How Does Opium Damage Your Liver
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The liver rarely complains loudly when it is hurt. It does not ache in the way a sore muscle aches, and it does not send a clear signal the first time something goes wrong. That quiet nature is one reason opium can damage the liver for a long time before a person realises what is happening. A person may feel tired, lose interest in food, or notice that ordinary work feels harder than it used to, and blame those changes on stress, poor sleep, or simply getting older. Meanwhile the liver is carrying extra strain day after day, and the strain is slowly changing how well it can do its work. This article explains, in plain words, how opium can harm the liver, what the early signs look like, why blood tests sometimes tell the story before a person feels seriously ill, and why stopping and getting proper help matters. It is general information only, not individual medical advice. If you are worried about your liver, or about someone else, a qualified health professional is the right person to talk to.
Opium comes from the opium poppy, and it has been used for a very long time, both as a medicine in the past and as a drug that people take for its calming and pain-dulling effects. The active parts of opium belong to a family of substances called opioids, which act on the brain and the body in powerful ways. They can slow breathing, dull pain, cause drowsiness, and slow the movement of the gut. Because the liver is the organ that processes much of what enters the body, it is involved in clearing these substances and their breakdown products. That work is normal for a healthy liver, but when opium is used again and again, the load grows, and other problems that often travel with regular opium use — poor eating, little sleep, infections, and mixing with alcohol or other drugs — add to the burden. The damage is rarely caused by one single moment. It builds up through repeated strain, and through the way opium changes a person’s whole daily life.
It is also important to be honest about what is known and what is not. The liver damage linked with opium is not always as direct or as simple as the damage caused by heavy drinking, where alcohol itself injures liver cells in a well-understood way. With opium, the picture is more mixed. Some of the harm comes from the drug itself and the strain of processing it. Some comes from substances mixed into street opium, which may contain impurities that the liver must also deal with. And a large part comes from the life that often goes with regular use: eating too little, eating poorly, catching infections more easily, and delaying medical care. Health guidance is clear, though, that regular opium use is linked with poorer liver health over time, with changes in blood tests, with inflammation, and in some people with scarring that does not heal easily. The rest of this article looks at each part of that picture in turn, so you can understand the risks without exaggeration and without false reassurance.
What the Liver Does Every Day
The liver is one of the largest organs in the body, and it does far more work than most people realise. It sits on the right side of the upper belly, just under the ribs, and it acts like a busy processing plant. Everything you eat and drink passes through it in some form. It helps turn food into energy, stores some of that energy for later, and makes proteins that the blood needs to clot properly and to carry substances around the body. It also makes bile, a fluid that helps digest fats, and it filters the blood, removing waste and breaking down medicines and other chemicals so they can leave the body safely.
A healthy liver is remarkably good at repairing itself. If a small part is injured, the liver can grow new cells and carry on. That ability is one reason liver disease can stay hidden for years: the organ keeps working, even while damage is building underneath. But that ability is not unlimited. When injury keeps happening, week after week and month after month, the repair process starts to leave scars instead of clean, healthy tissue. Scar tissue does not do the liver’s work. It cannot filter blood, make proteins, or produce bile in the same way. As more scar tissue builds up, the liver’s remaining healthy tissue has to work harder, and the whole organ slowly becomes less able to cope.
The liver also works closely with the rest of the body, which is why liver trouble rarely stays in one place. When the liver cannot clear waste properly, a person may feel tired all the time, or notice changes in appetite, digestion, and skin. When it cannot make enough of the proteins the blood needs, bruising may happen more easily, and cuts may take longer to stop bleeding. When bile flow is affected, the skin and the whites of the eyes can turn yellow, a sign doctors call jaundice. None of these changes happens overnight. They creep in slowly, which is why understanding what the liver does helps you understand why opium-related damage is so easy to miss at first, and so serious when it is finally noticed.
How Opium Reaches and Strains the Liver
When a person takes opium, its active substances enter the blood and travel through the body. The liver receives a large share of that blood, and its cells set to work breaking the substances down into smaller parts that can be removed. This is normal work for the liver, and a single, small exposure does not usually cause lasting harm to a healthy liver. The problem starts with repetition. When opium is used regularly, the liver is asked to do this extra work again and again, with little rest in between, and at the same time it must keep doing all its ordinary jobs: managing energy, making proteins, clearing waste, and helping digestion.
