Withdrawal From Drugs – Alcohol Treatment

Painkiller Withdrawal

Many people continue to use drugs because they dread going through painkiller withdrawal.  More and more people are becoming addicted to painkillers after having surgery or some sort of medical issue that requires them to take powerful painkillers, or opiates.  A lot of times people are hospitalized or in a long term recovery process at home taking large amounts of these narcotics. After they stop taking the drugs, they become very ill and have no idea that it is because they have become dependant on the substance and their body is craving more of it. If by chance they do figure out that they are sick because of painkiller withdrawal, they can chose to go through the withdrawal, or continue using the drug they have inadvertently become addicted to. Unfortunately it has become all too easy for people to get doctors to continue to write them prescriptions. All they have to do is go into the doctor’s office and tell them that they are still experiencing pain. The doctors have incentive because they get kick backs from the pharmaceutical companies for every time they sell a certain drug. Adding to the problem is that these types of transactions are seldom if ever monitored or pursued by the law, and doctors do not communicate across state lines as to who is getting what prescriptions and how often.

Not only do opiates give one a physical feeling of numbness, but they also can put the person into a euphoric state and a feeling of extreme comfort. Heroin is an opiate and has similar affects as painkillers such as OxyContin, morphine, codeine, methadone and pethidine, all of which are given to patients who may be experiencing pain. All of these drugs have just as bad or worse withdrawal symptoms as heroin.

Doctors and rehabilitation centers have brought methadone use to epidemic levels seemingly not taking into consideration the problems that can come with long term use of it. In many cases the symptoms of methadone withdrawal can be as bad as the withdrawal symptoms of the drug that the rehabilitation clinic is trying to wean the patient off of. Often this results in people having a very hard time stopping their dependence of methadone and becoming addicted to it.

People who are experiencing painkiller withdrawal will feel very ill, sick to their stomach, and they will be depressed. These can be debilitating symptoms and if a person has obligations such as work, school or children, they will be extremely hesitant to quit their drug and face not being able to function for the next few days to a week. It is important to get them to a place where they can be as comfortable as possible and have the least amount of temptation possible.