The first and most important stage of detox involves careful in-depth evaluation from a detox specialist. This allows a doctor to chart a personalized detox plan meticulously designed to meet your personal needs, struggles, and recovery goals. This is a key phase that enables the medical professional to get to know you, your triggers, the depth of your struggle, and additional recovery necessities unique to your needs.

Early fentanyl withdrawal onset within the first 12 hours of your last fentanyl dose. These symptoms include but are not limited to anxiety, insomnia, body aches, and flu-like symptoms. During this early detox phase, doctors utilize individual symptom-specific medications and natural activity practices to help alleviate your withdrawals. Medical professionals use this detox introduction to prepare and inform you on what to expect from the entire detox process.

By the 2nd to 4th day of your last use, fentanyl withdrawals hit their peak. Advanced symptoms at this stage consist of severe stomach pains, intense nausea, and other extreme gastrointestinal and bodily discomforts. At this point, medication doses and medical monitoring may be at their highest to ensure a safe detox.

At the one-week mark, symptoms of withdrawal begin to alleviate in most cases. However, lingering effects of post-acute withdrawal symptoms (including intense cravings, mood swings, and aches) can linger for several months. In this case, an extended period of detox may be necessary to ensure a full expunging of fentanyl cravings

While detox is arguably the most important aspect of recovery, it should only be used as a pre-rehab introduction to treatment programs. That’s why completing detox involves personal guidance from rehab specialists to find the most effective treatment suited to your needs.

Some family genetics may enable you to help detox faster, while others may take longer. This is why brain scans and other tests may be necessary to help doctors chart an effective detox and recovery path. Knowing your genetics helps you and doctors learn how your body responds to treatment and the effects of fentanyl.

Detoxification will naturally take longer or shorter depending on the length of one’s substance abuse history. For example, those who have used fentanyl for years will likely take longer to detox or rehab than those with weeks or months-long substance use history. Thus why it’s of the utmost importance to be completely transparent and honest about when your addiction struggles began

How much one indulges in substances in a session is just as important as how long, when it comes to determining a detox timeline. People who have built up a tolerance require higher doses to feel the desired effects. Therefore, their mind has grown accustomed to a higher amount of intake. When this familiar intake is diminished or removed completely, it has difficult withdrawal effects.

Being addicted to other substances in addition to fentanyl is also likely to affect one’s detox and recovery timeline. This is especially the case if harder drugs such as heroin, cocaine, or other opioids are involved. It’s important to fully inform your treatment specialist of any other substances you or a loved one have been taking in addition to fentanyl. It’s not only important for the recovery process, but also because additional substances could negatively interact with detox medications.

Pre-existing mental health conditions play a key factor in how doctors approach your detox and rehabilitation process. The majority of mental health conditions require a unique angle to prevent exacerbating both mental health problems and substance cravings. Be sure to inform your detox specialist of any co-occurring disorders in addition to fentanyl addiction, so that you can enter a targeted dual-diagnosis treatment program.

Your current physical health is also instrumental in determining how long it takes to detox from fentanyl. Obesity, malnutrition, pre-existing physical health conditions, high blood pressure, and other physical health factors can lengthen or shorten the detox process.

Medically administered doses of methadone attach to opioid receptors and help stabilize these receptors to normal levels. In many cases, methadone helps fend off many uncomfortable gastrointestinal and nauseating withdrawal symptoms.

Originally prescribed for people with high blood pressure, Clonidine can help lower anxiety, among other withdrawal-subsiding factors. This blood pressure medication has a proven track record of helping reduce certain withdrawal symptoms for over 40 years.

Lofexidine is a completely opioid-free medication that is known specifically for efficiently suppressing opioid withdrawal symptoms. The Food and Drug Administration put its stamp of approval on Lofexidine specifically to treat opioid withdrawals. Learn more about this revolutionary opioid craving and withdrawal suppressor by reaching out to our detox treatment team today.

Buprenorphine is another FDA-approved medication for opioid withdrawals. This drug fractionally activates the brain’s opioid receptors to diminish heavy cravings and other harsh withdrawal symptoms such as body aches, anxiety, and nausea.

The overwhelming majority of people who attempt self-detox get discouraged when they feel the harsh effects of withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms can feel so unbearable that cravings and substance use become even worse when relapse occurs. This makes addiction after relapse more likely to have fatal outcomes, with the potential dosage increasing with elevated use frequency.

Self-attempted detox can induce a plethora of dangerous mental and physical dangers, such as mental breakdowns and anxiety attacks. In turn, without medical monitoring, the sudden chemical changes your mind and body undergo when quitting cold turkey can cause long-term brain or organ damage.

When your body has developed fentanyl dependency, quitting cold turkey can put you at a severely high risk of going into a withdrawal-induced shock. Bodily responses to shock include seizures and cardiac arrest.

One of the greatest and most vital attributes of recovery is the top-notch support system you acquire in professional treatment. Trying to navigate withdrawal without proper professional support can put you in a very dark state of self-loathing and depression. This depressive state can go unnoticed by loved ones who may otherwise play an intricate support role in conjunction with professional treatment.

Medically-administered withdrawal medicine specifically helps to make withdrawal less acutely painful, so that people can focus on healing without craving distraction. Self-attempted detox may lead to relapse and deeper or increased drug usage. The intense withdrawal symptoms can be so painfully intense that many seek out the drug to alleviate the symptoms. Detox and recovery are more tenable when done under medical supervision.

The body may go into complete shock during detoxification, or else the strain may damage the body permanently. Even once detox is complete, relapse into fentanyl use at pre-detox levels may cause death.