About Vicodin® Addiction
Vicodin® is usually prescribed for its efficacy as a pain reliever. It has been shown that, taken as prescribed, it is highly effective and rarely causes addiction- however, misuse often occurs.
Vicodin® affects the area of the brain that controls how we experience pain, as well as pleasure, and it often induces a feeling of euphoria. After chronic misuse of Vicodin®, the body builds up a tolerance to the drug, requiring a progressively higher dosage to maintain the same effect.
With continued consumption of high levels of Vicodin®, the body habituates to the presence of opiates and severe withdrawal symptoms occur if its use is stopped abruptly.
The unpleasant symptoms of opiate withdrawal include muscle pain, bone pain, restlessness, insomnia, vomiting, diarrhea, cold flashes and uncontrollable leg movements.
Vicodin® addiction changes the way the brain functions, which is why people dependent upon VIcodin®, or any other opiate can't simply quit using it on their own. Professional opiate detoxification and treatment is essential to recovery from Vicodin addiction.
To ease the pain of Vicodin® withdrawal, a process known as Anesthesia-Assisted Rapid Opiate Detoxification or "Rapid Detox", is recommended. In the Rapid Detox procedure the patient is given a general anesthesia, and then medications to remove Vicodin from the system are administered. This sudden removal of the drug causes immediate opiate withdrawal, but because the patient is asleep, the pain and discomfort are avoided. The opiate withdrawal period that would normally last five to six days is shortened to five to six hours.
A residential drug and alcohol addiction treatment program to correct addictive behavior and to reduce the chances of relapse or addiction transfer, should follow any rapid opiate detox procedure.
