Rapid Detoxification
Rapid opiate detox involves anesthetizing addicts while they go through the worst stages of withdrawal from heroin, methadone or opiate-based prescription painkillers. Proponents have dubbed the five- to eight-hour procedure the "Sleeping Beauty" therapy for opiate withdrawal, which otherwise is a painful five- to seven-day ordeal. Besides anesthesia, patients receive drugs to block opiate receptor sites in the brain, naltrexone to combat craving, and medications to fight nausea, diarrhea and muscle aches.