Street opium adds another layer of risk. Opium bought outside a pharmacy is not a pure, standard product. It can be mixed with other substances, cut with fillers, or contaminated during preparation and storage. The liver must process those extra substances too, and some of them can irritate liver cells or add to inflammation. A person taking street opium has no reliable way of knowing what else is in it, how strong it is, or what impurities it carries. That uncertainty matters, because the liver is the organ that has to deal with whatever is swallowed or absorbed, and it cannot refuse the extra work.
There is also the way opium changes eating and drinking. Opioids often reduce appetite, slow the gut, and cause constipation and nausea. A person using opium regularly may eat far less than they need, or eat only simple, low-nutrition food because cooking feels like too much effort. Poor nutrition weakens the liver’s ability to repair itself, because the liver needs protein, vitamins, and energy to grow healthy new cells. When food is scarce or unbalanced, the liver has fewer building blocks for repair, and the same amount of strain does more lasting harm. Dehydration can add to the problem too, because the body needs fluid to carry waste away and to keep blood flowing well through the liver.
Inflammation That Builds Quietly
Inflammation is the body’s response to injury. When tissue is hurt, the body sends blood, immune cells, and chemical signals to the area to clean up damage and start repair. In the short term, that response is helpful. When it goes on for months and years, it becomes a problem in itself. Long-lasting inflammation in the liver keeps the organ in a state of alarm. Immune cells stay active, chemical signals keep flowing, and the repair process never fully settles down. Over time, that constant state of repair lays down scar tissue instead of healthy liver tissue, and the liver slowly loses its flexibility and its working capacity.
Opium use can feed this slow inflammation in several ways. The repeated chemical load keeps liver cells under stress. Poor nutrition and lack of sleep weaken the body’s defences. Infections, which are more common when a person’s general health is run down, can add further inflammation. And mixing opium with alcohol is especially harmful here, because alcohol itself causes liver inflammation, and the two together put far more pressure on the liver than either would alone. A person may not feel this inflammation as pain. It often shows up only as tiredness, a dull heaviness under the ribs, or a general sense that the body is not recovering well from ordinary effort.
The quiet nature of this process is what makes it dangerous. A person can look reasonably well on the outside while inflammation is building inside. Blood tests may show small changes long before the person feels seriously ill, which is why doctors pay close attention to them. But if those tests are never done, or their results are ignored, the inflammation can continue for years. By the time the signs become obvious — lasting tiredness, yellowing skin, swelling in the belly or legs — the liver may already have a large amount of scar tissue. That is why health professionals stress early checks and honest conversations, rather than waiting for a dramatic symptom to force action.
Blood Tests Tell the Story
Doctors often learn about liver strain from blood tests before a person notices anything serious. These tests measure enzymes and other substances that the liver releases into the blood. When liver cells are stressed or injured, some of these enzymes rise above their normal range. A raised level does not by itself prove a particular cause, and it does not tell you exactly how much damage there is, but it is a warning sign that the liver is under strain and needs attention. A single abnormal result may settle back to normal if the strain is removed, but a pattern of raised results over months is a stronger signal that something ongoing is harming the liver.
Other blood tests look at how well the liver is doing its jobs, rather than just whether its cells are injured. They can show whether the liver is making enough protein, whether waste products are being cleared properly, and whether blood is clotting as it should. Changes in these results tend to appear later than changes in enzymes, because the liver can compensate for a long time. When they do change, it usually means the liver’s working capacity has already fallen. That is why doctors do not wait for these later tests to become abnormal before acting. The earlier enzyme changes are the chance to intervene while recovery is still possible.
It is worth saying plainly that blood tests cannot tell the whole story on their own. A person can have liver damage with normal tests, and a person can have abnormal tests for reasons that have nothing to do with opium. That is why a doctor will ask about a person’s whole history — what they have taken, how often, whether they drink alcohol, what they eat, whether they have had infections such as hepatitis — and will use scans or other checks if needed. The tests are a starting point, not a final answer. But they are a useful starting point, and they are one of the best reasons to seek medical advice early, rather than waiting until the body is sending signals that cannot be ignored.
