Drug Withdrawal: Methadone & Heroin Facts

Question: Question about hospitals and drug withdrawal?

(Posted by: AverageJoe on 2010-01-19 00:01:47)

I am writing a book where the main character develops a relationship with a drug user. Anyway, what I want to know is, if an addict were taken to the hospital for unrelated circumstances while under the influence and was treated for moderate to severe injuries, would the addict not experience withdrawal since they were being treated for pain? or would they withdrawal after the pain medication was lessened? Or would they continue to withdrawal through the pain medication? etc. I have no personal experience with this and have been unable to find any information that is helpful. If anyone has had personal experience with this or medical experience, etc, it would be very helpful. thank you

Posted by: Dark Passenger on 2010-01-19, 00:16:17

Depends, on the drug, if it causes chemical dependence they would still go through psychological withdrawal symptoms however they wouldn't feel pain, with mental dependence they would feel the need for it and if this character was a heavy user could imagine the pain even on the pain killers

Posted by: Katie on 2010-01-19, 00:57:58

It depends entirely on the drug but most likely. Alcoholic with drawl is usually treated with anti anxiety medication (usually Ativan) and a Banana Bag (an iv solution that is yellow herego the name, but is full of vitamins and nutrients as alkies usually don't have the best eating habits). So morphine or whatever pain medication could maybe knock em out a bit but it wouldn't help with the shaking, vomiting, etc that the patient would experience. Good luck with your book!