Dilaudid is a painkiller, typically prescribed to people suffering moderate to severe pain. Using it produces euphoric effects, so it is easy to start abusing it for recreational purposes. If you are using it for a prolonged period of time, and in sufficient quantities, you can become addicted. When that happens, you may suffer withdrawal symptoms if you try to cease usage.
You may begin to experience withdrawal symptoms not long after your last dose – possibly as soon as only six hours after. There are a range of physical symptoms you may experience, such as increased blood pressure and heart rate, muscle spasms, vomiting, sweating and abdominal pain. While your symptoms will most likely peak during the second day or so after cessation of drug use, some may last about a week or more.
Dilaudid is a highly addictive drug, but it is possible to recover from addiction successfully. You can detox from the drug in a treatment centre, where you’ll have medical supervision to help manage your withdrawal symptoms. Following detox, you will continue with rehab, which is the next stage of the recovery process.
Detoxification is the process by which your body cleanses itself of the toxins it has been loaded with.
If yours is a serious case of long-term substance abuse and addiction, you may be placed on a tapering programme to gradually wean you off. The reason for doing this is to help you get through detox with less discomfort. If your addiction is not too severe, detoxing under an outpatient arrangement with medical monitoring may be right for you.
Detox can be managed with medication by medical professionals to ease your symptoms. One of the drugs used in many cases is Buprenorphine, which produces similar effects to Dilaudid, whilst reducing cravings. Another is Clonidine, which reduces symptoms like cramping, sweating, muscle aches and anxiety.
When you become psychologically and physically dependent on the drug, you’ll be unable to function normally without it. It is not advised that you stop using Dilaudid without consulting a doctor beforehand, as withdrawal can lead to dangerous complications, such as vomiting and breathing difficulties. When you have medical supervision, such complications and any others that may arise can be taken care of quickly.
Some of the symptoms of withdrawal include: fever, cramps, diarrhoea, vomiting, insomnia, leg kicking, severe muscle and bone aching, depression, anxiety, malaise and sweating.
For you to experience withdrawal, you must have been heavily dependent or addicted to the drug and there are a number of contributing factors that can lead to that. One of those is genetics; you are more likely to develop an addiction (and consequently withdrawal) if you have a blood relative who struggles with addiction.
Your brain chemistry may also play a crucial part here. Scientists think that some people may be born with less of the chemicals found in the pleasure centres of the brain and because certain drugs act on those centres, it’s easy to become dependent on them.
The length of time, size of dosage, and frequency of usage are factors that contribute to the severity and duration of withdrawal. You’re likely to experience more severe withdrawal symptoms if you’ve been using the drug long-term. Another crucial factor is your unique physiology, so withdrawal may turn out to be very different for you than it is for someone else with the exact same usage pattern.
Often prescribed as an alternative to morphine, Dilaudid is a potent opioid narcotic painkiller, regarded as being up to nine times more powerful, and starts to work within 15 minutes of being ingested.
When it gets into your system, it attaches to the brain’s receptors, GI tract, and central nervous system. As it reacts to the brain’s pleasure centre, it dulls the pain whilst producing euphoric feelings. It is these euphoric feelings with repeated use that leads up to psychological and physical addiction, causing tolerance and dependence in as little as three weeks, particularly if you’ve never been addicted to opiates.
Dilaudid can also be taken through injectable IV, which is extremely common. Taking any drug in this way comes with undesirable effects, such as infections at injection site, blood-borne infections, and vein collapse. Mixing Dilaudid with other substances such as alcohol and Benzodiazepines is also extremely dangerous and can result in serious respiratory depression and possibly, death. Other problems like cardiac arrest and circulatory depression are also risks of prolonged usage.
Withdrawal is generally not life threatening, but it is possible for complications to arise. For instance, you may find yourself having to deal with severe diarrhoea and vomiting, which may cause electrolyte imbalance or dehydration. In a professional setting with medical personnel close by, such symptoms can be managed better, especially if you need IV fluids.
Detoxing properly is also crucial if you have any pre-existing medical issues, such as cardiac conditions that can be aggravated by withdrawal. If you have a painful condition, there’s a good chance you’ll experience increased pain during detox and if you have a panic or anxiety disorder, your symptoms are likely to intensify.
When you detox in a proper setting, you’ll be saving yourself a great deal of suffering and possible damage to your health, as there’ll be medical personnel available to supervise you throughout the process.
The more of the drug you take and the more often you take it, the more desensitised you become to the effects. As time goes on, you’ll need more of the drug to attain the same effect and that essentially means that your body is getting used to its presence.
