Doctors often recommend certain approved painkillers containing opioids or opiates to patients who have undergone surgery and are suffering from too much pain. They can also be prescribed to patients suffering from too much pain where other painkillers don’t work anymore. Though these painkillers help a lot in relieving pain, they too have a drawback. Such painkillers are highly addictive. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the thin line present between addiction and taking drugs in prescribed amounts.
What Are Opiates?
The terms opiates and opioids are often used interchangeably. However, they have a slight difference between them. The significant difference lies in their origins.
Opiates are natural derivatives of the poppy plant, and some of the common opiates are codeine, morphine, and opium. Opioids are synthetic or partly synthetic drugs manufactured in labs. Some of the common opioids are fentanyl, hydrocodone, methadone, and oxycodone.
Though both opiates and opioids are slightly different, they have a common function, and that is to relieve pain. They can be obtained only with a prescription but people tend to misuse their prescription even after they recover from the pain to obtain them easily. This is one of the signs of opiate addiction.
Signs Of Opiate Addiction
Some of the common signs to identify opiate addiction are:
- Anxiety
- Nausea and vomiting
- Constipation
- Muscle spasms
- Depression
- Mood swings
- Insomnia
- Irritability
If you or anyone around you is showing any of these symptoms, it is a sign that they are addicted to opiates and need professional advice. If the symptoms are severe and frequently spotted, immediately seek help from a rehab center like Skyward Treatment before it leads to overdose.
Withdrawal Symptoms
Once you enter a rehab facility to recover from opiate addiction, the first step of the process will begin with detox. While going through detox, your body will lose the drug you have been taking for a long time now. This absence of drug in your body will lead you to experience certain withdrawal symptoms like:
- Diarrhea
- Fever
- Chills and goosebumps
- Intense cravings
- Seizures
- Stomach cramps
- Suicidal thoughts
These symptoms become too severe for some that they fail to handle them and often relapse. But taking help from experts while experiencing the same could be helpful. At Skyward Treatment, you will always have professionals around you to help you guide and fight through your withdrawal symptoms.
Call Skyward Treatment now to know more about the treatments and therapies offered for addiction to other drugs and alcohol.