One of the most pervasive addiction problems in the United States is what has come to be known as the opioid crisis. This has manifested in a significant percentage of the population struggling with addictive tendencies that can quickly take over their lives. This is a difficult condition to overcome, which is why it’s often necessary to trust an opioid treatment center to help patients recover.

What Are Opioids?

Opioids are a category of substances that, upon reaching the brain’s opioid receptors, have similar effects to those of morphine, the prototypical example within the category. These are commonly used medically in order to provide patients with pain relief, as well as treatment for diarrhea suppression, reversing an opioid overdose, replacing opioids in cases of disorder, and cough suppression. However, these are also used for non-medical uses such as the euphoric effects of recreational drugs. The over-prescription of opioids for medical uses has led to what has come to be known as the opioid crisis in the United States, in which patients who started using opioids for valid medical reasons have ended up addicted to the substances in question.

Opioid Addiction

So, how in an opioid addiction different to, say, alcohol addiction? Well, for one, the effects on the mind and the body are going to be different, and the necessary treatment during rehabilitation might differ. However, addiction to different substances is going to present itself in very similar ways, such as an increased tolerance to the substance, difficulty fulfilling obligations, trouble reducing use, and withdrawal symptoms upon discontinuing use of the substance. In the particular case of opioids, withdrawal symptoms will include muscle aches, diarrhea, difficulty sleeping, nausea, and mood swings. The violent nature of a lot of these symptoms, as well as the potential hazardous effects on the body, is why it’s so important to seek out an opioid treatment center that can help with a medically supervised withdrawal.

Opioid Detoxification

In order for rehabilitation to take place, the patient needs to go through a medically supervised withdrawal process in which the body can be stabilized after discontinuing opioid use. Detoxification is the stage in the treatment that takes care of ridding the body of the substances the patient is addicted to and, in doing so, reducing the harm of withdrawal symptoms. Sudden uncontrolled withdrawal can have a lot of harmful effects on the body, so it’s important that you go through this with the help of qualified medical personnel that can prevent you from going cold turkey. Once the body is ready for life without opioid use, the mind will be able to focus on a similar journey.

Opioid Treatment Center

Rehabilitation after opioid use isn’t going to be an easy journey for you, so putting effort into finding the right help will be key. If you are looking for a place like that, we at Crosspointe Recovery, an opioid treatment center in Los Angeles, can provide it for you. Our residential recovery center can help you on your road to overcoming addiction. Just reach out to us via email at info@old.crosspointerecovery.com or give us a call at 1-888-615-7589.