In the United States, fentanyl is one of the leading causes of death in adults under 50. This includes diseases like heart disease, cancer, and traumatic accidents. In fact, 67% of overdose deaths in 2022 involved opioids like fentanyl.
Even though fentanyl is highly addictive, plenty of help is on the horizon. It’s normal to be nervous about fentanyl withdrawals and wonder how you’ll cope through treatment. However, learning the answer to the question “How long does fentanyl withdrawals last” will help you feel more comfortable taking the next steps.
Keep reading this guide to learn what you need to know about fentanyl withdrawals and how long they last. You’ll also learn about your treatment options.
Overview of Fentanyl
First, it’s essential to understand more about fentanyl to see how it causes withdrawals. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid similar to morphine but is up to 100 times more powerful.
Fentanyl is used to treat people with severe pain, typically due to a traumatic injury, surgery, or disease like cancer.
Opioids are a specific class of drugs naturally occurring in the opium poppy plant. Some opioids are natural, while other opioids, like fentanyl, are synthetic opioids made in a lab.
How Can You Use Fentanyl?
When a doctor prescribes fentanyl, it can come in various forms, like a patch, shot, or lozenges. Fentanyl sold illegally is usually found on blotter paper or in nasal sprays and eye droppers. You’ll also find it in powder form or made into pills that look like other opioids.
Sometimes, people who sell fentanyl mix it with other drugs like cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamines. This is because it doesn’t take much fentanyl to produce a high since it’s so strong.
Though fentanyl makes a cheap additive, it’s also extremely dangerous since it doesn’t take much to overdose.
Fentanyl and Your Brain
Fentanyl significantly affects your brain, which plays a big part in the withdrawal symptoms you’ll feel once you stop taking fentanyl.
Just like morphine and heroin, fentanyl binds to the opioid receptors in your brain. These receptors are responsible for releasing dopamine, which impacts the pain and the emotions you feel.
When you first take opioids like fentanyl, you’ll get a rush of euphoria. This rush comes with feel-good emotions and pleasure, as well as a decrease in pain.
Many people continue to chase this initial high, but it takes more and more fentanyl to achieve this feeling. Your mind and body become dependent on fentanyl, and you’ll do anything to continue to feel this high.
This process plays a crucial role in how you feel during withdrawal.
What Happens During Fentanyl Withdrawal?
Since fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid, it can be highly addictive. If you try to stop your fentanyl usage or drastically reduce it, you’ll start experiencing fentanyl withdrawal symptoms.
You’ll typically start feeling withdrawal symptoms within 8 to 24 hours after your last fentanyl use. Symptoms are usually the most intense, between 36 and 72 hours after your last use.
The severity of your withdrawal symptoms depends on the length of use and how much fentanyl you take each day. Fentanyl withdrawal symptoms include:
- Runny nose
- Watery eyes
- Increased pain
- Mood disturbances
- Irritability
- Sweating
- Chills
- Nausea and vomiting
- Diarrhea
You can feel severe pain in your joints, muscles, and bones during withdrawal. Psychological symptoms can also become intense and include extreme fear and depression.
Any of these withdrawal symptoms can become severe without warning. For this reason, you shouldn’t try withdrawing from fentanyl alone. You’ll need a medication-assisted detox program to help you manage your symptoms and reach the next phase.
How Long Does Fentanyl Withdrawals Last?
There is no exact answer to this question. This is because various factors determine how long fentanyl stays in your system.
Fentanyl has a half-life of around 7 to 10 hours. A drug’s half-life is essentially the amount of time it takes your body to remove half of the active substances.
The amount of time fentanyl stays in your body depends on various factors:
- How much fentanyl you take
- Your method of taking fentanyl
- Your overall health
- Your liver function
- How much food you’ve eaten
- The strength of the fentanyl you take
- Your age
- Your weight and body fat
- If you used any other drugs or alcohol
Your genetics can also play a role in how quickly your body eliminates the drug. Some people with conditions that cause poor enzyme function will have difficulty eliminating fentanyl quickly.
Phases of Withdrawal
Remember that initial symptoms of fentanyl withdrawal typically begin within eight hours after your last dose of fentanyl.
The initial phase of fentanyl withdrawal can last up to 10 days, with symptoms peaking by the third day of withdrawal. After this peak, your symptoms should slowly start to decrease.
By the fifth day, you’ll typically stop feeling primary withdrawal symptoms, but this can take up to eight days. For some people, this phase can take up to two weeks.
