Opiates are known to reduce pain and anxiety, and when it is taken in much quantities, it gives euphoria. A good number of opiates can be smoked, taken via injection or with mouth.
The medium which gives the fastest and strongest pleasure is the injection route. Due to this, a good number of people have found themselves stuck in the web of opiate addiction, and it is hard to break free from.
People who are addicted to opiate addiction are known to take more than what they intended to. At many points in their lives, they have tried to cut down or stop the usage, but it has been difficult to achieve this.
Hence, it gets to a stage where they continue to use it irrespective of the psychological and physical harm attached to it.
For someone who take opiates on a regular basis, the nerve receptors adapt and they provide a resistance to the drugs, which induces the need for greater doses.
Another angle to this tolerance is, the physical withdrawal reaction which takes place when the drug is out of the body, and the receptors need to adapt to its absence. This physical dependence is however not the same as addiction.
A good number of patients who use opiates for relieving pain, are physically dependent, and not addicted.
The drug does not harm them, and the cravings experienced by addicted people does not affect them.
For people who are addicted to opiates, the first line of treatment, which is the most important, is detoxification. This is referred to as the medically supervised and controlled withdrawal from drugs.
Detoxification is essential because, there are some unpleasant withdrawal symptoms which the patient could experience.
Some of these symptoms include: Agitation, anxiety, cold and hot flashes, diarrhea and the likes. The intensity which comes with the reaction is dependent on the dose and the withdrawal speed.
When it comes to opiate addiction treatment, there is no single method which would work well for all patients.
People who are addicted to opioids, are advised to have a counselor who would be with them in every step of the way.