How Long Does Fentanyl Stay In Your System

What Is Fentanyl?

Many experts describe what’s occurring to drive the drug overdose scourge as the contamination of abused drugs.  The availability of Fentanyl, its potent effects, and how cheap it is to cut heroin, meth, cocaine, and possibly other drugs are likely the big culprits.  We now know that fentanyl and the contamination it brings to other addictive drugs are made, sold, and shipped to Americans from China. What’s more dangerous is that China has seemingly allowed the proliferation of Fentanyl.  This is another reason experts do not see any possibility of radical change in opioid withdrawal and overdose deaths for the rest of the current year.  [1]

U.S. drug overdose deaths rose nearly 30% in 2020, driven by synthetic opioids. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin, and it is now often mixed into other widely used illicit drugs, usually when the user is careless.

What Does Fentanyl Do to the Body?

Like heroin, morphine, and other opioid drugs, fentanyl works by binding to the body’s opioid receptors, which are found in areas of the brain that control pain and emotions.  After taking opioids many times, the brain adapts to the drug, reducing its sensitivity, making it hard to feel pleasure from anything besides the drug.  When people become addicted, drug-seeking and drug use take over their lives.  [3]

Drugs that cause comparable effects include other opioids such as morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, hydromorphone, methadone, and heroin. Fentanyl, like other commonly used opioid analgesics (e.g., morphine), produces effects [4] such as:

How Long Does Fentanyl Stay In Your System?

Fentanyl withdrawal usually begins within 12-30 hours of the last dose of an opioid, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) reports. Fentanyl, in patch form, is an extended-release medication with effects that may continue to increase for the first 12-24 hours of wearing it, lasting up to 72 hours total, according to the labeling information provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Duragesic. With a half-life of around 17 hours after removal of the patch, Fentanyl withdrawal likely begins around a day or so after taking it off. [5]

Fentanyl Overdose

The illegally used fentanyl most often linked with recent overdoses is manufactured in labs.  This synthetic fentanyl is sold unlawfully as a powder, dropped onto blotter paper, put in eye droppers and nasal sprays, or made into pills that look like other prescription opioids.

Fentanyl Overdose Symptoms

A person can overdose on fentanyl.  An overdose happens when a drug produces severe adverse effects and life-threatening symptoms.  When people overdose on fentanyl, their breathing can slow or stop.  This can reduce the amount of oxygen that reaches the brain.  A condition called hypoxia.  Hypoxia can lead to a coma and permanent brain damage, and even death.

A triad of symptoms such as pinpoint pupils, coma, and respiratory depression strongly suggests opioid poisoning.

Fentanyl Withdrawal

It is never recommended to stop taking a drug like fentanyl “cold turkey,”, especially without professional supervision and aid. Fentanyl withdrawal may be tempered with a slow removal of the drug over a period of time, called tapering, or through medical detox.

Fentanyl Withdrawal Symptoms

The potential side effects of fentanyl withdrawal that occurs when the drug leaves the bloodstream:

Fentanyl withdrawal likely peaks in the first few days and levels off within a week or so.

How To Safely Detox From Fentanyl

As sudden discontinuation of fentanyl may induce opioid withdrawal, individuals may instead choose to slowly taper off the drug. Tapering is the slow removal of fentanyl over a set period of time, and it is also called weaning off the drug. This must be performed under the direction and watchful eye of a medical professional who can set up a tapering schedule that may be able to keep fentanyl withdrawal symptoms from manifesting by keeping some of the opioid drugs in the system. By slowly removing the drug and not stopping “cold turkey,” opioid withdrawal may be managed safely.

When the use of drugs and alcohol ends, the addiction withdrawals begin. They’ll begin to have cravings that endure even with the knowledge of the adverse effects. Medical detox is critical in ensuring the fentanyl withdrawal is manageable and reaches completion as well as that it does not become dangerous and life-threatening. Fentanyl addiction needs detoxification the most.

Opiate Detox Treatment

The length of detox depends on how long an addict has been using fentanyl. The average withdrawal symptom timeline lasts from 4-10 days for short-acting forms of fentanyl such as Actiq, and 10-20 days for long-acting forms, such as Duragesic.

Fentanyl Addiction Treatment Options

Like other opioid addictions, medication with behavioral therapies is efficient in treating people with fentanyl withdrawal addiction. [7]

• Medications:  Buprenorphine and methadone work by binding to the same opioid receptors in the brain as fentanyl, decreasing cravings and withdrawal symptoms.  Another medication, Naltrexone, blocks opioid receptors and prevents fentanyl from having an effect.  People can review treatment options with their health provider.
• Counseling:  Behavioral therapies for addiction to opioids like fentanyl can improve people’s attitudes and behaviors associated with drug use, develop healthy life skills, and help them stick with their medication.  Some examples include:
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:  This helps adjust the client’s drug use expectations and behaviors and efficiently handle triggers and stress
  • Contingency Management:  This uses a voucher-based system giving clients “points” based on negative drug tests. They can use the points to earn items that promote healthy living
  • Motivational Interviewing:  This is a client-centered counseling style that addresses a person’s mixed feelings to change

These behavioral treatment approaches have proven useful, mainly when used along with medications. If you or a loved one is struggling with fentanyl withdrawal addiction, you may reach out to us.  We Level Up TX counselors are always ready to answer any of your possible questions such as how long does Fentanyl stays in your system?