Opioid Detox

Opioid detox at Abbington House is medically supervised and forms part of a residential stay where clinically needed. Assessment begins before arrival.

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01438 583222

About The Author

Michael Williams

Michael Williams (Mikey) is the Clinical Lead at Abbington House and has been in recovery since 2011. He oversees the day-to-day delivery of care and brings lived experience into every part of the work.

Perhaps it started with a prescription after an operation, or tablets for pain that never quite went away. The repeats kept coming. Months became years, and now you’re trying to work out what stopping would involve.

You may have taken every dose as directed. You may have bought opioids or used them after a prescription ended. However they entered your life, you can ask about treatment without first having to decide what that says about you.

What an opioid detox hereinvolves

At Abbington House, opioid detox is medically supervised and arranged as part of a residential stay where it’s clinically needed. It isn’t offered as a standalone service.
An assessment takes place before arrival. This gives the team the information needed to decide whether treatment here may be appropriate and what needs clinical review before anything is agreed.
With regular use, the body can adapt to the presence of an opioid. Reducing or stopping after that can bring withdrawal symptoms. The name of the opioid, the dose and the way it has been used don’t tell the clinical team enough on their own, which is why assessment comes first.
The detox service page explains how detox fits into a residential stay at Abbington House.
If you want to know about symptoms, stages or how long withdrawal can take, go to the guide to opioid withdrawal and its timeline.Those questions are covered there rather than reduced to a single number here.

If this started with a prescription

The prescription may have been for your back, an operation or a condition that still affects you. The tablets helped. Another prescription followed, then another. Taking them became an ordinary part of the day.

Perhaps the dose changed over time. Perhaps it didn’t. There may never have been one moment when this felt like a decision.

Physical dependence can develop even when an opioid has been taken exactly as prescribed. It means the body has adapted to the medicine. On its own, it doesn’t tell you whether addiction is also present.

How you arrived at an opioid is part of your history. It doesn’t change the fact that reducing or stopping needs to be assessed around what you’re taking now and what support you need.

If you’re still trying to understand what has happened, the painkiller addiction guide looks at dependency in the context of pain treatment. You may also be asking, does this count if you’re not in physical withdrawal?

The people, routines or availability of cannabis at home make stopping particularly difficult

Which opioid you’re comingoff changeswhat the detox looks like

Codeine

co-codamol

dihydrocodeine

tramadol

oxycodone

morphine

methadone

buprenorphine

and heroin all sit under the opioid heading. A single answer about “opioid detox” would have to cover every one of them and every person taking them.

Opioids don’t all behave in the same way in the body. How long an opioid remains active can affect when withdrawal begins, how a reduction is paced and whether the prescriber considers moving from one opioid to another before reducing it.

The drug is only part of the decision.

The current dose

how long it has been taken

other substance use

physical and mental health

and what happened during previous reductions all matter to the plan.

This is why doses and fixed schedules aren’t published by Abbington House. Those decisions depend on the person being treated.

It’s also why there isn’t one reliable number to give you here. The separate guide to opioid withdrawal covers symptoms, phases and timing. This section is about how the treatment itself is planned.

The pre-arrival assessment starts with the name of the opioid, what has been happening and the information the clinical team needs. It doesn’t begin with a schedule copied from somebody else’s detox.

How the detox ismanaged here

Assessment begins before you arrive. The team will ask what you’re taking, what has been prescribed and what else needs to be understood before treatment is considered.

01

The detox is medically supervised

throughout the relevant part of the stay. Abbington House has an on-site prescriber, and prescribing decisions are made for the person being treated.

02

Medication may be used

during opioid detox. Depending on the situation, the plan may involve reducing the opioid already being taken or using an opioid substitute and reducing that. Additional medication may be considered for particular symptoms, but it isn’t added automatically.

03

The assessment covers the opioid

the current dose and when it was last taken. It also covers alcohol or other drug use, current prescriptions, previous detoxes, physical and mental health, and the support available outside treatment.

04

During the detox

the team monitors withdrawal, physical health and how the person is responding to the medication. The prescriber can then review the plan rather than leaving it fixed when the person’s needs have changed.

05

No medication list is published

and there’s no standard schedule to select before assessment. The point of the assessment is to work from what’s actually happening rather than make you fit a plan chosen in advance.

06

You can read more

about the assessment before admission, including what the conversation is for and what happens next.

If you’re on a methadone or buprenorphine script

Holding a script is something to bring into the first conversation. The team needs to understand what you’re prescribed, whether anything else is being used and what you want help with.

Being on a methadone or buprenorphine prescription doesn’t prevent you from being assessed for admission. Before anything is agreed, the prescription and dispensing arrangements need to be confirmed with the service or clinician responsible for them.

The assessment looks at whether the prescription should continue, be reduced or form part of a different plan. Nobody is asked to make that decision alone before arriving.Nobody should stop or change a methadone or buprenorphine prescription before admission unless advised to do so by the clinician responsible for their care.

If you’ve used an opioid on the day you make contact, say so. It gives the team information they need for the assessment.

Using an opioid that morning doesn’t automatically rule out admission. The team needs to know what was taken, how much and when. If there are concerns about intoxication or your immediate health, arrival or prescribing may need to wait while appropriate medical care is arranged.

