Managing Withdrawal
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Key Points
- Withdrawal happens after stopping some substances. It can range from being uncomfortable to life-threatening, depending on the substance you stop.
- Talk to your Boulder Team Clinician about treating withdrawal.
- Work with your Peer Recovery Specialist on skills to help cope with your symptoms.
Withdrawal from Opioids
When you stop opioids (like heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, Percocet, etc.) you will most likely experience signs of withdrawal in a few hours or the next day. Withdrawal signs might include: feeling like you can’t stay still, body aches, anxiety, sweating, runny nose, teary eyes, goosebumps and stomach symptoms like cramps, nausea and diarrhea. Most of these symptoms will go away within days of stopping the opioid, though several can last weeks (like anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and restlessness).
Opioids for addiction treatment, like buprenorphine and methadone, will quickly help relieve withdrawal symptoms.
If you take buprenorphine before you start withdrawal, such as taking buprenorphine within a few hours of taking an opioid like oxycodone or methadone, you can cause withdrawal to start suddenly. Your Team Clinician can help you to decide when it is safe to start buprenorphine to avoid this uncommon experience, called “precipitated withdrawal.”
There are other medicines that can help these symptoms go away faster. Most are available by prescription only, though you can use acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil) for body aches and loperamide (Imodium) for diarrhea without a prescription. Non-opioid prescription medicines include clonidine (sometimes used to treat high blood pressure) which can relieve sweating, anxiety, and restlessness, and ondansetron (Zofran) which can help relieve nausea.
If you are taking buprenorphine or methadone, you usually won’t need other medication to help withdrawal symptoms.
You can also consider a hot bath or shower to help with body aches or chamomile tea (sometimes called Sleepytime tea) for sleeplessness. You can help your anxiety by distracting yourself with your favorite music, movie, or book. Reaching out to your supports and Boulder Team can also help.
Withdrawal from Benzodiazepines or Alcohol
Some types of withdrawal can be dangerous. Suddenly stopping alcohol or benzodiazepines (like Xanax, Klonopin, or Ativan) can be life-threatening.
No matter how long or how much you have been drinking alcohol or taking benzodiazepines, you cannot predict how serious your withdrawal will be.
Common withdrawal symptoms from stopping alcohol or benzodiazepines include shakes (tremors), anxiety, headaches, nausea, and sweating or flushing.
Signs of serious withdrawal from alcohol or benzodiazepines include passing out, having a seizure, or becoming confused or delirious (seeing or feeling things that are not real).
If you feel these things when you stop drinking alcohol or stop taking benzodiazepines, you should get urgent medical help at a hospital.
Summary
Your Boulder Care Team is here to help you. If you are experiencing opioid withdrawal symptoms, we can help. Before you cut back on alcohol or benzodiazepines, talk with us about how to do so safely.
Questions, concerns, or feedback?
You can send a message to your Care Team in the app with non-urgent questions or feedback, or call us at 888-316-0451.