Peer support is a social component that’s crucial to your loved one’s recovery. Your help and support throughout their withdrawal will be pivotal to their success. There are various ways to offer effective and lasting support, including the following:

Provide emotional support

People going through withdrawal need somebody to rely on during the more difficult times. This is because the process of recovery can often be a lonely and difficult road. Knowing you are there to provide words of encouragement and a comforting presence can make the situation easier for your loved one.

Providing emotional support starts with learning about substance abuse, particularly about the withdrawal process. Only then can you take part in empathic listening, shared problem-solving, and display compassion and understanding. But don’t forget to put your well-being first to ensure that you are fully capable of supporting your loved one during this difficult time.

Facilitate routine and a productive schedule

Addiction often leaves individuals with little to no control over their lives, which is why establishing a routine is so important. It helps to have someone else facilitate these routines, which should include setting a productive schedule. This way it provides a sense of structure, stability, and a new normal for the recovering individual.

Start by encouraging set patterns for your loved one’s basic needs such as their sleep, mealtimes, and physical activity. Then you can add productive activities, such as work, recreation, support meetings, and time with friends and family. The most important part is providing them with a predictable and reliable system and room for creativity and agency.

Work with a trusted healthcare care provider

Rehabilitation is a medical process, so working with rehab healthcare providers is an essential part of your loved one’s recovery. By collaborating with the rehab team, you can get expert advice on the appropriate steps to take. You’ll be working with substance abuse nurses who will serve as your main point of contact, especially considering the prevalence of telehealth today.

Professionals with BSN credentials, in particular, are trained to work in home healthcare settings. These nursing practitioners also treat specific health conditions, focusing on disease prevention and health management measures that are personalized for the patient — including addiction and recovery. This ensures that your loved one’s unique needs are met by trusted professionals who are experts in their fields.

Minimize or remove obstacles

During withdrawal, your loved one is sure to experience mental and physical difficulties that will prove challenging. They may be placed in situations where their past habits could be triggered. This can make typical responsibilities including work obligations, financial problems, and relationship issues difficult to handle on top of fighting cravings.

Aiding your loved one may mean taking charge of those responsibilities in the meantime. Help them avoid triggering situations when they’re not ready yet. This way, they can focus on the recovery process without added difficulty. The better they become, the more they will be able to take on the usual challenges that life throws at them.

Supporting your loved one through withdrawal will almost certainly be challenging. It might even mean taking on extra responsibilities as you take on a more active role in their recovery at the very start of their journey. It also involves having the right resources handy, whether it’s a link to sign up to NA or the contact details of your dedicated physician. By doing this, it will make the entire journey much easier until they fully recover.

Piece specially submitted to blog.sober.com

Submitted by: JBurk

The severity of withdrawal symptoms opiate users will experience are typically determined by how much of the drug they use in each sitting, and how often their drug use occurs. Regardless of those factors, opiate withdrawal is caused for the same reason in every user and there are regular symptoms that arise during withdrawal that any user can experience.

The Cause Of Withdrawal

In small, regulated doses, opiates are supposed to work as pain killers. Unlike aspirin, which thins the blood to help ease pain, opiates change the way the brain and spinal cord function to help users through extreme physical distress. Normally, the spinal cord would send messages to the brain, telling it that the body is dealing with some physical discomfort. Taking opiates mutes that communication and makes the brain feel relaxation or even pleasure instead of pain.

People who use opiates for less than two weeks and in small doses aren’t likely to go through withdrawal. After lengthy, continuous use, however, opiate-based drugs alter how the brain works. Instead of giving users a feeling of relaxation and pleasure, the brain will start believing the opiates are necessary to continue regular function.

Once the brain feels the opiates are required in order to work properly, the body will respond in kind and physical dependency will occur. When individuals become dependent on opiates, they’re going to experience withdrawal symptoms whenever they try to quit using.

Symptoms That Can Appear During Withdrawal

With opiates, withdrawal symptoms show up in three different phases. The first phase tends to start 12 hours after opiates were last used and can continue for about five days. People going through this first phase of withdrawal can expect to experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, insomnia and depression. Usually, these symptoms peak around day three and slowly dissipate in the next two days.