Tiredness, Appetite and Everyday Changes
One of the earliest and most common effects of a struggling liver is a deep, persistent tiredness that rest does not fully fix. This is not the ordinary tiredness of a busy day. It is a heaviness that stays in the morning after a night’s sleep, that makes climbing stairs feel like hard work, and that turns simple tasks — cooking, cleaning, walking to the market — into efforts that need planning and recovery. Part of this tiredness comes from the liver itself, which is not managing energy as well as it should. Part comes from poor sleep, poor eating, and the general strain that regular opium use places on the whole body. Together, they create a cycle: tiredness makes it harder to eat well and move, and eating poorly and moving less makes the tiredness worse.
Appetite often changes too. Food may lose its appeal, portions may shrink, and nausea may make eating unpleasant. Opium slows the gut, so a person may feel full quickly, or feel bloated and uncomfortable after a small meal. Constipation is common, and it adds to the discomfort. Over weeks and months, eating less leads to weight loss and to a shortage of the nutrients the liver needs to repair itself. Muscles may weaken, skin may become drier, and minor illnesses may take longer to clear. Family members often notice these changes before the person does, because they see the plate left half full, the weight dropping, and the energy fading, day after day.
These everyday changes matter because they are often the first signs a person can actually observe. A blood test may be abstract, but a meal left uneaten is concrete. A walk that used to be easy becoming hard is concrete. The mistake is to explain these changes away, one by one, as stress or age or a bad week, when together they form a pattern. If tiredness, loss of appetite, and a general sense of feeling unwell keep returning, and opium is part of the picture, that pattern deserves a proper medical check. It does not prove liver damage by itself, but it is exactly the kind of pattern that doctors want to hear about early, while there is still time to act.
Jaundice and Yellowing Skin
Jaundice is one of the clearest visible signs that the liver is struggling, and it is a sign that should never be ignored. It happens when a yellow substance called bilirubin builds up in the blood. Normally the liver processes bilirubin and sends it out of the body through bile. When the liver cannot keep up, bilirubin rises, and the skin and the whites of the eyes take on a yellow colour. The change often starts in the eyes, where it is easier to see, and then spreads to the skin. Urine may become darker, and stools may become paler, because the normal flow of bile is disrupted. Itching can also develop, because substances that the liver would normally clear begin to build up under the skin.
Jaundice does not appear at the first sign of liver strain. It usually means the liver’s working capacity has already fallen a long way, or that bile flow is blocked or badly disrupted. That is why it is treated as an urgent warning sign. A person who notices yellowing in their eyes or skin should seek medical care promptly, not wait to see if it fades on its own. A doctor will want to find the cause, check blood tests, and look for other signs of liver trouble. The cause may not be opium alone — there are many causes of jaundice — but if opium is part of the picture, it needs to be discussed honestly, because it affects the choices a doctor makes about care and follow-up.
It is also important to understand that jaundice is a sign, not a disease in itself. Treating the yellowing alone does not fix the liver underneath. What matters is finding and removing the strain on the liver, and giving it the best chance to recover. That may mean stopping opium, stopping alcohol, improving nutrition, treating an infection, or all of these together, under medical guidance. Some liver changes improve when the strain is removed, especially if they are caught early. Others, particularly advanced scarring, improve much more slowly or not at all. The difference between those two outcomes is often a matter of time — how early the problem was found, and how soon the strain was lifted.
Scarring Over Years
When liver injury keeps happening, the repair process gradually lays down scar tissue. Doctors call this fibrosis when it is mild or moderate, and cirrhosis when it is advanced and widespread. Scar tissue is tough and fibrous, and it does not perform the liver’s jobs. It also changes the structure of the liver, making it harder for blood to flow through. Blood that cannot pass easily through the liver backs up, raising pressure in the veins that feed it, and fluid can collect in the belly or legs. The spleen, a nearby organ, can enlarge. These changes develop slowly, over years, and they are the reason advanced liver disease is so serious.
A person with advancing scarring may notice that bruises appear more easily, that small cuts bleed for longer, or that they feel confused or foggy at times. That confusion, which doctors call hepatic encephalopathy, happens when waste products that the liver would normally clear reach the brain. It can start subtly — forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, changes in sleep — and become more serious if the liver worsens. It is a frightening symptom, and it is a sign that the liver’s failure to clear waste is now affecting the brain. Anyone who notices these changes, in themselves or in someone they care for, should seek medical help promptly.
