Why Relapse into Opioid Addiction Is Not the End

Opioid relapse can scare everyone recovering from addiction, and with good reason. We often view it as a total failure and conclude that recovery is now impossible. But relapse isn’t the end, and it shouldn’t defeat anyone.

Relapse means you use opioids after completing treatment and enjoying a time of sobriety. It poses a physical threat to the user since, after treatment, your body will no longer have the opioid tolerance it once did. Using any amount of opioids might risk overdose. Relapse is also more common than you’d think: about half of all recovering opioid patients will relapse. Along with the ongoing advocacy for understanding addiction as a chronic disease, the fact that relapse often occurs suggests that we should revise how addiction patients respond to it.

Relapse is the Signal to Re-Focus

To be sure, relapsing into opioid abuse is a harmful thing to be avoided. It risks physical harm and brings emotional distress. But it’s more of a call to action than the end of your recovery.

Think again of opioid addiction as a disease: when that disease flares up again, it doesn’t mean you’re simply going to be sick forever. It means you need to undergo new, stronger treatment.

Choose New Treatment Plans

You have a few choices for renewing treatment: inpatient programs at an opioid treatment clinic, outpatient programs through opioid treatment clinics, or re-commital to your support groups and ongoing opioid treatments. What you choose depends on how severe your addiction has been, and whether this is your first relapse (as opposed to one in a larger pattern).

What matters is that you center treatment as completely necessary. Relapse should be a shocking signal. If you feel inpatient clinical treatment would help, commit to it with all you have. If you think your relapse came from inadequate post-treatment commitment, revitalize your involvement in peer groups and peer accountability. Improve how you use the strategies to continually pursue your lifelong recovery.

There are more specific resources available here and here.

How to Move Forward

Explore all the treatment options you can find. Find an inpatient opioid rehab clinic right away. Or you can find an opioid addiction doctor near you instead. Educate yourself on opioid treatments and opioid rehab clinics.

All of these can help you re-focus on improved treatment, to prevent future relapse. Recovery allows for second chances and renewed efforts. It’s up to you to undertake it as best you can.

If you’d like to reconsider treatment at an #opioid rehab center, look through our directory to find a Suboxone clinic near you.

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