Fentanyl Withdrawal

Fentanyl serves the dual purpose of treating not only acute pain but also relieving anxiety. An opioid-based prescription medication, Fentanyl is immensely addictive. It binds to receptors in the brain and blocks your experience of pain while simultaneously triggering your pleasure pathways. Should you stop taking Fentanyl without warning or even just miss a dose, you will experience withdrawal symptoms as your body begins to detox. At Meditox, we can help you avoid the worst of these Fentanyl withdrawal symptoms by providing you with a structured, outpatient Suboxone detox.

What is a Fentanyl Withdrawal?

It doesn't take long to build up a tolerance to opiate painkillers like Fentanyl. When you have a tolerance for Fentanyl, you need a higher dose of the drug to achieve the same level of pain relieving effects that you experienced initially. At the same time, your body comes to expect that you will maintain a certain level of Fentanyl by reintroducing the drug into your blood stream every few hours. If you don't do this, your body rebels, making you sick; you experience Fentanyl withdrawal symptoms that are crushing both physically and mentally. Depending upon your depth of addiction, other physical maladies you may have and whether or not you undergo a Fentanyl detox without medical supervision, the withdrawal experience can end fatally.

What are the Symptoms of a Fentanyl Withdrawal?

A Fentanyl withdrawal, just like a withdrawal from any opiate prescription, is like an amplified version of the flu. The symptoms start with a dull headache, runny nose and sweating about four to six hours after your last dose of Fentanyl. Over the next 48 to 72 hours, symptoms will intensify, broadening to include abdominal and muscle pains, cramping, diarrhea, fever, irritability, involuntary twitching and muscle spasms, vomiting and insomnia despite incredible fatigue.

What Causes Fentanyl Withdrawal?

Mental addiction and craving for Fentanyl can sometimes create a withdrawal earlier or more intensely than the physical symptoms alone. For example, some patients who receive opiates during a hospital stay to treat pain then return home without a prescription will experience withdrawal without realizing it. They don't know that they are detoxing off of Fentanyl and so don't realize that taking an opiate would relieve the symptoms. Their blissful ignorance means that they don't crave the drug.

At Meditox, our opiate addiction treatment will help you with both the physical and mental aspects of Fentanyl withdrawal using Suboxone. Suboxone is strong enough to make your system believe that Fentanyl is present but not so strong as to create the muddy thinking and stupor that generally accompany the drug. In this way, you avoid withdrawal symptoms because your body does not know that you are in detox.

What are the Treatment Options for Fentanyl Withdrawal?

Suboxone Treatment is far and away the best treatment for Fentanyl withdrawal or withdrawal from any opioid-based drug. Because it is a partial agonist, you can immediately stop taking the full agonist, Fentanyl, without your body realizing that there is a deficit. You can use Suboxone for as long as you need to, slowly decreasing the dosage until you are free of it and your addiction to opiates.

How Does Meditox Treat Fentanyl Withdrawal?

Meditox specializes in treating opiate addiction with Suboxone. Each of our doctors are not only certified to prescribe the drug-a rarity among physicians-but are also specialists in the physiology of addiction and addiction treatment. We need only one afternoon of your time and together we can create a personalized treatment plan that speaks to the specifics of your circumstance. If you would like to make an appointment or need more information, contact our Meditox calling center today.

If you feel that Meditox might be the right solution for you or your loved one, please call us for a toll-free and private consultation:

Additional Resources

National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements: Substitution pharmacotherapies for opioid addiction
How to Ease Fentanyl Withdrawal Symptoms
Drugs.com: Fentanyl Withdrawal

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“Today is week #5! I have my life back, this morning my husband told me he hadn't seen me like this in three years! My daughter told me "your back Mom"! My Fybromyalgia is down to 2 to 3 percent of what it was, I am fully able to live with the Joy and Love and Laughter which has always been my way.”

Mother, Real Estate Agent, 49
August 11, 2006

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