Opioid withdrawal: Clinical features, assessment, and diagnosis - UpToDate
Spontaneous opioid withdrawal occurs when a patient who is physiologically dependent upon opioids reduces or stops opioid use abruptly. Precipitated opioid withdrawal can occur when a patient who is physiologically dependent upon opioids and who has or recently had opioids in their system is administered an opioid antagonist (naloxone, naltrexone, or nalmefene) or an opioid partial agonist (buprenorphine). Signs and symptoms of opioid withdrawal include drug craving, anxiety, restlessness, gastrointestinal distress, diaphoresis, and tachycardia. Untreated opioid withdrawal frequently results in return to opioid use. Patients in opioid withdrawal or seeking to stop an opioid to which they are physiologically dependent can undergo medically supervised opioid withdrawal (also known as detoxification), in which medication is used to reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms [1]. This topic describes the clinical manifestations, course, assessment and diagnosis of opioid withdrawal. Medica
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