With Help from a Morphine Detox Program a Normal Life is Possible

Morphine is an extremely powerful opiate medication and is regarded as the cornerstone of analgesia which relieves severe, powerful pain and suffering. Like other opiates, morphine acts directly on the central nervous system and has an extremely high potential for addiction, tolerance and psychological dependency. Although it is highly addictive, morphine use does not generally cause immediate physical dependence, this is something that takes a person a long period of time to experience. An addiction to morphine is a serious problem and something which should be handled with help from a morphine detox program.

In the past, morphine was used to treat alcoholism and opium addiction, but medical researchers uncovered that the drug was more addictive than either substance. Because of excessive use during the American Civil War, approximately 500,000 people suffered from soldiers disease or morphine addiction. Morphine became a controlled substance in the US in 1914, and to have the drug without a prescription was a criminal offense. Until heroin came into use, morphine was the most commonly abused of all recreational drugs and the effects are still being felt on society today.

Morphine can be used to treat pain after a heart attack, cancer, surgical conditions, kidney stones, sickle cell crisis, renal colic, and severe back pain. The drug can also be used as an adjunct to anesthesia for those undergoing surgery, epidural anesthesia, as a cough suppressant, antidiarrheal, to lower blood sugar in diabetics, pulmonary edema and for refractory depression. Despite all the medical conditions that can be treated and managed using morphine, the drug still finds its way into the hands of addicts all over the country and is responsible for serious cases of addiction and in worst case scenario, death.

There are many common side effects which will show if someone is suffering from an addiction to morphine. When abusing the drug the most common effects are constipation, bradycardia, hypotension, heart palpitations, facial flushing, itching, dry mouth, cardiac arrest, vision changes, constricted pupils, liver damage or failure, nausea and vomiting. Besides all of the physical effects caused by morphine, there are also psychological issues as well which include antidepressant effects, anxiolysis, and confusion, nodding off, mental confusion, sedation, relaxation, stress relief and dysphoria.

When addicted to morphine, the chances for serious and adverse consequences are almost unavoidable. The effects of morphine addiction are something felt by the addict, as well as everyone else involved in the situation. Morphine addiction is something that follows a predictable pattern of events, much like with any other illicit or prescription addiction. A person will experience drug cravings, develop dependency and then experience tolerance to the drug, the end results are always the same and when addicted, there can seem like no possible way to escape. Instead of ignoring an addiction to morphine, the best thing to do in the situation is to have the problem addressed by receiving help from a morphine detox program in Florida.

When someone becomes addicted to morphine, nobody can predict how damaging and destructive the situation can become. Injecting doses of heroin not only results in infections and collapsed veins, a person could also contract HIV/AIDS and hepatitis due to exposure to dirty hypodermic needles. In controlled scientific studies, researchers found no difference in an addicts preference for heroin or morphine, which means both drugs have the same potential for misuse and addiction. People abusing morphine and suffering from an addiction desperately need to stop using the drug and the best way to do it, is with help from a morphine detoxification program.

A person becomes tolerant to the analgesic effects of morphine rather quickly and the human body will crave it and need it to feel and function normally. When morphine is used illicitly, a very serious psychological dependency and addiction problem can develop rapidly. If someone has had enough of the pain and uncertainty of morphine addiction and wants to make a serious change in life, it is something more easily accomplished when the situation is handled by a professional morphine detoxification program.

Morphine not only causes serious health problems, but when the person is dependent and the drug is not used it results in withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal from morphine is not fatal in healthy addicts, but there are those in need of specialized care and attention when going through the process of getting clean. In a small amount of people going through morphine withdrawal, suicide, heart attacks, seizures and strokes can and do happen, which is why help from a professional drug detox program is so important to the outcome some individuals will experience.

Acute morphine withdrawal symptoms will occur within a short period of time within the last dose of the drug. According to research information, morphine withdrawal takes place in stages and will last according to how long the drug was abused and how much of it was consumed. During the initial stage of withdrawal a person will experience anxiety and drug cravings, but if safely contained in a detox program there is no risk of relapsing. Within 14-18 hours of last using morphine, a person will experiencing dysphoria, yawning, sweating, crying, runny nose and lacrimation, all of which can be very unsettling to the addict and makes it hard to resist using the drug.

When going through the advanced stages of morphine withdrawal, there are also other things which a person will go through. Other symptoms of withdrawal from morphine can include; hot and cold flashes, elevated blood pressure, moderate rise in body temperature, increase breathing and respiration, nausea, restlessness, insomnia, involuntary leg movements, nose running and anorexia. Because withdrawal symptoms can be so unpredictable and painful, the best way to avoid falling back into drug use is to have help from a morphine detoxification program.

Within 3-5 days of the last dose of morphine, things can become more tenuous and uncomfortable for an addict. There will be an increase in all of the symptoms previously described as well as additional things an addict will have to deal with. A person will possibly be curled up in a fetal position and experiencing severe stomach cramps, more vomiting, frequent diarrhea, involuntary urination, saturation of bedding materials from bodily fluids and weight loss due to sweating and purging the drug from the body. There is no way a person could ever be fully equipped to handle the severe reality of withdrawing the body from morphine, which is why the need for professional help is something which should never be overlooked.

When in a professional detox program, a person receives the medical attention and supervision vital to making a full recovery. The painful symptoms of morphine withdrawal can be effectively alleviated and addressed through the use of pharmaceutical medications and other methods. The goal of going through detoxification from morphine is to get the toxins of substance abuse removed from the body, but this should not be mistaken as a cure. The only cure for an addiction to morphine is for the person to go through detox and then commit to a long term drug rehab program to address the reasons that led to the addiction in the first place.

Because morphine causes such a high tolerance level, it is a drug that is responsible for many accidental overdoses each year in the country. Sadly, even knowing about all the horrible consequences due to morphine addiction, an addict will still not likely be motivated to quit. The decision to stop using morphine is something a person must do voluntarily and until that happens, nothing will change. Though beating an addiction to morphine can be a long and difficult process, when an addict gets the right help it is not impossible to get clean and recover.

Addiction is something that not only happens to homeless or destitute people, but others from any walk of life can fall prey as well. What may have started as a genuine need for pain relief can quickly escalate into something out of control and consumes everything in a persons life, this is how addiction works. The disease of addiction never discriminates and does not judge, it happens and when it does, the need for detox and treatment should never be ignored because lives depend on it. Morphine is a highly dangerous drug and even used casually, a person is taking unnecessary chances and risks which could have the capacity to become fatal.

Dealing with an addiction to morphine is an unpredictable situation for which nobody can quite ever fully prepare. There is no reason to let feelings of shame, guilt or embarrassment, ever prevent someone from becoming clean and sober. Morphine, next to heroin, is one of the worst drugs to ever be addicted too and when desiring to get clean, the best choice to make is seeking help from a morphine detox program. Instead of allowing morphine to completely destroy everything in life, a person needs to see the truth of how bad things have become and get help. Contact a Florida morphine detox program today, and finally get the chance to make the changed needed to begin living the healthy, productive life you have always dreamed about.