Even once you’re done with the main withdrawal symptoms, you can still experience various physical symptoms for several weeks to months. These symptoms include:
- Anxiety
- Irritability
- Cravings
- Depression
- Sleep disturbances
Some people experience post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS). These are symptoms that develop after you initially withdraw from fentanyl and can linger for months and sometimes up to a year. They can also suddenly develop months into recovery.
PAWS symptoms tend to be more psychological and include:
- Stress
- Fatigue
- Cravings
- Brain fog
- Sleep problems
- Irritability
Getting the support you need in a treatment program is the best way to deal with PAWS.
Getting Treatment for Fentanyl Withdrawals
Fentanyl treatment begins with managing drug withdrawals and going through an addiction treatment program like Relections in Northern California. You’ll need to start with a detox program.
Once you’ve completed a detox program, you must move on to a treatment program.
Medication-Assisted Detox
Since fentanyl is an opioid, you’ll need medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to help manage the symptoms.
MAT is a critical component in recovering from addiction, and there are FDA-approved medications to treat opioid withdrawal symptoms. These medications, combined with behavioral therapies, are very effective treatments.
The medication suboxone is an FDA-approved medication for opioid withdrawals. It contains buprenorphine and naltrexone, which block opioid receptors. This reduces your withdrawal symptoms and helps you manage cravings.
You’ll also receive other medications to help treat your symptoms. Staff will monitor you 24/7 to ensure you’re as comfortable as possible.
After detox, you’ll need to enroll in a treatment program to continue your recovery journey. The best treatment program options include:
Residential Treatment Program
Residential treatment programs involve inpatient treatment at a facility. You’ll stay at the facility throughout treatment. Inpatient treatment is the best option if you’re struggling with long-term fentanyl use.
This is because living at the facility allows you to focus on treatment. Most of the time, residential treatment programs last 30 days, but this can vary.
You’ll receive a custom treatment plan once you enter the program. This plan will consist of individual behavioral therapy sessions along with group therapy.
Family therapy is also vital; you’ll get access to ongoing family therapy throughout your treatment course. There is also a focus on relapse prevention and forming a discharge plan.
Finally, holistic therapies like yoga and meditation help reduce stress and improve mindfulness. Nutritional and fitness counseling helps you make the lifestyle changes you need to stay sober long-term. You feel better when you eat well, decreasing withdrawal symptoms overall.
Intensive Outpatient (IOP) Treatment
IOP treatment is still an intensive program but is a step down from residential treatment. IOP treatment programs are meant for people who complete residential treatment and need to continue with intensive treatment.
You’ll need to be past the main phase of withdrawal symptoms and not need supervised detox.
IOP programs usually last up to 12 weeks and typically meet three times weekly. IOP programs also provide behavioral therapies, holistic therapies, and family therapies.
Dual Diagnosis Treatment
Dual diagnosis treatment centers, like Reflections in the Bay Area, treat both addiction and mental health conditions. You might also hear this referred to as co-occurring conditions.
Finding a treatment program with dual diagnosis treatment options is best since many people with addiction have mental health disorders. You’ll hear this referred to as substance use disorder (SUD), and there is a known connection with mental illnesses like:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- PTSD
- Schizophrenia
- ADHD
Due to this, you’ll need treatment for both your substance use and mental health disorder. Dual-diagnosis treatment programs offer behavioral therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
CBT is a talk therapy that examines how you think, feel, and view yourself. It dives deep into your behavior and examines how your thoughts and beliefs affect substance use.
You’ll learn how specific behavioral and thought patterns can lead to addictive behaviors.
Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy that is also very effective. It helps you regulate strong emotional behaviors.
Find an Effective Treatment Program for Fentanyl Use
Knowing the answer to the question “How long does fentanyl withdrawals last” will help you feel more comfortable going into treatment.
Your next step is to find a fentanyl treatment program that offers a variety of treatment options. You can turn to Reflections in Northern California for all your treatment and recovery needs.
Our luxury treatment center provides treatment options like detox, residential treatment, and intensive outpatient treatment programs. Our programs offer specialized therapies like art therapy, equine therapy, and holistic therapies like meditation and yoga. Nutrition and fitness counseling are also a core part of our program.
We work with most PPO insurance companies and have special treatment tracks for VIP clients, business clients, and LGBTQ+.
Make sure to contact us today for more information on our programs to get started on your recovery journey.