The more dependent you become on Dilaudid, the more likely it is for your body to protest if you try to deprive it of the drug. This is when withdrawal symptoms manifest. Using the substance for a prolonged period of time changes the way in which nerve receptors work in your brain, causing them to become dependent.
Because you experience unpleasant symptoms when you try to quit substance abuse, you may resort to using the drug again, but that only draws you further down the dark hole of substance dependence, which would subsequently make withdrawal more difficult.
For your primary care provider to diagnose withdrawal, they will have to ask you questions about the symptoms you are experiencing and perform a physical examination. Blood and urine tests might also be required to check if there are any traces of the drug in your system.
Also crucial for a proper diagnosis is your medical history and records of past drug usage, so you’ll most likely have to answer related questions. To get the best support or treatment, it’s important for you to answer truthfully and be as open as you can. Your information will not be disclosed to anyone else you don’t approve of.
The withdrawal symptoms you’ll experience won’t differ too much from what you’d encounter withdrawing from heroin. The detox and withdrawal symptoms you experience will most likely be a mix of physical and psychological ones.
You may have flu-like symptoms and suffer diarrhoea, cold sweats, sleep disturbances, body cramping, intense cravings, or muscle and bone pain. Other symptoms you may experience include: agitation, anxiety, vomiting, suicidal thoughts, dysphoria, tremors, shaking, restlessness, and low blood pressure. If you detox in a professional setting, you’ll be able to get help for many of these symptoms.
You my experience the onset of withdrawal merely hours after your last dose of Dilaudid and the initial symptoms may include anxiety and restlessness.
Your symptoms are likely to spike some time after the first 14 hours of ceasing drug use. You may begin to experience symptoms like sweating, chills, muscle aches, shaking and nausea.
Chances are the most intense withdrawal symptoms will fade after the third or fourth day after quitting. At this point, you may have aching muscles and nausea, but these symptoms will be faint.
Depending on how severe your addiction is, you may experience lingering symptoms of irritability, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
What is Acute Dilaudid Withdrawal?
Acute withdrawal is what is generally referred to simply as ‘withdrawal’. This is the phase when you experience all the initial symptoms of withdrawal at their most intense. Symptoms may include cravings, anxiety, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle cramping, and others we have already mentioned.
The term ‘acute withdrawal’ is often used in contrast to post-acute withdrawal, which refers to a period of prolonged withdrawal. During post-acute withdrawal, you may experience symptoms like depression and perpetual tiredness. Not everyone will experience post-acute withdrawal, but it can carry on for several months if it does happen.
To successfully cope with withdrawal, you’re going to need all the support you can get. The more support you have around you, the more likely it is that you’ll scale through relatively unscathed. The first kind of support you should be looking to get is professional support from medical personnel, which you can get in a formal treatment centre.
With professional support, you’ll get the close monitoring and care you need to help relieve your symptoms and safeguard your health, especially if any complications arise. If you must detox at home, be sure to do so through an outpatient programme with a medical professional you can easily reach.
Equally as important is emotional support, which you can get from your friends and family. Having them around can make a huge difference, so be sure to have at least one person close by who can check on you as often as needed.
We don’t advise you to stop using dilaudid on your own without seeing a doctor first, because suddenly ceasing use of the drug can lead to serious complications you may not be able to manage. With a physician around, any complications can be prevented or taken care of as soon as possible.
The biggest dangers that may arise include consistent vomiting and diarrhoea, which may occur during withdrawal. They can cause dehydration, which is a dangerous complication, especially if it is not properly managed. If you happen to experience such extreme symptoms in a proper detox facility, it can be managed better, especially if you need to be given intravenous fluids.
Another possible complication that can occur is aspiration, which is caused by inhaling the contents of the stomach into the lungs if you vomit. If it happens, you risk developing a lung infection, which can lead to a respiratory illness such as pneumonia. There is also the risk of an overdose in the event that you decide to revert to drug use if withdrawal becomes too unbearable.
How do we treat Dilaudid withdrawal?
Though withdrawal is not expected to be fatal, we always advise seeking medical assistance before proceeding to quit using the drug. Our approach to withdrawal is managing it with medical detox, especially when the cravings and other withdrawal symptoms are intense.
We may administer medications to help manage the more severe symptoms, especially those like anxiety, aching muscles, and cramping. One drug that comes in handy for treating such symptoms is clonidine. There is also buprenorphine, which we may use to reduce your cravings and make your symptoms more bearable.
The medications used to treat withdrawal may be classified broadly as those used to treat specific symptoms and maintenance medications. Two of the most common maintenance medications are buprenorphine and methadone. While buprenorphine is classified as an opioid medication, it does not lead to a strong ‘high’ or euphoria.
