Fentanyl - Treatment for Habitual Users

Treatment for Habitual Users

If fentanyl is so dangerous, why is it used so commonly in medical procedures? The answer is simple. Surgical patients do not crave the drug because they sleep through its effects. Dental patients and new mothers only recall that their experiences were pain-free. End-term cancer patients need the drug for pain relief. A single dose of fentanyl administered properly by doctors does not cause addiction or withdrawal.

recreational useUsing a drug solely to achieve a high, not to treat a medical condition. of fentanyl is different. A physical addiction can begin almost immediately. If the user does not become physically addicted, the psychological draw of the drug will eventually become too strong to resist. Once a user has a fentanyl habit, his or her entire lifestyle becomes affected by attempts to find the drug and use it.

In the Journal of Toxicology: Clinical Toxicology, a case was described in which a thirty-six-year-old man was brought to the hospital unconscious and hardly breathing after smoking the contents of a fentanyl patch. The man was revived and discharged from the hospital. He went home, smoked another fentanyl patch, and died. This story shows how the effects of fentanyl can override common sense and encourage users to self-destruct.

Withdrawal from fentanyl is difficult. It is best accomplished in a rehabilitation clinic or under a doctor's care. The withdrawing user will experience severe anxiety; body aches; diarrhea; rapid heartbeat; flu-like symptoms including runny nose, sneezing, chills, and sweating; nausea; trembling; insomniaDifficulty falling asleep or an inability to sleep.; and stomach pain. Most habitual fentanyl users have developed a tolerance to the "high" produced by the drug and no longer feel the rush of euphoria when they take it. The withdrawal symptoms become stronger as the body grows accustomed to the drug. The user eventually takes fentanyl not for the high, but to keep the withdrawal symptoms under control.

Self-help groups such as Narcotics Anonymous (NA) can aid the abuser through a "buddy system," which pairs new members with established members who can give advice and support. The group offers telephone hotlines and meetings where former users discuss strategies on how to stay away from drugs. Sometimes this support can be sufficient to a recovering fentanyl addict. Other addicts may need medications such as methadone or antidepressants as well as therapy with an addictions specialist. Methadone is a substitute painkiller that is used when people are trying to overcome addiction to opiates such as heroin.

Even if the addict endures a complete physical withdrawal from the drug, emotional withdrawal may take much longer. During this time, the former user may experience anxiety and dysphoriaPronounced diss-FOR-ee-yuh; an abnormal feeling of anxiety, discontent, or discomfort; the opposite of euphoria. while remembering how good he or she felt while taking fentanyl. Some addicts have trouble dealing with these feelings and return to taking the drug, despite its many dangers and its addictive nature. Many recovering addicts will need to change their lifestyles completely to avoid the situations, locations, and people associated with taking the drug.