Opioid withdrawal is an extremely uncomfortable combination of symptoms like fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, runny nose, hot sweats, muscle aches, nausea, and vomiting. With the rising opioid epidemic, it is no surprise that recently on May 16, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new medication to reduce these opioid withdrawal symptoms. Opioids are painkillers prescribed by doctors for post-surgery pain, toothaches, and other types of pain, but while these drugs can relieve pain, they can also be as addictive as heroin.
The first stage of withdrawal from opioids is called acute withdrawal and this occurs in the first 3-5 days of not using opioids and can last up to 4 weeks. These symptoms of muscle aches and flu-like symptoms start only after the first 12 hours of abstinence and heightens over the next 3 days until they reach their highest point by day 5. Imagine not being able to sleep while experiencing throbbing pains in all the muscles of the body and having intense cravings for the drug that caused all these negative reactions, a drug that slowly destroys the mind and not finding any relief each day, but an increased intensity. Even after 4 long weeks of this struggle, post-acute withdrawal symptoms kick in.
Post-acute withdrawal symptoms involve personality changes affected by mood swings, anxiety, fluctuating energy levels, low enthusiasm, distraction, and trouble sleeping. These symptoms can last up to 2 years and can often affect relationships with others, efficiency at work, and overall psychological health. Thankfully, however, there are medications that have been designed to lower some of these symptoms to make life a little bit easier during and after recovery from opioids.
Medications like clonidine, guanfacine, and tizanidine are used to treat withdrawal symptoms for opioids. Clonidine has been shown experimentally to be more effective in treating withdrawal than the placebo it was compared to. Methadone used to be the main medication used to treat these symptoms and was gradually reduced over time, however, government restrictions on methadone prescription have limited this method of treatment. Overall, there did not seem to be a lot of treatments for opioid withdrawal.
A new medication arrived May 16, 2018, after the FDA approved the oral tablet, lofexidine, designed to manage opioid withdrawal symptoms. The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) announced that lofexidine is the first medication that is able to reduce withdrawal symptoms for adults struggling with an opioid addiction. Lofexidine will be generically called Lucemyra and is or will likely be implemented by drug addiction treatment facilities to help in recovery. This medication has been reported to be available in the United States by this August in 2018.
If you know someone struggling with an opioid addiction, please do not hesitate to encourage them to seek professional help at an official drug addiction treatment center. No one should have to deal with the hardships of drug addiction alone. These centers have resources that can provide the right types of medications mentioned above and likely lofexidine after August 2018. Asana Recovery is a treatment center that offers detox and rehabilitation treatments with various therapies for a wide range of needs. Call 949-438-4504 to learn more about their treatment services.