The hard truth is that advanced scarring is difficult to reverse. The liver can recover a great deal if the cause is removed early, while the scarring is still mild, but once the structure of the liver has changed a great deal, recovery becomes limited. That is not a reason to give up hope, because stopping the harm still matters — it can slow further damage, reduce the risk of complications, and improve quality of life — but it is a reason to act early. The years when the damage is still quiet, when the only signs are tiredness and small changes in blood tests, are the years when action makes the biggest difference. Waiting for obvious scarring to appear is waiting too long.
Extra Risk From Mixing
Opium rarely causes liver harm in isolation. In real life, it is often mixed with other things that add to the liver’s burden, and those combinations deserve honest attention. Alcohol is the most important of these. Alcohol is directly toxic to liver cells, it causes inflammation, and it promotes scarring. When alcohol and opium are used together, the liver faces two different kinds of strain at once, and the damage adds up faster than either substance would cause alone. A person who drinks heavily and uses opium regularly is at much higher risk of serious liver disease than a person who does only one of those things.
Other medicines and substances can add to the risk too. Some painkillers, when taken in large amounts or over a long time, can strain the liver. Some herbal products and supplements, which people sometimes take believing they are safe because they are natural, can also injure the liver. And infections matter a great deal. Hepatitis viruses, which affect the liver directly, are more common in people who inject drugs or who live in conditions where hygiene and medical care are poor. A liver already strained by opium and alcohol is far less able to cope with a hepatitis infection, and the combination can cause damage much faster than either would alone.
The practical point is simple, even if the medicine behind it is complicated: the liver’s total burden is what matters, not any single substance in isolation. A person who wants to protect their liver needs to think about the whole picture — opium, alcohol, other medicines, diet, and infections — and discuss it honestly with a health professional. Hiding part of the picture makes it harder for a doctor to help, because they cannot see the full load the liver is carrying. An honest conversation, even if it is difficult, is the first step toward reducing that load and giving the liver a chance to recover.
My Take:
I want to start with something I think is often missed in conversations about opium and the liver. People talk a lot about overdose, and they should, because overdose can kill quickly. But the liver damage is different. It is slow, quiet, and easy to ignore, and that is exactly what makes it so dangerous. A person can feel that they are managing, that they are coping, that the drug is not really hurting them, while the liver is quietly losing its ability to do its work. I find that frightening, because it means the harm can grow for years without a dramatic warning, and by the time the warning comes, the damage is already serious. If more people understood that the liver does not shout when it is hurt, I think more of them would take early tiredness and small changes in blood tests seriously, instead of waiting for something obvious.
I also think we need to be honest about how complicated the picture is. Opium does not damage the liver in one simple way, the way a single poison might. It strains the liver through repeated chemical work, through impurities in street supplies, through poor eating, through lost sleep, and through the infections and mixing that so often go with regular use. That complexity is not an excuse to downplay the risk. It is a reason to take the whole picture seriously, because the total burden is what matters. A person who says the drug itself is not the main problem is missing the point. The drug is the centre of a pattern, and the pattern is what harms the liver. You cannot separate the substance from the life that grows around it.
The tiredness is the part I keep coming back to, because it is so often dismissed. A person feels tired, and they are told they are working too hard, or sleeping badly, or getting older. And all of those things may be true. But when tiredness is deep, persistent, and does not lift with rest, and when it comes with loss of appetite and a sense that ordinary tasks have become hard, it deserves a proper check. I think families notice this before the person does, because they see the plate left half full and the walk that used to be easy becoming a struggle. If you are watching someone fade in that slow way, please do not just accept it as normal. Ask them to see a doctor, and ask the doctor to check the liver. That conversation could be the one that catches the damage while it can still be slowed or reversed.
Jaundice is the sign that troubles me most, because it is so visible and so often arrives late. When the eyes turn yellow, the liver is already struggling badly, and the person needs medical care promptly. I wish more people knew that yellowing in the eyes is not a minor change to wait out. It is a signal that the liver cannot keep up, and it needs attention now. I also wish more people knew that jaundice is not something to be ashamed of. It is a medical sign, not a moral judgement, and hiding it only delays the help that could make a difference. If you notice it in yourself or in someone you love, please treat it as urgent, and please be honest with the doctor about everything that might be contributing, including opium and alcohol.
I am also struck by how much of the damage is preventable if it is caught early. The liver is a forgiving organ in its early stages. It can repair itself, it can recover from inflammation, and blood tests can return toward normal when the strain is lifted. That recovery is not guaranteed, and it is not instant, but it is real, and it is one of the most hopeful facts in this whole subject. The tragedy is that the chance is so often missed, because the early signs are quiet and easy to explain away. I think that is why this article matters. Not because it will scare anyone into stopping — fear alone rarely works — but because it gives people a clear picture of what to watch for, and a reason to act while action still helps.
