Fentanyl Addiction Treatment

Treatment for Fentanyl Addiction in Port St. Lucie, Florida

Opioid addiction is a serious form of drug abuse. Opioid use disorders commonly occur with co-occurring mental illnesses. When a person is struggling with opioid use and mental illness, our rehab center in Port St. Lucie can assist.

It’s important to seek treatment at our rehab centers for substance abuse like fentanyl and other prescription opioids or other drugs. Opioid use disorder can be improved with the help of our staff, your commitment, and friends, and family members as your support system. Don’t allow the weight of substance abuse to take over your life any longer.

FENTANYL ADDICTION TREATMENT, EFFECTS & SYMPTOMS

Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is an opioid drug used as a pain medicine and collectively with different medicines for anesthesia to treat severe pain. Cheaper fentanyl can also be utilized as a recreational drug, frequently mixed by drug dealers with cocaine or heroin. It has a quick onset and effects normally last less than two hours.

This powerful synthetic opioid analgesic can assist with chronic pain, but it’s vital to take certain precautionary measures with taking opioid medications. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl can cause physical dependence and a condition called hypoxia, which can result in respiratory depression. Rather than slowed breathing, a condition called hypoxia can cause increased breathing and cold flashes. Besides respiratory depression, fentanyl addiction can result in even death.

What is Fentanyl?

Fentanyl is a fast-acting and powerful synthetic opioid narcotic available used to treat severe pain. Fentanyl is available in prescription versions, but illicitly manufactured versions are sold illegally on the black market. The use of fentanyl has been one of the primary contributing factors to the opioid epidemic as well as the surge in deaths related to opioid addiction.

Fentanyl can be prescribed only in certain situations because of its potency and habit-forming potential. Fentanyl nasal sprays are intended to be prescribed to treat breakthrough pain for patients with cancer struggling with severe pain.

Someone prescribed fentanyl should already be on another around-the-clock opioid for constant pain management. Then, the fentanyl can treat any pain that occurs while the patient is on that constant opioid treatment. That’s what breakthrough pain refers to.

Fentanyl nasal sprays should only be prescribed to cancer patients 18 and older, or in a few cases, patients 16 and older may be prescribed some forms of the narcotic for breakthrough cancer pain.

Signs and Symptoms of Fentanyl Addiction

When an individual is struggling with fentanyl addiction, the following signs and symptoms can occur:

• Needing to engage in drug abuse more often or in larger doses to achieve the same high
• Disinterest in activities that one formerly found to be enjoyable
• Inability to function in life’s major functions due to substance use disorder
• Severe cravings for more opioid drug use
• A fixation to obtain fentanyl
• Depressed or euphoric mood
• Loss of consciousness
• Swollen hands and feet
• Nausea or vomiting
• Difficulty focusing
• Slowed breathing
• Rapid heart rate
• Confusion
• Anxiety
• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Fatigue

What are the Different Forms of Fentanyl?

Generally, the different forms of fentanyl are liquid, fentanyl patch, and powder. In the liquid form, illegal fentanyl works as a replacement for heroin. Powdered fentanyl works to look like other opioids. It is often pressed into pills that look exactly like prescription drugs such as Xanax or Percocet.

Why is Fentanyl Dangerous?

Fentanyl is dangerous due to the risks of fentanyl overdose especially if the individual is unaware that a pill or powder contains it. Generally, a person can underestimate the dose of synthetic opioids they are taking, resulting in fentanyl overdose. When a fentanyl overdose occurs, if you dispense naloxone, it can reverse it.

Why is Fentanyl Addictive?

Fentanyl is addictive because of its potency. A person with a substance use disorder such as prescription fentanyl as instructed by a doctor can undergo dependence, which is characterized by opioid withdrawal symptoms once it is stopped. It’s important to understand that a person can be dependent on a substance without being addicted, but sometimes dependence can lead to addiction.