For reducing symptoms like anxiety, cramping, sweating, and muscle aches, the blood pressure medication, clonidine, may be used. You may also be given medications for diarrhoea or nausea to reduce the likelihood of developing complications and to ease discomfort.
Other commonly used medications include anti-anxiety medications and antidepressants, which may be prescribed to deal with psychological issues. It is also possible for your doctor to prescribe over-the-counter medications to manage common symptoms like diarrhoea, vomiting, and nausea.
Melatonin is an antioxidant hormone that helps to maintain the body’s natural biorhythms. It is produced as you sleep by the pineal gland in the brain. One of the effects of addiction is it can lower the natural melatonin levels of your brain, which can result in withdrawal symptoms, like bad moods and trouble sleeping.
If you don’t have sufficient levels of the hormone in your system, detoxing can be more difficult. One way out of this problem is to take supplements which can help replenish your natural supply.
When you take a melatonin supplement, you’ll benefit from the ability of melatonin to prevent the brain cells from suffering oxidative damage. Normally, brain cells suffering oxidative damage contribute to the emergence of withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and erratic sleeping habits.
Process from Dilaudid Detox to Rehab: What happens?
During detox, you will experience various withdrawal symptoms which are going to be unpleasant. However, you’ll have it easier if you detox in a professional setting, as opposed to detoxing at home without any professional help. You’ll be given medications to help make withdrawal smoother and you’ll get immediate care, should any complications arise.
Once you are past detox and your symptoms have started abating, you are likely to transition to therapy immediately. You will participate in counselling sessions, which may be in individual or group format. Therapy is crucial, because it is the only way to get to the root of your addiction and tackle it from there. You’ll learn what your triggers are and how best to manage them when you are back in the outside world.
Therapy does not have to be on an inpatient basis. Even if your detox was inpatient, you can continue treatment on an outpatient basis, depending on your needs and the nature of your treatment plan.
Your treatment plan has to be comprehensive, considering that addiction is a chronic and relapsing condition, with both psychological and physical side effects and symptoms. Medical detox can be the stepping stone you need for a stable recovery. One of the biggest concerns with ceasing drug use is the risk of relapse, but medical detox in a residential facility eliminates that, since access to dilaudid will be completely cut off.
Once you can get through the volatile detox phase and stay away from the drug for a while, your tolerance level will be lowered. With a reduced tolerance level, it becomes easier to overdose, because your body won’t be able to properly process the same amount of the drug as you used to take before detox.
Even if you have to return home afterwards, medical detox helps reduce the cravings and prevents serious complications, greatly improving your chances of a successful recovery and attaining long-term sobriety.
Your experience with detox is likely to be different from that of the next person, due to a number of factors. The detox timeline will also depend on how you are detoxing.
If you’re detoxing naturally, without any medical intervention, you can expect it to last between a couple of days to a week or more. Detoxing this way will be harder than medical detox and the process may begin with symptoms like moodiness, shaking and nausea. You may also have difficulty focusing and experience fever as detox progresses. This method may take about a week or less.
We do not advise detoxing on your own, as it can be risky; it is better to detox with professional help. By detoxing with help from medications, your withdrawal symptoms will be significantly reduced and so will your risk of relapse. This method may take weeks or even months, as you will be given medication in place of dilaudid and over time, the doses of the new drug will be reduced.
There are a number of factors that go into deciding what the right treatment is for you. Your ideal treatment solution will certainly depend on the severity of your addiction or substance dependence. Another crucial factor that must be considered is the nature of co-occurring conditions, if any. For instance, you will need to receive treatment in a dual diagnosis centre if you are suffering from a mental disorder, alongside your addiction problem.
You will also need to consider your circumstances and those who depend on you. Perhaps you’ll be unable to leave work or school for an extended period of time, or maybe you have elderly parents or kids to look after. These situations might make it impossible for you to seek treatment in a long-term inpatient programme, making outpatient treatment a more sensible option – even if you have to do a few days of detox in a treatment facility.
Home Detox for Dilaudid Abusers – How Safe is it?
It is not advised that you attempt to go through the detox process on your own without medical supervision. There are a few ways things can get out of hand very quickly. When you detox without medical help, the withdrawal symptoms can be so severe that you won’t be able to bear it. In such a case, you may find yourself reverting to substance abuse, and in a rush to find relief for your unbearable symptoms, you might end up overdosing.
