Drogavvänjning symptom
Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. People who beat drug and alcohol addictions feel much better after they quit, but they typically endure a very difficult stage before they begin to feel better: withdrawal.
How to Deal With Withdrawal Symptoms
If you've used alcohol , heroin , meth , or other substances for only a short time or have taken only small doses, you might not experience withdrawal. Withdrawal is not the same as a post-intoxication hangover that people generally sleep off. Biological changes occur in your brain during withdrawal as your body seeks homeostasis , causing a mix of physical and emotional symptoms.
You might experience some, all, or none of these, depending on the length and intensity of your addiction. Although depressive symptoms feel worse than everyday sadness and can mimic clinical depression , they don't usually last as long. You might experience:. You might even feel let down and disappointed that something that felt so good turned out to be harmful, and leaving such a big part of your life behind might feel like grieving.
Remember: These feelings are a normal part of the process. They're temporary and last only a few days. You might feel anxiety that's worse than everyday nervousness—a bit like an unpleasant but short-lived anxiety disorder.
What Do Drug Withdrawal Symptoms Feel Like SELF
As with depression, some anxiety during withdrawal is to be expected. If you took a drug or drank alcohol to relax, you're likely to feel tenser. Likewise, if you were essentially self-medicating, you might fear what is going to happen without your usual way of coping. Physical symptoms of anxiety can make you feel as if something scary is happening. Your breathing and heart rate might increase, sometimes to the point where you feel you can't catch your breath or that you're having a heart attack, even though you're not.
Symtom på drogabstinens
Rapid fluctuations in mood are common during withdrawal. One minute, you might feel exhausted, as if life is no longer worth living; the next, you might feel the urge to run away because it feels like something awful is about to happen. This back-and-forth can be draining for both you and those around you. As with anxiety and depression, fatigue is common and normal for people withdrawing from drugs and alcohol.
What Happens to Your Body During Drug Withdrawal?
Your body must recover from the damage that drugs and alcohol do, as well as from sleep deprivation, sleep disturbance, overstimulation, and other effects of addiction. Fatigue is also a common symptom of depression and an after-effect of anxiety. You also might feel tired from the many thoughts and emotions that can overwhelm you when you don't have alcohol or drugs to numb them.
Remember, your body is recalibrating and healing, so feeling physical and emotional changes is expected. Keep these tips in mind as you navigate the first days and weeks of your healthier lifestyle:. If your anxiety symptoms intensify and are accompanied by life-threatening physical symptoms within the first few days, you might be experiencing more significant withdrawal issues and should contact your physician.
The duration of your withdrawal symptoms depends on the substance you used, along with the length and intensity of your addiction—typically, just a few days, but weeks or months in some cases. After the first week or two of withdrawal, your needs change.
This is typically a good time to get treatment, which will help you understand why you drank or used drugs in the first place and help set you up for a life without alcohol or drugs. Some people can do this on their own, but many benefit from extra support during the first few months to avoid relapse. Occasionally, withdrawal symptoms go on for months, or they go away and then come back.
This is known as post-acute withdrawal syndrome PAWS and can occur with alcohol and other drugs. If it happens to you, talk to your doctor about getting more help. If mood changes are severe, last longer than other withdrawal symptoms, or include thoughts of harming yourself or suicide, get help immediately.