Getting help for addiction takes a great deal of courage. It can be overwhelming to figure out where to turn, how much treatment will cost, and what level of care is best. If you are struggling with opioid addiction, you might also wonder: How long do opioids stay in your system?
What Are Opioids?
Opioids refer to a group of prescription medications that are derived from the poppy plant intended to manage pain. Opioids can also come in illegal forms, like heroin, which is also derived from the poppy plant.
Types of opioids include the following:
- Codeine
- Demerol
- Fentanyl
- Methadone
- Morphine
- Oxycodone
- Heroin
Under normal circumstances, many individuals are prescribed opioids to help manage pain after surgery, to deal with a chronic pain condition, or to help with other medical conditions. To date, opioids are the most effective resource that doctors have for severe pain management, particularly for chronic pain conditions.
Unfortunately, they are highly addictive, and illegal versions like Fentanyl and heroin are significantly more powerful than prescription versions, which can cause the opioids to linger in your system much longer than they would with prescription medications.
How long do opioids stay in your system? This depends on things like how fast your metabolism works, what amount you took, how you took it, whether you had other drugs in your system, and much more. The reason you need to understand this timeline is because it plays a distinct role in how long your detox process takes when you reach out for treatment.
Opioid Detox
Opioid detox is the first step in recovery. Detox is there to help remove any remaining toxins from your opioids so that you can transition into the next phase of your sobriety.
How long do opioids stay in your system during detox?
There are several factors that influence how long opioids remain in your system, including things like:
- The type of opioids you have used
- Your medical history
- Your weight
- Your gender
- How long you have used opioids
- Whether you used other substances with opioids
In general, studies indicate that it can take around five days on average for opioids to be completely clear of your system, but this can change based on the speed of your metabolism, how much you take regularly, and how much you have taken recently.
Opioids can remain detectable in your system for a different time span based on things like urine tests, blood tests, and saliva tests. For example:
- Codeine will show up on a blood test for one day, a urine test for two days, and in your saliva for up to 4 days.
- Hydrocodone will show up in a blood test after just one day, in a saliva test for up to 36 hours, and in a urine test for up to 4 days.
- Heroin will remain on a saliva test for up to 5 hours, in a blood test for up to 6 hours, but in your urine for up to 7 days.
Opioid Treatment
After you undergo detox, doctors will work with you to verify whether or not the opioids have been cleared from your system. If they have, then you can transition into your residential treatment program or next level of care, but as they monitor you, if your detox process needs an extra day or two because of how slowly your body is metabolizing opioids, your plan will be adjusted accordingly.
Rest assured that help is always available through proper treatment programs, and these programs can help you overcome an opioid addiction no matter how long it stays in your system.
Getting Help with Ava Recovery
With Ava Recovery, we provide clients with education and coping tools alongside other life skills that can be applied to their long-term sobriety. Our facility focuses on combining things like on-site equine-assisted psychotherapy with DBT and IFS group therapy.
With our facility, we understand that trauma is typically at the root of all addiction, so by working to improve your connection with yourself and meet your needs without turning to opioids, you’ll be able to better manage things like chronic pain conditions, mental health issues, or daily stress.
We meet our clients where they are. We help you get the right length of detox based on how long the opioids stay in your system. From there, we provide you with everything you need at our residential treatment center to stay on track and have a good quality of life even after your treatment ends.
Overall, the length of time that opioids remain in your system is heavily contingent on several factors, including how long you’ve been using opioids, what your level of health is, and more. By getting the right type of treatment from a qualified facility, you can undergo detox to remove any residual compounds and start your path to sobriety.
Reach out to Ava Recovery today to learn more about our residential programs.
