How Opiate Detox works
Research shows that many teenagers have developed an addiction to painkillers, such as Percocet and Vicodin. The problem has worsened over the last few years. In a countrywide study of 12 to 17 year olds, the number of users more than quadrupled, from 6.3 per 1,000 users to 32.4 per 1,000 users. First-time users nearly tripled, from 7.7 to 20.3 per 1,000 users.
Many drug detox centers report that as much as 75% of their patients are addicted to pain killers, overtaking heroin addiction as the country’s biggest drug problem. Tragically, many of the people suffering from Percocet addiction and Vicodin Addiction developed their dependency accidentally.
Both Percocet and Vicodin are commonly prescribed to treat moderate to severe pain. In fact, many of the teenagers who enrolled in the opiate detox programs reported that they had been given the drug by their doctors. Some were athletes who had suffered injuries on the courts; others had pulled a muscle at the gym, some were victims of car accidents, or had been recovering from surgery. They had been told to take Percocet and Vicodine to manage the pain—but did not fully realize how addictive the drug could be. Unconsciously, they began taking larger doses, or taking it more frequently, or even longer than the doctor had advised. By the time they could stop taking it, they no longer wanted to.
Percocet and Vicodin are effective in treating pain because they contain chemicals that bind the brain’s pain receptors and numb our ability to feel pain. But once the drug wears off, the withdrawal symptoms create such pain and discomfort that it pulls the user into taking greater quantities of the drug more frequently. It becomes a vicious cycle: they take the drug to stop the pain, but the drug itself causes pain.
The addiction cannot, as some people believe, simply be a matter of “just saying no”. The drugs cause a very intricate chemical imbalance, and quitting cold turkey would not only be difficult, but physically debilitating. Percocet addiction and Vicodin addiction require expert medical treatment, by specialists who understand the physiological implications of opiate addiction and can prescribe the best treatment in a safe and effective program.
However, even entering an opiate detox center requires a great deal of courage and the support of family and friends. Many teenagers who have gone through a drug detox program say that they were afraid of enrolling, because the pain of any treatment was worsened by the actual physical pain of withdrawal. Programs that do not understand this kind of fear, and how their anxiety is grounded in very real physical symptoms, simply do not understand that their complaints are not exaggerated attempts to get more drugs. Studies show that people who had complained of pain levels of two or three now experience pain levels of eight or nine just 12 months after going on Percocet and Vicodin. To effectively treat opiate addiction, the center must have an approach that includes management of that pain, by prescribing non-addicting drug replacements and eventually stabilizing the chemical imbalance. By far, this has proven to be the most effective treatment for opiate addiction.