The Mood Swings Of The Detox Playground: Why Withdrawal Swings Up And Down
Drug detox is hard. There is never a time during this period in your life where it will not be difficult, but it is most difficult within the first two to six weeks. If you are addicted to opiates, you will have a lot of mood swings too. Here is why mood swings accompany detox from opiates.
Opiates Attach to the Happy and Calm Centers of Your Brain
Opiates are an easy thing to get addicted to because their chemical nature attaches to the pleasure centers and cells of your brain. When you take an opiate, you feel relaxed and happy. It feels like nothing can bother you, until the drug begins to wear off and then everything is bothersome. To avoid feeling frustrated, nervous, angry, bothered, and/or anxious, you have to take more of the same opiate to maintain that level of happy and calm.
Unfortunately, the more you take these drugs, the more dependent your body becomes. Your body also builds up a tolerance to opiates, making you take a higher dose to get the same sensations you had when you initially started taking the drug. A stronger and stronger dose is needed, until you overdose, and still your body will insist that it needs more. If you recognize this in time (after your first overdose incident), you still have an opportunity to change it and choose to detox.
Coming Down for Good
Opiates require that you enter an in-patient drug rehab facility to detox. The reason for this is that you will feel the most awful you have ever felt when coming down from your last "high." Everything will hurt, you will cry a lot, you will scream and get very angry, you will shout obscenities and verbalize threats, and all because the drug is leaving your system.
As an in-patient, the doctors can help you get through the worst of it by providing you with a sleeping pill to help you rest, and an OTC pain reliever for actual pain. While you are in the midst of these mood swings, you are going to want to be far away from those you love, or you may do or say something you will regret. All of these things happen because the drug receptors in your brain are craving the opiate, and they are not getting it. So, the receptors go into withdrawal, and take you with for the ride. When the worst of it is finally over, you can begin group behavioral therapy to help you stay clean.
Contact a facility, like Support Systems Homes, to get started.