Sorry but thst doesn't make sense...
How much experience do you have treating symptoms of acute opioid withdrawal?
Taking an opiate to temporarily relieve the symptoms of acute opiate withdrawl isn't going to help at all.
In correct.
It may relieve symptoms for now but as soon as youvsyop that (assuming you don't taper) you will still have to go through the withdrawl anyway...all you've done is hold it off for a week..
Take buprenorphine. What happens when one takes it properly to treat acute opioid withdrawal, it allows your body to process out the particular opioid(s) you had been dependent on. Taking buprenorphine only long enough to treat acute withdrawal (so about 4-10 days depending on habit)
will not lead to a new dependency on a new opioid. When it is only used to treat acute withdrawal, developing a dependency on buprenorphine is the exception, not the rule.
When used properly, opioid comfort meds "essentially mask" the major symptoms one experiencing during acute withdrawal. There may still be a little lingering withdrawal to deal with after about a week of taking buprenorphine, but this is more related to the effects of how the body is continue to adjust to not taking opioids.
When you're talking about things like methadone, buprenorphine etc. thats in the context of some sort if taper or detox program.... I'm talking about being in acute withdrawl and just taking an opioid at random to make yourself feel better for a while with no thought to what is going to happen when you stop.
Taking any random opioid when one is desperate for relief isn't a great I idea, totally agreed. That said, full agonist opioids commonly used for pain (codeine, tramadol, etc) can also be used to effectively and safely treat acute opioid withdrawal.
But this part of your post raises an important issue. What if the person detoxing doesn't want to stop using opioids, and they were detoxing for some other reason. My question is why not encourage and support the person regardless of their reasons for wanting to attempt detox?
If one is trying to cold turkey detox from opiates (which again is what I said.. not talking about tapering)....taking an ad hoc dose of an opiate during the acute withdrawl phase is simply delaying the bodies return to homeostasis....meds such as Gabapentin, pregabalin, benzos etc. are different since obviously they aren't opiates and don't interfere with the opiate detox itself .
Again, this isn't quite correct. Codeine, for instance, is a very effective comfort med. It can be used essentially the same as methadone or buprenorphine. Taking it for a few days to mask the acute withdrawal from another opioid dependency isn't any more likely to end up leading to dependency than a short course of methadone or buprenorphine would.
Protip: Just because something is an opioid doesn't mean it is necessarily harmful or counterproductive during the detox process. Making a habit of using any drug compulsively for any reason isn't going to end well, but I'm speaking within the context of how people can effectively treat acute withdrawal in and outside of clinical/inpatient settings.
You mention taking it for a week or so, and this not being long enough to get hooked on this particular opiod but that's not how it works....it's not a case of not getting hooked on this particular drug. The person is alread hooked on opioids in general and consumption of any opiod is delaying the process of detoxification....it's irrelevant if you become hooked on one particular drug for another.
Actually it is highly relevant. Detoxing from one opioid the next can be radically different experiences. Consider what it would be like kicking a 100mg/day oral codeine habit next to using 100mg/day IV hydromorphone. The symptoms of acute withdrawal will share a lot of similarities, but they will also be very distinct in flavor and appearance.
The circumstances under which the a drug is used is far more significant than whether or not one is simply using said drug.
I'm not sure if you've misunderstood what I was meaning....Im not talking about a rapid taper (or any taper for that matter)....I'm talking about someone who has decided to quit cold Turkey, is in acute withdrawl and just decides to take an opioid to temporarily make themself feel better for a few hours.
Okay, so what is the problem with this? Although it does drag the kick out a little bit, I've found doing essentially what you're suggesting to actually be fairly helpful in terms of making it through acute withdrawal. Not the best idea, but far from the worst.
In any circumstance the only way to detox feom opiods is to stop taking them and all a taper does is make that transition more gradual....but you still have to stop... but like I say ..it's taking a random ads hoc dose without any intent to taper that I'm talking about....I thought when I'd said "trying to quit cold turkey" that it was clear I wasnt talking about a taper with methadone/bupe/lope etc. But just caving and using a one off dose
If one's goal is abstinence from opioids, then taking any opioids (especially outside a medical setting) is inherently problematic. But what if one's goal wasn't about using or not using drugs, but about broader quality of life issues?
Using an opioid on a one off because one is desperate during acute withdrawal probably isn't the best idea, but it isn't the worst either. That is part of why I'm a big proponent of effectively treat acute opioid withdrawal - because it sets people up for success far more so than if they just tried to deal with it on their own.