If you or someone close to you is struggling with an addiction to fentanyl, it’s important that you recognize the need to get help. Fentanyl is significantly more potent and addictive than other substances, including natural opioids like morphine and heroin. The right level of care will include comprehensive treatment and supportive detox programs to get you started on the right track.
What is Fentanyl?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, one which functions similarly to morphine or heroin, which are naturally derived opioids but which are significantly more addictive. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are now the most commonly associated drugs in all drug overdose deaths in America.
Fentanyl is a prescription drug that can be used as a pain medication, particularly after surgery or with chronic pain. In prescription form, it goes under names like:
- Duragesic
- Sublimaze
- Actiq
As a prescription, fentanyl can be provided in the form of cough drops, patches that you put on the skin, or a shot. When used illegally, fentanyl is often sold as a powder, placed into nasal sprays or eye droppers, and mixed with other drugs like methamphetamine and heroin.
However, whether it is prescribed or used illegally, fentanyl is highly addictive.
Is fentanyl more addictive than heroin? Has that increased the overdose rates?
How Fentanyl Works
Fentanyl works the same way as other opioids, binding to the opioid receptors in your brain. These receptors are responsible for controlling your pain perceptions and your emotions.
As you take opioids, your brain begins to diminish the sensitivity, which makes it harder to find any type of pleasure or positive emotion from other activities, which encourages the cycle of addiction when fentanyl becomes one of the only sources for limited pain and improved euphoria.
Fentanyl can cause things like extreme happiness, but it can also lead to side effects such as nausea, constipation, sedation, drowsiness, and problems breathing.
This means there is a higher risk of life-threatening overdose when breathing slows down or stops entirely, something called hypoxia. Hypoxia can cause a coma, permanent brain damage, or death.
Is Fentanyl More Addictive than Heroin?
Yes, according to the DEA, fentanyl is 100 times more potent than heroin, which means it is also more addictive than heroin.
Those who use fentanyl either from a prescription or illegally will quickly develop a tolerance, leading to the need for a higher or more frequent dosing in order to get the same effects.
This is especially true if used illegally when fentanyl is more likely to be combined with other highly potent natural opioids like heroin or other drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine. This makes it a cheaper option with higher risks, and if you don’t know how much fentanyl is in the substance you are consuming, it can lead to an overdose and death.
Fentanyl Overdoses
Overdoses can occur whether you are taking fentanyl via a prescription or illegally. In 2022, there were nearly 74,000 overdose deaths related specifically to fentanyl.
Given the high rate of illicit fentanyl abuse, particularly when combined with other medications, in addition to overdoses, there are hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations every year related to overdoses that do not result in fatalities as well as other injuries and illnesses as a result of drug abuse.
Getting Treatment for Fentanyl
At The Differents, our drug detox center provides comprehensive, luxury treatment for those in need.
For a fentanyl addiction, we start with detox. As fentanyl is a synthetic opioid and has such a high potency, the most recommended course of action for your detox is to undergo what is called medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
Medication-assisted treatment means you are given FDA-approved prescription medications during your detox to help control the withdrawal symptoms, as well as medications during the rest of your treatment to help reduce cravings. This makes it more likely that you will succeed with your long-term recovery by getting you through the most challenging parts of a fentanyl addiction.
Participation in this type of program also requires ongoing therapy, something that you can continue at our treatment center with several levels of care. We provide our clients with the opportunity to move through different levels of care as needed, moving down through flexible outpatient programs like IOP or PHP.
Contact our team today for help.
