is a derivative of morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from opium poppy plant. Usually sold as a white or brownish powder, new variants of heroin have appeared on the street, such as the black sticky substance, "black tar heroin." This substance is then either injected, snorted or smoked. Most users prefer the immediate rush of intravenous use, as it usually only takes seven or eight seconds for euphoria to set in after injection. Comparatively, snorting heroin makes users wait for up to eight minutes, and smokers may have to wait up to 20 minutes for the high to set it.
Most street heroin is cut with strychnine or other poisons. Heroin abusers are not aware of the drug's true contents, and are often at risk of overdose and death. Heroin users also risk infection with HIV/AIDS or hepatitis, when sharing needles with infected addicts.
There are also other ‘latent' opiates. Codeine pills, for example, are considered an opiate even when they can be purchased legally to patients who have undergone surgery. These addictive pills can easily be passed around between friends and family members. Many people – especially post-trauma patients – become physically dependant on them and don't realize it until it's too late. Morphine, Demerol also works like codeine.
How opiate detox helps
Heroin addicts need to undergo an opiate detox before they take themselves completely off a prescription or illegal drug like heroin, especially if they have been using it for prolonged periods of time.
Opiate detox can be done in a facility or in a patient's own home. It is always recommended that patients do it at a center.
However, if financial constraints or other issues make it impossible for a patient to enroll in a center, there is still another option – outpatient opiate detoxification. Many high-profile people or patients who lose their jobs if they enroll fulltime in a center can now undergo guided home detox.
Opiate detox professionals are able to help patients while keeping everything private. If a patient is married, the spouse will also be able to help him or her go through the opiate detox process in their own home. Under this kind of treatment, a patient is required to visit back to the rehabilitation clinic everyday. He or she is never given more than one day's worth of their prescription, and is required to attend routine meetings. Both stay-in and outpatient opiate detox programs last about two months.
What can happen without opiate detox?
Without an opiate detox, opiate addicts can go into deep sleep, depression, become solely dependant on the drug, isolate themselves, lose their jobs, or become harmful to themselves or others. The sooner you or someone you know admits the addiction, do the sooner the recovery.