If you’re still inpain

The pain may still be there. Wanting to stop taking an opioid doesn’t answer what happens to the back, injury or condition it was prescribed for.
This isn’t an awkward extra to mention after everything else has been arranged. It’s part of the assessment before arrival and needs a proper clinical answer before treatment is agreed.
The pain needs its own treatment plan. That may involve reviewing why the opioid was prescribed, what has already been tried and which non-opioid, physical or psychological approaches may still be available. It may also require contact with the GP or pain team responsible for your care.
A prescribed opioid shouldn’t usually be stopped suddenly. The reduction and the pain plan need to be considered together, with room to slow down or review the decision if the person’s health changes. Nobody should be promised that the pain will disappear when the opioid is reduced.

Can you detox from opioids at home?

Your GP may be the first person you think of, especially if they hold the prescription. You may also be considering reducing at home rather than leaving work, family or the place where you live.

Community treatment is a real option and, for many people, it’s the appropriate place to begin. It can work well when someone is medically stable, can attend regular reviews and has a home situation that supports the plan. It should still be arranged with a GP or specialist drug service rather than attempted without clinical input.

Abbington House doesn’t provide home detox.

A residential stay changes the setting around the reduction. You’re away from the routine in which the opioid has been taken, and the clinical part of treatment happens in the same place as the work that follows it.

Residential treatment may be considered when a previous community detox hasn’t helped, when alcohol or benzodiazepines also need to be addressed, or when physical health, mental health or the home situation makes community treatment harder to manage. Detox during pregnancy needs specialist assessment.

If you’re reducing an opioid at home and become unwell, can’t manage the agreed plan or are worried about your mental health, contact the clinician or service overseeing it. NHS 111 can advise when help can’t wait for the next appointment. Call 999 if there is an immediate threat to life.

The guide to residential and outpatient rehab explains how the two settings differ.

If you’re reading this for your child, partner or somebody else you care about, you can call and describe what you’ve noticed. You don’t need to answer for them.

What happens after the detox

Detox helps you stop the opioid. It doesn’t automatically deal with the pain, the reasons its use continued or what you’ll return to afterwards.

After a period without opioids, tolerance is lower. A dose that someone took before detox may then be more than their body can tolerate, increasing the risk of overdose if opioids are used again. Mixing opioids with alcohol, benzodiazepines or other sedating drugs increases that risk further.

This is information about a risk, not a prediction that someone will return to opioids. It needs to be understood before the detox ends because the body’s response may no longer be the one the person remembers.

At Abbington House, detox happens as part of the same stay as therapy, family support and aftercare. The point is that the medical part and the work after it aren’t separated into two bookings with a gap between them. CBT, DBT, trauma-informed work and a 12-step structure are available within treatment. The therapy page explains that part of the stay in more detail.

Most stays are around 28 days, though every admission is assessed individually. A single fixed fee covers the stay, including detox where needed, therapy, family support and aftercare. The figure is on the rehab costs page,and the length-of-stay guide explains why the time needed differs.

If you’re unsure whether you need detox, residential treatment or something else, do you need rehab or detox? deals with that decision directly.

A residential stay can suit somebody who needs detox alongside the wider work of treatment, particularly when community treatment hasn’t been enough or the situation is complicated by other substances, health needs or limited support at home.

It won’t be the right setting for everyone. Somebody who is stable on maintenance medication and wants to continue it may be better supported by their existing drug service. A person who needs urgent treatment or hospital-level medical care needs a different setting first. Where community treatment is suitable and the person doesn’t need residential treatment afterwards, Abbington House may not add what they need.

The opioid rehab page explains what residential treatment involves beyond detox.

If private treatment isn’t an option

Your GP is one place to start. You can also approach a local drug and alcohol service directly without a referral. NHS treatment is free where private treatment isn’t an option.

The guides to private and NHS addiction treatment and residential and outpatient rehab explain the differences between routes and settings.

Common questions about opioid detox

01 : How long does an opioid detox take?

There isn’t one timeframe that applies to every opioid. What you’re taking and the plan agreed after assessment will affect how the detox is arranged. The guide to opioid withdrawal and how long it can take covers the timing in more detail.

02 : Do you use methadone or buprenorphine here?

Methadone and buprenorphine can both be used to manage opioid dependence and support a gradual detox. That doesn’t mean everybody will be prescribed one.

What’s used, if anything, depends on the opioid you’re taking, whether you already hold a prescription and the prescriber’s assessment. If you’re prescribed methadone or buprenorphine, don’t stop taking it or change the dose before speaking to the clinician responsible for your care.

03 : Is a detox here different from one my GP or drug service can arrange?

Yes. A GP or local drug and alcohol service may arrange treatment while you continue living at home and attend appointments in the community.

At Abbington House, detox is medically supervised as part of a residential stay. The medical part of treatment happens in the same place as therapy, family support and preparation for what happens afterwards.

Residential treatment isn’t automatically the right setting for everyone. Community treatment may be appropriate for many people. The assessment is there to work out which setting fits your circumstances.

04 : Do you offer rapid or ultra-rapid opioid detox?

No. Abbington House doesn’t use rapid or ultra-rapid methods that deliberately bring on withdrawal under sedation. Treatment is planned around an assessed reduction rather than trying to compress the process into the shortest possible time.

Talking things through

Call Abbington House on 01438 583222 to talk through what has been happening, how long it has been happening and what you’re taking now. Mention what was prescribed and whether the pain is still there.

The conversation is there to work out whether residential treatment may be appropriate. If another setting fits your situation better, the team will say so.

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