An overdose can be very dangerous to your health and may cause severe damage, especially if there is no one around to call the emergency services. Another possible complication that can arise from detoxing at home is the possibility of being dehydrated. Among withdrawal symptoms associated with dilaudid are vomiting and diarrhoea, which can easily lead to dehydration. Leaving dehydration unattended can lead to even more serious complications.
There is also the risk of accidentally inhaling the contents of your stomach into your lungs when you vomit. Should that happen, there is a good chance that you will develop an infection, leading to serious respiratory problems. Even if you must detox at home, be sure to get in touch with a doctor who can monitor you regularly.
It’s dangerous to attempt to detox all by yourself, especially when you are alone and no one knows what you’re doing. There is no way to know how your body will react to withdrawal, which is dangerous, as you won’t know how to manage certain complications if they arise.
Even if you believe your addiction to the drug is not too severe, it’s best to speak with a doctor first. The physician may then prescribe medications for to help manage your symptoms and check on you from time to time to be sure you are okay.
If the problem you are concerned about is the cost of detoxing in a treatment centre, please consider that you may have to end up spending much more if you happen to suffer any complications arising from self-detoxification.
Once you notice that you suffer withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop using dilaudid, please contact a doctor immediately. A physician will be in the best position to assess your situation and proffer a solution that will work best for you, considering your unique circumstances.
To quit the drug, you‘ll likely be given another medication to replace dilaudid. While this new drug will mimic what your body is used to, it will not produce any euphoric effects. This method is used because it drastically reduces the withdrawal symptoms. Over time, the doses of this new drug will be reduced, as your body gets used to the absence of the narcotic you were once dependent upon.
The medications you’ll be given during detox will help greatly with cravings, but to take that even further, you’ll undergo therapy where you’ll learn all about how to manage cravings when they come later. You will learn a great deal about your addiction and triggers, as well as how to manage them effectively.
Aftercare can also play a significant role in ensuring you don’t return to drug abuse. By surrounding yourself with supportive people and growing with others in a 12-step programme, you’ll be giving yourself a greater chance of successfully recovering and attaining long-term sobriety.
The chemical name for dilaudid is hydromorphone, which is three to five times more powerful than heroin and eight to ten times more powerful than morphine.
The most predominant way in which hydromorphone is abused is through injection, mostly because it has a very low bioavailability when sniffed or taken orally.
The rate at which the drug crosses the blood-brain barrier is faster than almost any other opioid.
How do you know if you’re suffering from Dilaudid Withdrawal?
Depending on the nature of your substance dependence, you may start to experience withdrawal symptoms any time from a few hours after your last dose of the drug to about 48 hours later. Withdrawal can be very unpleasant, so it won’t be too difficult to notice once it begins to set in.
Some of the symptoms you may notice include depression, anxiety, shaking, and nausea. You may also notice that you’re in a bad mood which you can’t seem to shake off. As withdrawal progresses, you may experience even worse symptoms like vomiting or fever. It’s best to see a doctor before you proceed to commence withdrawal.
While it’s not cast in stone, withdrawal may last about two weeks. However, you may only experience withdrawal symptoms for a week or so. It’s also possible that withdrawal will last longer than that. Post-acute withdrawal can last for weeks or even months after quitting, but it is not as severe as the initial withdrawal stage.
How Does Dilaudid Withdrawal Affect My Health?
Withdrawal should not affect your health too negatively if it is effectively managed in a proper treatment centre. You are bound to experience physical symptoms that can leave you feeling very sick. For example, it’s not uncommon to have to deal with vomiting and diarrhoea, amongst other extremely uncomfortable symptoms. If you’re detoxing in a treatment facility, you should have no cause for concern, because the medical personnel on site will be able to manage your symptoms.
You don’t have to worry about any negative health effects after withdrawal, because that is where it ends. Even if you suffer psychological symptoms in post-acute withdrawal, you’ll be fine in the long-term. Stopping substance abuse is the best thing you can do for the wellbeing of your brain and body, so you’ll be healthier in the long run.
There’s also the benefit of the positive life changes you’ll be encouraged to make during treatment, from eating right to exercising regularly. As long as you adhere to professional advice, you’ll become much healthier.
Withdrawal from diluadid can be dangerous if it occurs under the wrong circumstances; for instance, if you choose to detox on your own at home. There are a number of dangerous complications that can come about if you go down that road.
One of the risks you’ll be exposing yourself to is that of overdosing, which is a possibility if you happen to relapse because the symptoms were unbearable. In certain scenarios, an overdose can be deadly.
There is also the risk of contracting a respiratory infection if you happen to inhale vomit into your lungs. It’s also possible to suffer dehydration if you have to deal with diarrhoea and vomiting, which is why it is advised that you seek professional help before proceeding to detox.