Opioid Detox Los Angeles: Timeline and Symptoms
Opioid Detox Timeline
Opioid addiction is a chronic disease that can cause significant health, economic and social problems. Some opioids include both prescription medications used for pain management and illicit, street drugs like heroin. All types of opioids have a high-risk potential for drug abuse and drug addiction, which can take a stronghold on anyone even when prescription opioids are used as directed and require addiction recovery to fully overcome.
For addiction recovery to be successful, it must include several levels of care that address the physical and psychological effects of opioid addiction. Opioid addiction can especially have a strong physical dependence, which will cause harsh, uncomfortable opioid withdrawal symptoms when attempting to come off them. Craving can also be intense, and medical detox is the best and safest option to undergo opioid and heroin detox.
Everyone responds to opioid withdrawal differently; how long opiate detox lasts depends on several factors, including the severity of drug addiction, length of drug addiction, presence of co-occurring disorder, and the person’s overall health. In general, opioid withdrawal comes in 4 stages: anticipatory, early acute, fully-developed, and Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS).
Depending on the type of opiate being used, acute withdrawal symptoms usually start within a few hours of the last dose, which can involve flu-like symptoms. Detox centers can help reduce withdrawals through medication-assisted treatment.
The opiate detox timeline can look like this:
Anticipatory: starts within 3 to 4 hours after the last dose and is marked by increased anxiety or fear related to preparing for opioid withdrawal. You can also expect to feel cravings and drug-seeking behavior.
Early acute: begins 8 to 10 hours after the last dose with anxiety, restlessness, and cravings increasing. Flu-like symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, sweating, and stomach aches start.
Fully-developed acute: 1 to 3 days after the last dose, symptoms will peak, and individuals may experience muscle spasms, body tremors, insomnia, diarrhea, and increased blood pressure. Drug addiction cravings will be at their highest. Within a week of the last dose, there should be a significant decrease in the acute symptoms.
PAWS: can last up to 24 months after the last dose. Acute symptoms of opioid addiction are over. However, mild, lingering withdrawal symptoms such as mood swings, cravings, insomnia, anxiety, depression, irritability, poor concentration, and drug dreams may continue for several months or years.
Medications Used in Opioid Detox
Medical detox in Los Angeles can help an opiate addict undergo the detox process more comfortably and safely through medication-assisted treatment. Medically assisted opiate detox will include around-the-clock supervision by medical personnel at treatment centers who can administer medications to ease withdrawals, including cravings. Some drugs used for medication-assisted treatment in opioid detoxification include:
Methadone: widely used for opiate detox, it is a long-acting opioid to treat cravings and withdrawals.
Clonidine: suppresses withdrawals and treats high blood pressure during opioid detoxification.
Buprenorphine: also known as Suboxone, decreases withdrawals and opioid cravings without the full effects of stronger opiates.
Naltrexone: decreases the effects of opioids if ingested, which can reduce cravings during opioid detoxification.
Safe, Medical Opioid Detox at Novo
Novo Detox in Los Angeles offers medically assisted opiate detox to help you safely and quickly through opioid withdrawal. Our luxury recovery center in Los Angeles includes 24/7 medical care for rapid detox in a comfortable, high-end setting to help address any substance use disorders. Drug detox is only the first step in addiction recovery. Once you complete medical detox with us, you can easily transition into our inpatient residential treatment.
We can help address many psychological and behavioral aspects of addiction through cognitive behavioral therapy, dual diagnosis treatment, group counseling, trauma therapy, and holistic therapies to give you the best chance at long-term addiction recovery. Once residential treatment is complete, you can transfer to an outpatient treatment option at our network drug rehabs.
If you would like to learn more about our medical detox treatment programs, addiction treatment, or drug rehabs, please do not hesitate to reach out to us by calling (844) 834-1777 as soon as possible. Our addiction specialists are always available to answer your calls.
