Should i quit opiates cold turkey

It is more likely to occur following long-term, heavy alcohol use and is potentially fatal. Symptoms of acute alcohol withdrawal typically begin 6 to 24 hours after a person has their last drink. Some of these symptoms may include:. While the progression of symptoms varies from one person to the next, the severity of their symptoms can predict the risk of death.

Even drugs that have less pronounced physical dependence, such as cocaine, amphetamines, and nicotine, can produce severe and unpleasant withdrawal symptoms that can make life uncomfortable and emotionally difficult. One danger of quitting cold turkey is that your body will quickly lose tolerance to alcohol or drugs, so if you relapse and then take your usual amount of the drug, you have a higher risk of overdose.

This does not mean you can't become abstinent, but especially if you are quitting alcohol , a benzodiazepine or an opiate, you should quit under the management of a physician, who can give you medication to lessen the effects of withdrawal. Doctors affiliated with the American Board of Addiction Medicine have special training in addiction medicine and are particularly helpful in managing withdrawal safely. In many cases, a brief time in detox can be the safest option so that medical staff is on hand in case of a medical emergency.

The staff can also help with providing nutrition, hydration, and medications intravenously if you are suffering from significant nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea during your withdrawal.

However, many people are able to detox safely at home or in the community while meeting regularly with their doctor or health professional to ensure they remain well throughout the process.

Your doctor may prescribe you different medications depending on the drug you are withdrawing from. The risks of withdrawal from alcohol are much greater than they are for other substances. In particular, alterations in consciousness can be a critical symptom of delirium tremens.

If you or someone you know is showing signs of a heart attack, seizure, or changes in consciousness while quitting cold turkey, call immediately.

Symptoms of a heart attack may include:. If you or someone you know is experiencing any concerning physical or neurological signs while quitting cold turkey, call immediately. Learn the best ways to manage stress and negativity in your life.

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Detoxification and Substance Abuse Treatment. The answer lies in the final two clinical signs presented above, vomiting and diarrhoea. Persistent vomiting and diarrhoea may result, if untreated, in dehydration, hypernatraemia elevated blood sodium level and resultant heart failure. People can, and do, die from opiate withdrawal — and all such deaths are preventable, given appropriate medical management.

It is essential that clinical management programs are put in place routinely in jails, prisons and other facilities where withdrawal is likely in order to avert these avoidable deaths.

Especially during the later symptoms of opiate withdrawal, the risk of relapse becomes very high. It can be extremely tempting to return to the drugs in order to find relief. However, it is vital to get through them and avoid relapsing at all costs. While you are going through opiate detox, your chances are much higher to overdose from relapsing.

In other words, if you use the same amount you typically did before, it can quickly become too much for your body to handle. Those who are going through opiate detox are especially vulnerable to overdose and should seek professional opiate withdrawal treatment in order to avoid overdosing from a relapse. Detoxification is the first step towards recovering from opiate addiction. This is the process of removing all traces of the drug from the body, allowing it to heal and grow to become normal again.

The opiate detox process brings about an array of uncomfortable symptoms that can be difficult to face alone. While detoxification occurs naturally in the body via the liver, taking the natural route for opiate detox can be difficult, time-consuming, and carry a high risk of failure. Luckily, there are other options to recover that are medically assisted and much more likely to succeed. There are multiple ways to approach opiate detox, as well as its withdrawal symptoms.

They vary in effectiveness based on the individual as well as the method of treatment. Eventually, the liver will complete the opiate detox, but not without a great deal of pain and suffering in the process. Although opiate withdrawal symptoms are not fatal themselves, they can cause major complications, including relapse and fatal overdose.

The success rate for the cold-turkey method is extremely low and is generally not recommended to anyone looking for opiate detox. Because the symptoms of withdrawal following an opiate detox are so severe, MAT involves the use of certain medications that can ease these symptoms until the detoxification process is complete. Methadone is a long-acting opioid that affects the same part of the brain as the opiates did, without getting the user high.

This drug carries a high rate of success and is administered under close medical supervision in a professional rehabilitation setting. Methadone can also be used in a long-term setting to help the patient cope with extended symptoms of drug dependency. The levels are gradually decreased over time until the patient is finally ready to quit for good. Some patients stay on methadone for years in order to deal with lingering drug dependency following an opiate detox.

With proper administration, it can help patients give up opiates for good. Buprenorphine is a shorter-acting drug than methadone but is often preferred for treatment due to its reduced risk of fatal overdose.

It affects the same areas of the brain as opiates and methadone, but to a much lesser degree. Buprenorphine can be used in combination with naloxone, which is a drug meant to combat the fatal effects of an overdose. As with other medications, its use is medically supervised and often accompanied by other forms of therapy.