Anyone starting a new regimen of prescription painkillers should exercise caution because of various warnings and precautions outlined by manufacturers and doctors. Oxycodone is a powerful opiate (narcotic) medication doctors prescribe to treat pain. It is similar to morphine and is marketed under names including Roxicodone and OxyContin, which is time-released to control around-the-clock pain. Doctors prescribe oxycodone to treat moderate to severe pain but it’s subject to misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose and diversion. Prescription opiate addiction is a problem that has reached epidemic proportions in recent years because of the availability of the drugs through prescription and illegal means. It is safe to take oxycodone at therapeutic levels for a period of time. However, repeated or prolonged exposure can cause a tolerance to develop, meaning the people need to take more and more to achieve the same pain relief because the effects diminish with long-term use.
Oxycodone Tolerance, Dependence, Addiction and Withdrawal
Once a tolerance builds, patients should always talk to a doctor about adjusting doses, switching medications or other alternatives. Escalating use of oxycodone can result in a physical and/or psychological dependence. Full-blown addiction can also develop and from here, the journey can be straight downhill. Physical addiction to opiates is serious and dangerous and requires medical attention. Patients who try to detox on their own can experience some very painful withdrawal symptoms, which could turn serious. People with severe or very long-term addiction can experience dangerous symptoms such as seizures. The right medical detox should combine safety with compassion and offer management of a difficult withdrawal. So many programs out there use opiate replacements to treat opiate addiction. These include Suboxone and methadone, which patients often take for a long period of time. Patients can also become dependent upon these drugs and require another detox.
Oxycodone Addiction Can Be Treated Safely and Comfortably
Waismann Method offers renowned medical detox for opiates and opiate replacements. Our in-hospital procedure for oxycodone detox begins with medical tests to rule out possible underlying issues. From there, our medical staff administers intravenous medication that effectively cleanses the drug from patients’ opiate receptors. This occurs while patients are sleeping lightly under general deep sedation. The Waismann Method procedure for opiate detoxification has the unique benefit of speeding up the withdrawal process. This means that the anesthesiologist sedates the patient while the oxycodone withdrawal symptoms develop and pass. Thus, they awaken free of oxycodone dependence and unaware that they’ve already passed through withdrawal. We then closely monitor patients until they are ready for discharge. The procedure itself lasts less than two hours and our total required hospital stay is between 2 and 4 days.
After patients discharge from the hospital staff transfer them to our Domus Retreat aftercare facility. Our relaxing and pampering environment provides a place for patients to regroup and focus on sustained recovery.