Mixing is the part I would warn about most strongly. Opium on its own is harmful enough, but opium plus alcohol is a combination that puts the liver under far more strain than either would alone. The same is true of opium plus other medicines that strain the liver, and of opium plus a hepatitis infection. I understand why people mix things — to sleep, to cope, to get through a hard day — but I want to be plain about the cost. Each extra burden adds to the total load, and the liver does not have a separate allowance for each one. It has one capacity, and when that capacity is exceeded, damage follows. If you are using opium and drinking as well, please understand that the risk is not simply doubled. It is worse than that, because the two harms feed each other.
I think about the families a lot when I write about this. A liver problem does not affect only the person using opium. It affects the partner who watches them grow tired, the children who see their parent fade, and the parents who worry and do not know how to help. That is not a reason to blame anyone. Addiction is not a simple choice, and shame does not help anyone recover. But it is a reason to be honest, and to seek help early, because the family is often the first to see the pattern and the last to be heard. If you are a family member reading this, your observations matter. The tiredness you have noticed, the meals left uneaten, the yellowing you think you saw in the eyes — those are worth mentioning to a doctor, even if the person themselves is reluctant to go.
I also want to say something about the help that exists, because it is easy to read an article like this and feel that the situation is hopeless. It is not. Doctors, nurses, and support services see liver problems linked with drug use every day, and they are there to help, not to judge. They can check blood tests, look for infections, advise on nutrition, and help a person plan how to stop using opium safely. Stopping opioids suddenly can be dangerous in itself, and it should be done with medical support, not alone. That is important to say clearly. The goal is not to stop in a rush and suffer alone. The goal is to stop safely, with support, and to give the liver the best chance to recover.
Finally, I would say this to anyone who is reading because they are worried about themselves. You do not need to have all the answers before you seek help. You do not need to be certain that your liver is damaged, and you do not need to have a perfect plan for stopping. You only need to take the first step, which is to talk to a health professional and be honest about what you have been taking. That conversation is not a confession. It is a medical appointment, and it is the start of getting the information and support you need. The liver can recover a great deal when it is given the chance. The sooner you give it that chance, the better that chance becomes. Please do not wait for jaundice, or for a crisis, to make the call. The quiet signs are the ones that matter most, and they are already speaking.
One thing I would add is about food, because it is often overlooked when people talk about drugs and the liver. Eating well does not cure liver disease, and I do not want to suggest that it does. But eating regular, balanced meals gives the liver the protein and vitamins it needs to repair itself, and that matters when the organ is under strain. A person who eats very little, or who lives on tea and bread because cooking feels like too much effort, is asking their liver to repair itself without the materials it needs. If you are in that position, please talk to a doctor or a nurse about food as well as about opium. They can advise on simple, affordable meals that are easier to manage, and on whether any supplements or checks are needed. Food is not a substitute for medical care, but it is part of giving the liver a fair chance.
I also think the conversation with a doctor deserves a word of its own, because many people avoid it out of fear. They worry they will be judged, or lectured, or reported, or that the doctor will be angry with them. In my experience of reading health guidance, doctors and nurses who work with drug use expect to hear about it, and their job is to help, not to punish. They have heard far harder stories than yours, and they will have heard them without surprise. Being honest about opium, about alcohol, and about anything else you take is what lets them make the right decisions about tests and care. If you hide part of the picture, they are working in the dark, and the advice they give may be wrong for your situation. It takes courage to be honest, but it is the kind of courage that leads to real help.
Another point that stays with me is how long the liver can keep going while it is being harmed. That is both a mercy and a danger. It is a mercy because it means the body can cope for a long time, and because it gives a person time to act. It is a danger because it makes it easy to believe nothing is wrong. I think the honest way to hold both facts is this: the liver’s patience is not a sign that the harm is small. It is a sign that the harm is being absorbed quietly, and that the bill will arrive later if the strain continues. The time to act is while the liver is still compensating, while blood tests are only slightly changed and the signs are still small. That is when stopping, eating better, and getting medical support make the biggest difference.
