Man smiling after completion of opiate detox program

When you’re ready to go through opiate detox, you may be considering detoxing at home, through a medication maintenance program or through the help of a medical detox facility. This is a big decision to make, and it’s important to remember that these methods differ greatly in their effectiveness. The manner you choose for your opiate detox also sets the tone for your recovery, whether it may be sustainable for the long-term or you are set up for greater potential toward relapse.

Considerations Before Entering a Opiate Detox Center in Ft Lauderdale

As an opiate user, there are several things you can likely admit as true in your life. Those include:

  • As someone addicted to pain medication, you aren’t used to feeling pain without taking a substance to relieve that pain
  • Temptation is great for your drug of choice
  • Access to opiates is relatively easy and quick when you need the drug
  • In the recent past, when you have really wanted a fix, you were willing to do whatever it takes to get one
  • You tend to avoid suffering and discomfort
  • You know people who will enable you if you plead
  • Getting addicted to opiates was easier than you thought, so you may be susceptible to other addictions
  • Self-discipline has failed you in the past
  • You fear the process and side effects of withdrawal

Detox from opiates or other substances is a time during which your body cleans itself of the abused drugs. Your body and brain must go through many changes, with these changes presenting opiate withdrawal symptoms that can be difficult to endure. Some of those opiate withdrawal symptoms include:

  • Body aches
  • Anxiety
  • Restlessness
  • Watery eyes
  • Runny nose
  • Sweating
  • Insomnia
  • Diarrhea
  • Abdominal cramping
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Blurry vision
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • High blood pressure

While these symptoms may not sound extreme if experienced one-at-a-time, when multiple symptoms occur at once the results can be terribly uncomfortable. Most patients going through opiate withdrawal equate the process to having the worst flu of your life without any medication to feel better. This is why so many patients detoxing at home relapse. They reach a point where they know that taking a dose of their drug of choice will end the suffering.

Now, with a clear perspective of the reality of your situation, you should realistically consider your options for entering a professional opiate addiction treatment center.

Options for Opiate Detox

There are three primary options for going through withdrawal from opiate addiction. Those include:

Don’t Detox at Home

When going cold turkey or detoxing at home, there are pros and cons to this approach. Those include:

  • Pros: Costs less than formal treatment in a licensed facility
  • Cons: An almost 0% success rate for patients who use this method. Extremely high risk of relapse leading to overdose death. May lead to crossover addictions to medications used in an effort to phase drugs out. Extremely uncomfortable to endure.

Medication Maintenance

Pros and cons of the medication management approach, using a methadone or suboxone treatment center or other dosed medications for weaning off of opiates, include:

  • Pros: Can be effective in stopping the illegal drug use for lifesaving benefit.
  • Cons: Very expensive, requires extensive time and effort each day to gain the doses throughout an extended time period of use, brings the same side effects as opiate use and equally difficult to stop using as the originally abused drug. Many patients suffer secondary addictions to these medications.

Licensed and Accredited Medical Detox Center

Pros and cons of opiate detox in a licensed and accredited Florida medical detox center include:

  • Pros: Supervised medical drug detox in a licensed and accredited facility is the safest and most effective means of ending physical addiction to opiates. In this type of facility, patients are provided with good nutrition, prescribed suitable medications to lessen symptoms of withdrawal and otherwise have an easier pathway to sobriety. Patients are also protected through safety and security, keeping relapse at bay. Detox in a medical detox center, when coupled with rehab, provides the highest chance of sustainable recovery.
  • Cons: Without insurance, patients may need to seek help with financing or acquire health insurance to ensure easy payment.

Serenity House Detox & Recovery in Florida Offers A Safe, Secure Opiate Detox Center Program

When you or someone you love seek to gain the best possible chance of recovery starting in healthy, safe and medically supervised detox, Serenity House Detox & Recovery in Fort Lauderdale and Jupiter provides the help you need. Call Serenity House Detox & Recovery at 866-294-5306 for more information and to verify your insurance now.