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In some cases these substance-induced psychiatric disorders can persist long after detoxification from amphetamine, cocaine, opioid, and alcohol use, causing prolonged psychosis, anxiety or depression. A protracted withdrawal syndrome can occur with symptoms persisting for months to years after cessation of substance use.
The severity of symptoms can be assessed by validated withdrawal scales, such as the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS). [15] There is no test to diagnose for morphine withdrawal. [7] However, a toxicology test using urine is conducted to determine if withdrawal symptoms are caused by other non-opioid drugs or a combination of both. [7]
Drug detoxification (informally, detox) is variously construed or interpreted as a type of "medical" intervention or technique in regards to a physical dependence mediated by a drug; as well as the process and experience of a withdrawal syndrome or any of the treatments for acute drug overdose (toxidrome).
The symptoms from withdrawal may be even more dramatic when the drug has masked prolonged malnutrition, disease, chronic pain, infections (common in intravenous drug use), or sleep deprivation, conditions that drug abusers often develop as a secondary consequence of the drug. When the drug is removed, these conditions may resurface and be ...
More serious withdrawal symptoms such as confusion, seizures, and visual hallucinations indicate a serious emergency and the need for immediate medical care. Sedative hypnotic drugs such as alcohol , benzodiazepines , and barbiturates are the only commonly available substances that can be fatal in withdrawal due to their propensity to induce ...
Laura Duke, who was recently the detox unit’s supervisor, said the cost put the medication out of reach for all but 1 to 2 percent of the addicts she saw. Detoxing is a first step towards sobriety. To overcome the inevitable pain of withdrawal from opiates without medication—going “cold turkey”—is excruciating.
Ethanol (alcohol) has a very similar mechanism of tolerance and withdrawal to benzodiazepines, involving the GABA A receptors, NMDA receptors and AMPA receptors, but the majority of research into kindling has primarily focused on alcohol. [6] An intensification of anxiety and other psychological symptoms of alcohol withdrawal also occurs. [10]
These include the severity of withdrawal symptoms, the time elapsed since the last opioid use, and the type of opioid involved (long-acting vs. short-acting). [134] A standard induction method involves waiting until the patient exhibits moderate withdrawal symptoms, as measured by a Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale, achieving a score of around 12.