Whether it was legally prescribed to you or not, opiates are highly addictive and can easily ruin your life before you know it. If you are struggling with opiate use, Transformations Care is here to help, but first let’s start with the basics — why are opiates so addictive and how long do they stay in your system?
Opiates can stay in the body for up to a few days but can be detected in the body much longer.
Some drugs have a shorter duration than others because each opiate has a different half-life. Some opiates have a short half-life and will be eliminated faster; others have a longer half-life and take longer to leave the body.
For example, the following opiates can test positive for drug metabolites from the last use:
- Hydrocodone stays in the urine for 2-4 days and in the saliva for 12-36 hours
- Codeine stays in the urine for 48 hours and in the saliva for 21 hours
- Oxycodone stays in the urine for 1-4 days and in the saliva for up to 2 days
- Morphine stays in the urine for up to 3 days and the saliva for 12 hours
Different Ways of Testing For Opiates
There are several ways of testing for opiates in the body. Each drug rehab center will have its way of testing. Depending on the situation, one of the following drug tests will be used to measure the amount of opiates in your system:
- Urine tests
- Blood tests
- Hair tests
- Saliva tests
By understanding how long opiates stay in the body, we can also understand how long opioids remain in the body.
What Are Opiates?
Opiates are made from the opium poppy plant. They are a type of opioid classified as Schedule II narcotic drug, which means it has a high risk of abuse and addiction. Is there a difference between opioids and opiates? Yes! Even though the term is used interchangeably, there are essential differences between opioids and opiates.
Opiates are not mixed with synthetic chemicals, while opioids are a combination of synthetic and pure opium substances.
While opiates and opioids belong to the same class of drugs, they are different. Prescription opioids are also known as prescription drugs which are manufactured or synthetic. There are also semi-synthetic opioids, which combine opiates and opioids such as hydromorphone.
Examples of opiates include:
- Morphine
- Codeine
Examples of common opioids include:
- Oxycodone
- Hydrocodone
- Fentanyl
- Heroin
- Percocet
- Vicodin
Most opiates are prescribed for severe pain but can easily lead to drug addiction if used unintentionally.
Substance Use: How Opiates Effect The Body
Opiates bind to the brain’s opioid receptors blocking the brain’s pain signals. Opiates used as pain relievers are highly addictive because they cause euphoria, but your dependency on them sooner or later will overrun your life. The amount of time opiates take to leave your system is often misjudged, causing people to take too much medication within a time frame and, unfortunately, overdose.
This is the danger of opiate addiction. After using them a lot, your body will begin to have severe withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking opiates. You first need to detox your body to kick substance abuse for good. Depending on the substance you’ve used and abused, detox can be a long, painful, sweaty process. Detox doesn’t have to sound good. It just has to be doable.
At Transformations Care, you don’t have to do it on your own. Just give us a call today at 424.339.0965.
How Long Do Opiates Stay In Your System?
To leave the body, opiates take different amounts of time for different people.
The amount of time it takes for opiates to leave the body opiates differs between different people and which opiate they’re taking.
Some factors that are involved are:
- Metabolism
- Body fat composition
- Dependency on opiates
- Underlying medical conditions
- Age
- Liver and kidney function
- Frequency of drug abuse
Opioid Withdrawal
Opiate abuse can cause numerous side effects. One of the most common issues with opioids is opioid withdrawal. Treatment programs are designed to help you beat opioid abuse by providing care that can eliminate discomfort felt during withdrawal.
Opiate Addiction Treatment At Transformations Care
If you are dealing with withdrawal from opiates, it’s vital to seek a medical professional’s help. Detoxing should NOT be done at home and can have fatal results. It is always recommended to attend inpatient detox at a treatment facility.
At Transformations Care, our medical team will manage your withdrawal symptoms every step of the way, using the latest techniques and tactics to get you through safely. They can even prescribe medications to help make the process less painful.
After detox, we’ll set you to begin working on the underlying reasons why you abuse drugs and/or alcohol. We offer the following treatment options:
- Residential Addiction Treatment
- PHP (Partial Hospitalization Program)
- IOP (Intensive Outpatient Program)
- OP (Outpatient Program)
- Telehealth
Find Help For Opiate Addiction In California
Stop letting your addiction rule your life, and get clean and sober for good. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your loved ones who don’t want to see your life taken by opiates.
Call us at 424.339.0965 and Transformations Care will help you turn it all around in the right direction.
Sources:
National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) – Opioid Facts for Teens More FAQs About Opioids
National Library of Medicine – Opioid half-lives and hemlines: The long and short of fashion
GUIDE
Getting Clean & Sober at Home
Today, more than 75% of hospitals and healthcare providers offer access to telehealth treatment, with 29 states having gone so far as to enact telehealth parity laws, which force insurance companies to reimburse patients for telehealth at the same rates as they would for in-person treatment.
If you’ve been thinking about getting clean and sober, or if you’ve been wanting to work on and strengthen the recovery you already have, it’s never been easier to do it through telehealth.
"*" indicates required fields