The fentanyl crisis is a significant part of the nation’s opioid crisis. This synthetic opioid is one of the strongest opioids in existence. However, for anyone struggling with this deadly substance, fentanyl addiction treatment can help.
The Pennsylvania Adult & Teen Challenge (PAATC) offers a fentanyl addiction treatment program that we’ve designed to support clients with fentanyl use disorder through a successful recovery. If you would like to learn more about the dangers of fentanyl or the benefits of our addiction treatment programs, please reach out by calling us at 844.442.8673.
What Is Fentanyl Addiction?
Like other opioid addictions, fentanyl addiction is on the rise in the United States. People who use any opioid are at risk of fentanyl addiction and overdose. Furthermore, because dealers often use it to cut other substances without telling their customers, many people may be addicted to this drug without realizing it.
Signs of fentanyl addiction run the gamut from behavioral to physical and psychological. Symptoms include:
- Social withdrawal
- Frequent absence from work or school
- Declining work or school performance
- Seeking prescriptions from multiple doctors or forging prescriptions
- Difficulty concentrating
- Impaired judgment and memory
- Cravings for fentanyl
- Suicidal ideation
- Depression
- Lack of interest in things that were once important
Withdrawal is a frightening prospect for people with a fentanyl addiction. However, the dangers of fentanyl overdose or lasting physical damage from a sustained abuse of the drug result in a much more permanent outcome. Withdrawal will end relatively quickly, allowing a better future to go on.
How Dangerous Is Fentanyl?
It’s deadly. A dose no larger than a grain of sand can have the same potency as a teaspoon of heroin. However, unlike heroin, people can acquire this substance legally with a prescription. When it is, pharmacists measure it by the millionth of a gram. It is the main ingredient in drugs such as Fentora, Sublimaze, and Duragesic, which physicians prescribe after surgeries and to treat severe pain. Unfortunately, because it is so addictive, people also abuse and sell fentanyl illegally. The accessibility of fentanyl on the street is one of the reasons it is so perilous.
There is a range of additional reasons that fentanyl is dangerous, such as:
- Potency: Morphine is the baseline used by researchers to determine the potency of an opioid. Heroin is five times stronger than morphine. By comparison, fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and thus much more dangerous.
- Addictiveness: Fentanyl addiction can happen very quickly after just one or two uses.
- Speed: The force and speed with which fentanyl interacts with the brain are significant. Furthermore, the effects so intense that fentanyl overdose is even more likely than with other opioids. Breathing can stop, and death ensues before there is so much as a warning sign.
- Surprise dosing: Because it is cheaper than heroin and much more addictive, many heroin dealers lace their product with it to increase profits and capture return customers. Drug users may become addicted to fentanyl without realizing they’ve taken it. Alternatively, they may overdose on the substance, not recognizing their usual dose of heroin has become even more deadly.
- Lack of understanding: Most people do not know that fentanyl is as potent as it is. Through education, people can avoid a great deal of tragedy.
If you’re addicted to heroin, fentanyl, or another drug, help is available. Contact Pennsylvania Adult and Teen Challenge today at 844.442.8673 to learn more about the treatment options available.
Learn More at Pennsylvania Adult and Teen Challenge
Our team is ready to offer support, guidance, and information at the fentanyl addiction treatment center at Pennsylvania Adult and Teen Challenge. We can help you decide the best first steps for you or your loved one as you consider recovery options. Our compassionate professional care model is evidence-based and rooted in faith. Please don’t wait. Fentanyl is too deadly to take any chances. Reach out today using our online form or by picking up the phone and calling 844.442.8673.
