Ready to Get Clean from Heroin and Opioids?
Opioids are an extremely addictive medication, so it is no surprise that opioid addiction and overdoses are on the rise. As opioids become more expensive and difficult to obtain, many people turn to heroin in order to fulfill their needs. The more opioids someone takes, the more their body requires in order to feel the euphoric effects. This tolerance building can quickly snowball to dependency and eventual addiction. You probably realize that your heroin and opioid use is out of control and your body’s need for it is too great to handle alone. The only answer to stopping this cycle is to get clean from heroin and opioids for good.
How to Get Clean from Heroin and Opioids
The withdrawal symptoms from heroin and opioids tend to be very severe. This is because your body is essentially working to adjust to no longer being supplied with opioids. They begin within the first few hours of your last dose and can last for up to a few weeks. This uncomfortable experience can be very difficult to handle alone, especially since cravings are at an all-time high. If you are ready to get clean from heroin and opioids, you should not do it alone. Make sure you are under the care of a doctor trained in addiction to best help you.
Withdrawal symptoms from heroin and opioids include:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Sweating
- Shaking
- Insomnia
- Nervousness
- Agitation
- Depression
- Muscle spasms
Medical Detox
The best and most comfortable way to get clean from heroin and opioids is to go through medical detox. If you were to be prescribed opioids for an injury, your doctor would slowly wean you off after you no longer needed it. This would be so that you wouldn’t feel any withdrawal symptoms, and the same goes for people suffering from addiction. Our on-staff addictionologist is on-hand to help safely detox you from heroin and opioids.
Being able to be slowly weaned off of opioids helps to make withdrawal symptoms less severe. If there are any withdrawal symptoms present, there are additional medications to help treat those. In addition, there are medications available to help curb cravings. If you are able to comfortably detox without any of the negative effects, why wouldn’t you?
Residential Treatment
One of the benefits of medical detox is you are more quickly able to focus on beginning therapy for your addiction. Enrolling in residential treatment can be extremely beneficial, especially in taking you out of the environment in which you used. Even if you were to successfully detox from opioids alone, being constantly surrounded by triggers can eventually drive you to use again rather quickly. Learning how to conquer those triggers and getting to the root issue of your addiction will help ensure long-lasting sobriety.
Behavioral Therapy
In residential treatment, it is important to learn behavioral therapy techniques. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, cognitive-behavioral therapy is designed to help modify the patient’s expectations and behaviors related to drug use and to increase skills in coping with various life stressors.
In addition, DBT is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that combines psychological techniques with mindfulness awareness, to assist those with severe psychological disorders, particularly emotional dysregulation. It is very often used at Cliffside Malibu to assist those with co-occurring disorders (also called dual diagnosis) to regulate the out-of-control feelings that the addict previously used drugs and alcohol to control.
Holistic Therapy
One of the many benefits of residential treatment is being able to take advantage of holistic therapy for addiction. Activities such as yoga, equine therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, exercise, meditation and more have proven to be very beneficial to addiction recovery in conjunction with evidence-based therapy. These therapies are also positive, healthy ways to relieve stress that someone can carry with them for the rest of their lives.
Ongoing Care
Once you have been able to get clean from heroin and opioids with the help of medical detox and residential treatment, the journey hasn’t ended there. It is important to keep up with ongoing care, such as attending meetings or making sober friends, so that you can ensure your long-lasting sobriety. It can be pretty easy to fall into a relapse and quickly get back into the cycle of addiction. This can be extremely life-threatening, and often is fatal. This is why keeping up with your program is so important once you have left treatment.
About Cliffside Malibu
If you are ready to get clean from heroin and opioids, we can help you. By comfortably weaning you off of opioids and helping you navigate your triggers, you will have a much greater chance of a healthy, opioid-free life. We have an on-staff Addictionologist and professional medical staff to help ease any client through the detox phase of treatment. What’s best is having it all happen in serene, beach-front surroundings, far away from the stress of your addiction.
Each patient is then matched with one of these five stages of the Transtheoretical Model: Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance. An individualized treatment plan is created based on their current stage of change. This process is in place to ensure that all our patients receive the best treatment path possible for their own specific need. Our goal is to move individuals through their treatment by assessing their readiness for change and formulating stage-matched interventions in order to move them through their respective stage.
It is the policy of Cliffside Malibu to ensure that all individuals who present with chemical dependency issues are assessed for the appropriate level of care. We strive to provide a continuum of care including medically supervised detox, residential treatment, day treatment, and outpatient services. Services are provided to individuals with a primary diagnosis of substance abuse and/or alcohol addiction. Individuals seeking treatment are assessed by qualified staff to ensure program criteria are met and that each individual admitted is placed in the appropriate level of care for treatment. The program is designed and structured for individuals who are in need of a supportive environment in order to maintain Sobriety.
For more information on Cliffside Malibu, visit cliffsidemalibu.com