Once that initial, physically taxing phase is over, the second phase of withdrawal begins. Although there’s still some physical pain involved, the nausea and other sickly symptoms are mostly done. Those who work through the second phase will deal with leg cramps, dilated pupils, chills, and goosebumps.

The final phase of withdrawal lasts the longest but is also the least taxing on the body. Anywhere from one week to two months, people going through this final phase can experience anxiety, insomnia, and restlessness. While that doesn’t sound terribly taxing, the lack of sleep and emotional distress can still make people turn back to opiate use on days that aren’t going well.

Although none of these symptoms are life threatening, they can seem unbearable to the people going through withdrawal. For some, it’s easier to turn back to opiate use than deal with the discomfort of trying to quit. Continuing drug use just to avoid withdrawal is a worse choice, however, because maintaining an opiate habit could lead to overdosing and, ultimately, death.

How People Addicted To Opiates Should Handle Their Withdrawal

Going through withdrawal is necessary for anyone trying to quit regular opiate use. The thought of that can be scary to some people, especially if they think they have to work through the entire withdrawal process on their own. That isn’t the case, though. In fact, there are detoxing centers across the United States that are designed specifically to help people work through withdrawal.

At a detoxing center, people working through withdrawal will meet with doctors on a daily basis to determine how the process is going. From the very beginning, doctors can prescribe medication to help ease withdrawal symptoms. If symptoms spike suddenly or become overwhelming for some people, the medical staff is going to be on hand all day, every day to help them cope and give more medication as needed. While medication may not always be necessary, it’s good to have on hand just in case.

It’s important for those struggling with opiate addiction to enter a detoxing center familiar with the drugs they’ve been using. Different drugs are going to have different withdrawal symptoms. If someone addicted to opiates enters a detoxing center that’s not familiar with how opiate withdrawal works, the three phases are going to be a lot harder to work through. There are plenty of detoxing centers that are familiar with opiates and how they affect the body during withdrawal, so finding one to enter won’t be difficult.

People Struggling With Opiate Addiction Shouldn’t Try To Go Through Withdrawal Alone

If an opiate user’s body becomes dependent on the drugs, withdrawal is going to happen once the drug is no longer used. Withdrawal can be a very taxing process for anyone. The nausea, lack of sleep, and other harsh symptoms associated with withdrawal can tear people down and cause them to turn back to drug use. Instead of continuing the cycle of drug abuse, those trying to quit abusing opiates should reach out to get the professional help that they need.

Detoxing centers around the United States house those struggling with opiate addiction. The doctors at these facilities are trained to handle the worst withdrawal symptoms that may arise. Medications can even be prescribed during times where the symptoms become unbearable and the people struggling through the three phases of withdrawal are about to give up.

Even though the withdrawal symptoms involved with quitting opiates aren’t likely to kill someone, no one should go through the three phases of withdrawal by themselves. Not only can the entire process take a couple months, but some people may not have enough willpower to make it through all three phases without professional help. No matter how long someone has been addicted to opiates, working through withdrawal while at a detoxing center is the best choice he or she can make.

What is Percocet?

The painkiller Percocet is prescribed to individuals who are struggling with extreme pain, often after an injury or following surgery. Percocet has two primary ingredients: Acetaminophen and oxycodone. Although the oxycodone portion of Percocet is a narcotic, the Acetaminophen is not.

In many ways, Percocet is perceived as less addictive than comparable prescription drugs like OxyContin. Why? Because Acetaminophen can cause illness if taken in large doses. Therefore, Percocet often isn’t a desirable choice for a person addicted to large doses of narcotics.

What is OxyContin?

Just like Percocet, OxyContin in a painkiller prescribed in extreme cases when patients are dealing with debilitating pain. In the short term, OxyContin can be incredibly helpful by reducing pain and discomfort following an accident or surgery. Unlike Percocet, OxyContin is comprised entirely of a narcotic opiate. Therefore, it may be more responsible for overdoses and even deaths when consumed recreationally.

