Drug withdrawal

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Drug withdrawal is a group of symptoms that occur in sudden termination or decreased drug or drug intake.

To experience withdrawal symptoms, one must first develop a form of drug dependence, which may occur as physical dependence, psychological dependence or both. Drug dependence develops from consuming one or more substances over a period of time. Dependence arises in a dose-dependent manner and produces withdrawal symptoms that vary with the type of drug consumed. For example, prolonged use of antidepressant drugs is likely to cause far different reactions when discontinued compared to opioid cessation, such as heroin. Symptoms of withdrawal from opiates include anxiety, sweating, vomiting, and diarrhea. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms include irritation, fatigue, trembling, sweating, and nausea. Withdrawal from nicotine can cause irritation, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, and difficulty concentrating. Many legal nonprescription recipes and substances can also cause withdrawal symptoms when individuals stop taking them, even if they are taken as directed by the doctor.

The route of administration, either intravenously, intramuscularly, orally or otherwise, may also play a role in determining the severity of withdrawal symptoms. There are various stages of withdrawal as well; in general, a person will start feeling bad (collision or fall), advance to worse feelings, hit the plateau, and then the symptoms begin to disappear. However, withdrawal from certain drugs (barbiturates, benzodiazepines, alcohols, glucocorticoids) can be fatal. Although rarely fatal for users, withdrawal from opiates (and some other drugs) can cause a miscarriage, due to fetal withdrawal. The term "cold turkey" is used to describe the use of a sudden cessation of a substance and subsequent physiological manifestations.

The symptoms of withdrawal may be more dramatic when the drug has covered prolonged malnutrition, illness, chronic pain, infection (common in intravenous drug use), or lack of sleep, a condition often experienced by drug users as a secondary consequence of the drug. When the drug is removed, this condition may reappear and become confused with withdrawal symptoms.

Video Drug withdrawal

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Examples (and ICD-10 codes) of the withdrawal syndrome include:

• F10.3 alcohol withdrawal syndrome (which can cause delirium tremor)
• F11.3 opioids, including the termination of methadone
• F12.3 cannabis withdrawal
• F13.3 benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome
• F14.3 cocaine withdrawal
• F15.3 caffeine discontinuation
• F17.3 nicotine withdrawal

Maps Drug withdrawal

Prescription drugs

As mentioned above, many drugs should not be stopped abruptly without doctor advice and supervision, especially if the drug induces dependence or if the conditions used to treat are potentially dangerous and will likely return after the drug is stopped, such as diabetes, asthma, heart conditions and many psychological or neurological conditions, such as epilepsy, hypertension, schizophrenia and psychosis. However, with careful physician attention, priority and treatment discontinuation can lower costs, simplify prescription regimens, reduce the risk of side effects of drugs and poly-pharmaceuticals, focus therapy where they are most effective, and prevent the use of unrelated drugs cost.

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See also

• Chemical dependency
• Drug tolerance
• Hangover
• Drug detoxification
• Neonatal withdrawal
• Withdrawal Syndrome

src: pediatrics.aappublications.org

References

Source of the article : Wikipedia