World Class Drug Addiction Withdrawal Treatment
Table of Contents
Download Our Brochure
You can become addicted to any drug, including prescription medicine and alcohol. Drug addiction can happen quickly and take you by surprise: one minute you’re having fun or following a dosage prescribed by your doctor, and the next minute you’re hit with intense cravings to take more and more. If you stop taking the substance, the withdrawal symptoms make you feel like death, and the only answer is to reach for the drugs again.
Rest assured that with the right support, it is possible to stop taking drugs, manage the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms safely and emerge clean and sober to live life to the full. Here we explain what drug withdrawal is, how to spot the signs, and how to manage it safely.
What are Drug Addiction Withdrawal Symptoms?
Drug withdrawal is the way in which your body and brain react when you stop taking substances that you have been using in high volume or for a long period of time.
Most drugs target the ‘reward circuit’ in the brain, flooding it with the feel-good chemical dopamine that makes you feel chilled and happy. When you stop taking drugs, your body and brain don’t like it and respond with unpleasant physical and mental withdrawal symptoms in order to cope with their absence. The easiest way to get rid of these drug addiction withdrawal symptoms is to take more drugs.
This is the spiral of addiction, and the unbearable nature of withdrawal symptoms, which range in their severity, is why so many people relapse and remain addicted.
What Are the Physical Symptoms of Drug Withdrawal?
Drug withdrawal symptoms vary depending on the substance being abused, the amount you have taken, and for how long. However, physical withdrawal symptoms tend to include:
- Sweating
- Shaking, otherwise known as the DTs or delirium tremens, is one of the most common symptoms of alcohol withdrawal)
- Nausea and vomiting
- Headaches
- Fast heartbeat
- Diarrhoea
- Poor co-ordination
- Tiredness
- Inability to sleep
- Hallucinating
- Intense cravings
- Seizures
In serious cases, withdrawal symptoms can include coma and death.
Contact Us Today
Your path to lasting recovery starts here
What Are the Psychological Symptoms of Drug Withdrawal?
Again, these symptoms depend on the type of drug you are taking, how long, and in what quantity. However, general psychological withdrawal symptoms include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Nervousness and irritability
- Confusion and disorientation
- Feeling numb
- Mood changes
- Lack of interest in life
- Paranoia
- Delusions
- Psychosis (which means you change the way you think and behave)
Psychological withdrawal symptoms can alter your mindset – they may make you feel invincible and encourage you to take risks you wouldn’t normally take. For this reason, when you undergo drug withdrawal, you may be at risk of injuring yourself or others.
Drug Withdrawal Timelines
Opioids
Opioids are drugs such as heroin, methadone, morphine, and codeine. They are prescribed to treat pain, are often misused, and are highly addictive. Here are the drug withdrawal symptoms you can expect to experience when you stop using opioids:
Eight-24 hours after last use: in short-acting opioids such as heroin, withdrawal symptoms start after just eight hours while with drugs such as codeine, they usually kick in after 12 hours. You will shake, sweat, feel and be sick, feel anxious, have headaches and muscular pain, be unable to sleep, feel generally unwell, and be faced with almost unbearable cravings.
One to three days: withdrawal symptoms peak in this period and without support, you are likely to relapse. As well as the symptoms listed above, you may also experience panic attacks, stomach pains.
Three to seven days: you continue to feel unwell and have persistent cravings. If you are not receiving professional detox help, you will probably relapse.
Seven to 10 days: opioid withdrawal symptoms start to subside but your mood will be low and you may have trouble sleeping despite excessive tiredness.
Ten days to six months: if you have a severe drug addiction, you may continue to feel tired, depressed and suffer severe cravings for a long time after the initial withdrawal period. This is called post-acute withdrawal syndrome or PAWS.
Benzodiazepine
The ‘benzos’ are a group of sedative drugs, such as Valium and Xanax. They are prescribed to treat pain, anxiety, and insomnia, but are often taken recreationally to chill you out. Highly addictive, if you’ve been taking them for just three to four weeks, you will probably experience withdrawal symptoms.
Ten to 12 hours: drug withdrawal symptoms from short-acting benzodiazepines such as Valium can happen very quickly. You may feel highly anxious and restless. This is often called rebound anxiety or rebound insomnia.
One to four days: it can take longer for symptoms from certain benzos, such as Xanax, to begin. As well as anxiety and sleeplessness, expect panic attacks, shaking, sweating, muscle aches, hyperventilation, abnormal skin sensations, and in extreme cases, seizures and psychosis.
Five to 28 days: if you have taken these drugs in large quantities and taken more than one type of drug at the same time, acute withdrawal symptoms can continue for up to a month.
One month to a year: up to a quarter of people with a benzo addiction will experience withdrawal symptoms for 12 months or even longer.
Get Help For Addiction
Cocaine
Cocaine, ‘coke’ or ‘Charlie’ is a highly addictive stimulant that is usually snorted. When cocaine is cooked with baking soda and water, it comes in rock form and is known as crack cocaine. Withdrawal symptoms from both types of cocaine tend to affect you mentally rather than physically.
Five to 20 minutes: cocaine is a short-lived high that can plunge you into withdrawal symptoms after just minutes, with one user describing the feeling as ‘the most horrible depression’. This is the crash.
Up to seven days: not only will you experience intense cravings but you will feel anxious and depressed, demotivated, numb, and tired: basically like you’re at rock bottom.
One week to 10 weeks: the cravings persist which means that without addiction treatment you are likely to relapse, especially if you’re addicted to crack cocaine. You will experience mood changes and memory problems alongside anxiety and depression.
