If you are addicted to a prescription opioid and want to end your dependence on your painkillers, you have likely attempted to do so on your own. You are also familiar with how bad the withdrawal experience is with opioids. The good news is that there is help in the form of medications that can greatly enhance your chances of ending your addiction. The following are among the most common opioid withdrawal medications available.
Methadone
Methadone has a long track record as a successful treatment. Although it is often associated with heroin addiction, it is just as effective in treating prescription opioids as well. This medication is an opioid, but it is effective because it doesn't make you high. Since it is an opioid, it removes most of the symptoms. The dosage for the methadone is reduced over time until there is no longer a physical dependence on opioids.
Buprenorphine
This is another opioid that is used in a similar fashion as methadone. However, there are a couple of important differences. This opioid is not as strong as methadone, and it is available in many forms. There is a patch that can be worn on your skin, and there are also implants available. It can be injected, but tablets are popular, too. Because there is less danger of an overdose, this is a popular option as an outpatient treatment.
Lofexidine
This is a fairly new medication on the market, and it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unlike other medications, lofexidine is not an opioid. This is good news for those who have struggled to wean themselves off of an opioid by using another opioid, such as methadone. This medication will reduce the side effects when you stop using opioids cold turkey. If you have ever attempted to quit cold turkey, then you know that the withdrawal experience is the biggest roadblock to ending your addiction. Symptoms such as nausea and stomach cramps are greatly reduced.
Naltrexone
This is a medication that is usually used after you have completed your withdrawal from opioids. It is not an opioid, and it does nothing for withdrawal symptoms, but you have already gotten past this point when you take it. This medication is to lessen the effect of an opioid in case you have a mild relapse. The opioid will not have as strong of an effect as it would otherwise have.
None of these medications address the psychological aspect of opioid addiction. If the reason you started using an opioid was for pain and the pain is no longer there because your body has healed, then you may not have a strong psychological issue of addiction. Whatever the case may be, you should seek some counseling to prevent a relapse.
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