Getting Over An Addiction To Opiates

A person can develop an addiction to opiates for many different reasons.  For instance, if a person is badly injured in an accident and is then prescribed strong opium-based painkillers by a doctor, after the injured has healed, that person may find that they still crave the feelings that they experienced whilst ingesting the strong painkillers. Alternatively, a person may just randomly decide to purchase some street drugs with an opium-base and then before they know it, they have a full-blown opiate addiction. No matter what route a person goes down to develop an addiction to opiates, he or she will almost certainly need professional help in order to overcome his or her addiction.

When an addicted individual is unable to gain access to opiates, there is a high probability that he or she will become physically ill. The individual may feel like they have a very bad case of the flu. Furthermore, the individual will be able to focus on nothing else apart from how good they would feel if they did get their opiate fix. Consequently, quitting opiates can be very hard. However, there are several medications which can significantly help someone who is addicted to opiates become clean.

After detoxing from opiates, an addict will almost definitely still struggle with thoughts about taking opiates on a daily basis. After all, opiates are incredibly effective pain killing drugs. In order to prevent a relapse, a recovering addict needs to avoid anyone who still uses the drug. Furthermore, doctors need to ensure that they do prescribe recovering addicts any narcotic painkillers in the future.

A stay at a residential rehab treatment facility is arguably the best way to quit opiates. That said, after detoxing, a recovering addict needs to be very strong in order to avoid a relapse. Furthermore, a recovering addict needs to have a good support system in place and avoid people who may enable any sort of future drug use.