Fentanyl Withdrawal Symptoms

Fentanyl Dependence

Fentanyl is a drug that causes not only addiction but also dependence. Dependence can occur even if a person uses fentanyl exactly as prescribed. First, someone will start to develop tolerance. This means that they need larger and larger doses of fentanyl to get the same effects they once did when taking a smaller dose.

As someone develops a tolerance, they’re also likely becoming dependent on fentanyl. Dependence means that if someone stops taking it, it sends their brain and body into a type of shock due to the body’s opioid receptors no longer getting the same response. This is called withdrawal.

Fentanyl withdrawal symptoms can be extremely uncomfortable and can lead to physical and psychological health complications. Therefore, it’s essential to undergo the withdrawal process at our treatment centers in Port St. Lucie.

What are the Long-Term Effects of Fentanyl Addiction?

Long-term effects of opioid drugs, such as fentanyl may increase the risk of:

• Chronic and severe constipation, which can lead to serious health consequences such as bowel obstruction
• Hormonal and reproductive issues in both women and men
• Depression, anxiety, and mood disorders
• Breathing problems while sleeping
• Heart attack and heart failure
• Immune system suppression
• Fractures in the elderly

Fentanyl Abuse Prevalence – Statistics in Port St. Lucie Florida

There were an estimated 75,000 synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths during a 12-month period ending in April 2021. For this reason, drug rehab in Port St. Lucie for fentanyl addiction treatment is needed. According to the CDC, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are the cause of fentanyl overdose deaths in the United States. These overdose deaths from illicit fentanyl can be prevented today!

In 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized over 58.4 million fentanyl-laced fake pills and over 13,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. The seizures that occurred in 2022 are equivalent to over 387.7 million lethal doses of fentanyl. As of 2023, fentanyl seizures represent more than 266 million deadly doses.

How Can You Prevent Fentanyl Abuse?

Fentanyl misuse or fentanyl use disorder can be prevented by having regular conversations with young people, teens, and loved ones about the following:

• The life-saving power of an individual receiving Naloxone to reduce stigma around seeking help, fentanyl addiction treatment, and care
• The risks of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl
• The dangers of fentanyl and other opioids or other drugs that encourage drug use

How is Fentanyl Addiction Treatment Treated?

Like other opioid drugs, opioid medications with behavioral therapies have been shown to be effective in treating fentanyl addiction such as cognitive behavioral therapy and group therapy. Generally, taking medications for fentanyl use disorder is safe, effective, and saves lives. Detox centers in St. Port Lucie, FL, use medication-assisted treatment to help people stop using fentanyl. These medications interact with the same body’s opioid receptors specifically in the brain, but it doesn’t produce the same effects.

• Buprenorphine, an opioid receptor partial agonist, attaches to and activates opioid receptors partially, to ease withdrawal symptoms and cravings
• Naltrexone, an opioid receptor antagonist, prevents fentanyl from attaching to opioid receptors, thus blocking its effects
• Methadone an opioid receptor full agonist, attaches to and activates opioid receptors to ease withdrawal symptoms and severe cravings

What to Do if Someone You Know is Experiencing a Fentanyl Overdose?

• Call 911 immediately
• Stay with the person
• If Naloxene is available and you have been trained to dispense Naloxone, do so. If Naloxone is available and you haven’t been trained, let the 911 operator that you have it available and ask for instructions. Naloxone is a medication that rapidly reverses a fentanyl overdose.

Receive Fentanyl Addiction Treatment at Amethyst Recovery Center

When an individual struggles with fentanyl misuse or other opioids, harmful consequences can occur. An opioid use disorder is one of the most challenging when it comes to substance use disorder. Though fentanyl is generally a prescription opioid to help manage pain or control pain, addiction is possible.

Here in our addiction recovery Port St. Lucie, Amethyst Recovery Center offers treatment programs to assist you on your recovery journey, whether that be for fentanyl or other drugs. We can assist you at our residential treatment center with behavioral therapies. If you’d like to learn more, please contact our Port St. Lucie treatment center!