Up to six months: depression and anxiety persist, as do cravings for more cocaine. It is very hard to emerge from the withdrawal phase without the right support.
Is Withdrawal Dangerous?
Yes, drug withdrawal can be dangerous, which is why it’s essential that you have help around you while you detox. Locking yourself away to get clean is not recommended as you may find the withdrawal symptoms are too severe for you to manage alone. Going cold turkey is not always the best and safest route out of addiction, and could do you more harm than good.
Drug addiction withdrawal symptoms range in their severity from mild aches and pains to seizures and intense depression. They are common, and you must be prepared to expect them. Half of all people with an alcohol use disorder will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
It is possible to die from physical withdrawal symptoms such as severe dehydration, which is why you need support and professional help around you. Drug withdrawal can also affect you mentally, making you depressed to the point of suicidal. It is important that you let someone know if you are attempting to come off drugs, so they can keep an eye on you in case of emergency.
How to Manage Withdrawal Symptoms
As drug addiction symptoms can be prolonged and painful, it is important that you don’t undergo detox alone and in secret. Your first port of call should be your GP who should be able to signpost you to organisations that may be able to support you, and your family, as you undergo detox.
Be honest with your GP. They’re not going to judge or moralize – they just want you to be safe. They will also be able to advise if you need medicine to help wean you off your drug addiction. This is known as a medically managed detox and depends on the type of drug misuse you’ve been experiencing.
It is important that you stay safe and look after yourself while you are detoxing. This means trying to eat a balanced diet, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of sleep. This can be difficult when you are feeling wretched, which is why detoxing at an addiction treatment, where you are looked after 24/7, is advised.
Do I Need a Medically Managed Detox?
This depends on the drugs you are taking as well as the length of time you’ve taken them, and in what amount. A medically managed detox means you will be given a safe alternative to your drug of choice and the dose is reduced over time. Heroin users are often prescribed methadone to ease them off heroin safely and minimise unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
It is important that if you do start a medical detox it is only on the advice, and under the supervision of, a medical professional, and that you follow the correct dosage. Never start taking new drugs simply because you’ve read that it might help with your symptoms, and never continue taking drugs alongside the medicine or you may overdose.
What Happens During Drug Detox and Withdrawal?
Drug detox is the process of removing all traces of substances (these recreational drugs, prescribed medication, or alcohol) from your system. Your body and brain have been used to all the substances being pumped in on a regular basis. When they go it’s a wrench, and the drug withdrawal symptoms kick in to compensate for the loss.
The severity and duration of symptoms depend on the severity and duration of your drug addiction. Withdrawal symptoms can be so horrible that many people relapse and return to their drug of choice Detox is not always successful the first time. Heroin users take, on average 3.6 attempts to complete drug withdrawal successfully before they can beat addiction for good.
The safest and most successful way to complete detox from drug addiction or undergo alcohol withdrawal is at a dedicated treatment centre. Not only can your symptoms be monitored and managed but experts can help you explore the reasons behind your addiction and arm you with strategies to deal with future triggers. That way you undergo detox and drug withdrawal once and for good.
What does it feel like to be in withdrawal from drugs?
It varies but you will probably feel physically unwell, tired, depressed and anxious.
What happens during the withdrawal stage?
The drugs leave your system and your body and brain react to this loss physically and mentally (which is why you can feel so ill).
What does withdrawal mean in addiction?
Withdrawal is one part of the drug addiction spiral. If you are addicted to drugs, you will probably experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking them.
Is there any way to avoid withdrawal symptoms?
With the right treatment, you can minimise the impact withdrawal symptoms have on you.
How can I help someone through their withdrawal symptoms?
Help them access support via their doctor or addiction treatment centres. Never shout at them or blame them for their addiction.
References
- National Institute on Drug Misuse, (2018), Understanding Drug Use and Addiction
- Piper M E, (2015), Withdrawal: Expanding a Key Addiction Construct, Nicotine Tob Res: 17 (12), 1405-1415
- Grover S, Ghosh A, (2018), Delirium Tremens: Assessment and Management, J Clin Exp Hepatol: 8 (4), 460-470
- Sharma S, Kumar P, Singh R et al, (2021), Psychotic Symptoms in Heroin Withdrawal: A Case Report, Cureus, 13 (1)
- Hosztafi S, (2011), Heroin Addiction, Acta Pharma Hung, 81(4): 173-83
- World Health Organization, (2009), Clinical Guidance for Withdrawal Management and Treatment of Drug Dependence in Closed Settings
- Brett J, Murnion B, (2015), Management of Benzodiazepine Misuse and Dependence, Aust Prescr: 38 (5), 152-155
- Pétursson H, (1994), The Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Syndrome, Addiction: 89 (11), 1455-9
- Hood S D, Norman A, Hince D A, et al, (2012), Benzodiazepine Dependence and its Treatment With Low Dose Flumazenil, British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology: 77 (2), 285-294
- Morton W A, (1999), Cocaine and Psychiatric Symptoms, Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry: 1 (4), 109-113
- Mirijello A, D’Angelo C, Ferrulli C, et al, (2016), Identification and Management of Alcohol Withdrawal, Drugs: 75 (4) 353-365
- Goldstein, A, (1972), Heroin Addiction and the Role of Methadone in its Treatment, Arch Gen Psychiatry: 26(4): 291-297
- Noble, A, Best, D, Man, L-H, et al, (2002), Self-detoxification Attempts Among Methadone Maintenance Patients – What Methods and What Success? Addictive Behaviours: 27(4): 575-84
Experts You Can Trust
With a wealth of knowledge and services to help you regain control of your life, request a call-back from one of our professionals today. The choice you make today could change your life forever.