I would also ask readers to think about the people around them who may be affected without realising it. A child who sees a parent growing tired and losing weight does not understand liver disease, but they feel the change in the home. A partner who cooks meals that go uneaten feels helpless. An older parent who watches their adult child fade feels fear they cannot name. Those feelings are real, and they deserve acknowledgement. If you are that family member, your worry is not an overreaction. It is a reasonable response to a real change, and it is worth acting on. You can ask the person to see a doctor, you can offer to go with them, and you can speak to a health professional yourself about what you have noticed and what support is available for families.
There is one more thing I want to leave you with, and it is about hope. Liver disease sounds final, and advanced scarring is indeed very serious, but the story does not end there for everyone. Many people who stop early, who get medical care, who improve their eating and who avoid alcohol, see their blood tests improve and their energy return. The liver is not a machine that breaks once and stays broken. It is a living organ that can heal, slowly and partly, when the harm stops. That healing is not a promise, and it is not the same for everyone, but it is a real possibility, and it is the reason I keep coming back to early action. The sooner the strain is lifted, the more the liver has to work with. If you have been putting off that first appointment, please make it now. It is the most useful thing you can do for your liver, and for the people who need you well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a liver that filters poorly from Opium dangerous?
Yes, it can be dangerous, because a liver that is not filtering well is a liver that is not doing one of its main jobs. When filtering weakens, waste products can build up in the blood, energy management suffers, and the risk of further damage grows. The danger is often greater than it first appears, because the liver can keep working for a long time while damage builds underneath. Anyone who suspects their liver is struggling should speak to a qualified health professional promptly, so blood tests and other checks can show how serious the problem is.
Who is most at risk of long-term liver scarring from Opium?
People who use opium regularly over a long period face the highest risk, especially if they also drink alcohol, eat poorly, or have had a liver infection such as hepatitis. People who use street opium face extra risk from impurities, and people who take other medicines that strain the liver add to their total burden. Older people and people who already have a liver condition are also more vulnerable, because their liver has less capacity to cope with extra strain. The risk is not the same for everyone, but regular use plus any of these extra factors raises it clearly.
How soon can long-term liver scarring appear after using Opium?
Scarring does not appear overnight. It usually develops over months and years of repeated strain, as inflammation keeps the liver in a state of repair and slowly lays down scar tissue. Some people show early changes in blood tests within weeks or months, while visible scarring takes much longer. The timing varies a great deal from person to person, depending on how often opium is used, whether alcohol is also used, nutrition, and whether infections are present. There is no safe period after which scarring can be ruled out, and no single moment when it suddenly begins.
Can Opium really cause fatigue from a struggling liver?
Yes. A struggling liver is less able to manage energy, clear waste, and support the body’s normal functions, and that often shows up as a deep, persistent tiredness that rest does not fully fix. Opium also contributes in other ways, by reducing appetite, disturbing sleep, and slowing the gut, so tiredness can have several causes at once. That does not make the liver’s part less real. When tiredness is lasting, comes with loss of appetite, and does not lift with rest, it is worth asking a doctor to check the liver as part of looking for the cause.
Does a liver working overtime from Opium go away after stopping?
Some of the strain can ease after stopping, especially if the damage is still early. Blood tests often improve when the liver is no longer under repeated chemical load, and inflammation can settle over weeks and months. But recovery is not instant, and it is not guaranteed. If scarring is already advanced, the liver may improve only partly, or may stay damaged. Stopping still matters even then, because it slows further harm and reduces the risk of complications. The best chance of recovery comes from stopping early, with medical support, and improving nutrition and general health at the same time.
What should I do if Opium is causing jaundice and yellowing skin?
Seek medical care promptly. Yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes is a sign that the liver is struggling badly, and it needs to be checked without delay. Be honest with the doctor about opium use, alcohol use, and any other medicines you take, because that information helps them find the cause and plan care. Do not try to treat jaundice on your own, and do not wait to see if it fades. Support services can help with stopping opium safely, and a health professional can advise on the next steps for the liver.
Sources
- National Institute on Drug Abuse — https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/opioids
- U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration — https://www.dea.gov/drug-information
- Mayo Clinic, Drug addiction — https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/drug-addiction/symptoms-causes/syc-20365112
- World Health Organization, Substance abuse — https://www.who.int/health-topics/substance-abuse
- NHS, Drug addiction: getting help — https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/addiction-support/drug-addiction-getting-help/
This article is general information only. It is not medical advice. If you are worried about your health or about someone else, speak to a qualified health professional.