What are the Dangers of a Percocet or OxyContin Addiction?

Simply taking a prescribed drug like Percocet or OxyContin won’t necessarily cause an addiction. Over time, however, the body can become reliant on these powerful narcotics. When that happens, weaning yourself off of them can feel virtually impossible.

On the most basic level, an addition to Percocet or OxyContin can lead to illegal or immoral behavior in order to secure more drugs. When prescriptions run out, those with an addiction may move on to another physician or buy them illegally on the street or online.

On a physical and neurological level, drugs like Percocet and OxyContin can do a lot of damage. Acetaminophen in the Percocet can be toxic to the liver when taken in excess, and some of the common side effects of all oxycodone drugs include the following:

• Shallow or labored breathing
• Loss of appetite and weight loss
• Long-term constipation
• Rapid mood changes
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Withdrawing from social situations
• Dry mouth

How Can Individuals Become Addicted to these Prescription Drugs?

Doctors prescribe medications like Percocet and OxyContin in the hopes that the health benefits and pain relief outweigh the addictive risk of the narcotic. However, both drugs are certainly addictive, and many users find themselves struggling to stop taking the drugs after their prescriptions have expired.

In addition to those individuals who take Percocet and OxyContin medically and struggle to wean themselves off by at the end of treatment, there are some individuals who take these prescription drugs non-medically. In some cases, they may simply be offered a painkiller from a friend or family member and may use these drugs without knowing or understanding their addictive capability. Others may deliberately seek out or steal narcotic drugs in the hopes of avoiding reality or blocking physical, emotional or mental distress.

How Long Can Withdrawal from Percocet or OxyContin Last?

One of the most pressing questions patients and their families have is about the length of the withdrawal process from Percocet or OxyContin. The withdrawal phase can kick in as quickly as six hours after the last dose of these drugs, and the withdrawal symptoms will typically peak after about 72 hours without the primary ingredient of Oxycodone.

Although the first 72 hours are sometimes regarded as the toughest, withdrawal doesn’t end at the 72-hour mark. Typically, the physical cravings for Percocet and OxyContin will stop after one week of sobriety from the drugs. In extreme cases, it can take up to two weeks. However, keep in mind that the emotional and psychological cravings won’t necessarily be over after a week of detox.

There are several factors that can influence how long withdrawal will take for patients. The duration of the addiction, for instance, may play a role in the withdrawal process. The dosage amount, or the amount of Oxycodone consumed daily by individuals, will also be reflected in the severity of withdrawal. In addition, any drug diversion, such as crushing, snorting or injecting these medications, can worsen withdrawal.

What Withdrawal Symptoms Can be Expected?

Throughout the withdrawal process, patients can expect to deal with a number of unpleasant and potentially painful withdrawal symptoms. While no one wants to have a stressful or uncomfortable withdrawal, this is a necessary step on the road to recovery.

During the immediate one-week withdrawal phase, many of the symptoms will be physical in nature. These may include the following:

• Vomiting and nausea
• Cramping or diarrhea
• Alternating chills and hot flashes
• Tremors or shaking
• Extreme sweating
• Dehydration and a lack of appetite
• Runny nose
• Fatigue and insomnia

There are also some psychological symptoms that can present themselves during a withdrawal from Percocet or OxyContin. These can range from anxiety and depression to anger and difficulty concentrating.

Is Detox Necessary When Withdrawing from Percocet or OxyContin?

Technically, withdrawal can happen in any location. The cessation of drugs for a week, no matter where the location, will result in a withdrawal from Percocet or OxyContin. However, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of relying on a medically supervised detox when withdrawing from a narcotic and an opiate.

Withdrawal symptoms can potentially move from uncomfortable to life-threatening, and a detox facility will have professionals on hand who know how to handle the situation. Detox also offers the much-needed accountability and support that can make the difference between an attempted withdrawal and a successful one.

Withdrawal from Percocet and OxyContin is necessary for lasting sobriety and a healthy life. If you or someone you love is ready to complete the withdrawal process, it’s a good idea to find an accredited detox center that can accommodate your unique needs.