When looking into the idea of recovery or getting clean and sober, it’s important to recognize that the mind and body have to be clean before any treatment process or therapy can be benefited upon. All the toxins and chemicals circulating throughout will only distract from finding the solution to staying away. For some, withdrawals can begin as soon as someone misses a dose. This is where alcohol and drug detox may appear identical; in truth the process and dangers behind each are diverse in nature.
It is clinically believed that the hazards of drug detox are much different from alcohol in that they are more intense withdrawal symptoms experienced and typically last longer in regards to post acute withdrawal. Everyone experiences detox a little differently, but no questions asked drug detox remains a threat to any addict that disregards handling it in a safe manner.
What is Drug Detox?
Any element of recovery to be had from chemical dependency must be started with clean slate. This means going through the process of drug detox for many addicts, and some alcoholics for those cross addicted. Dropping all the substances at once can be a tricky situation.
Although withdrawal can be uncomfortable and complex in most cases, medical supervision thru the experience can be the difference between life and death for some severe situations. With a couple similarities to alcohol detox and quite a few differences, some of the withdrawal symptoms for drug detox will include:
Insomnia
Agitation
Runny Sinus Glands
Irregular Temperature
Cold Sweats
Muscle aches
Yawning
Nausea/Vomiting
Constipation/Diarrhea
Low energy
Headache
Drug detox medications you’ll be prescribed for drug detox are much different to those used in alcohol detox and will depend on an array of factors like the chemicals ingested, amounts, and length of usage. Although there are similar symptoms in drug and alcohol detox, most will find that drug detox symptoms can be a little more painful depending on the narcotics ingested.
What are the Dangers?
What some fail to realize is that most narcotics of the variety hurt the mind and body much differently than alcohol processing does. The body’s natural filters for toxins, like the kidneys and liver, begin to struggle much more with the chemicals that drugs will bring us. Once these begin to have problems, the body’s autoimmune system systematically begins to shut down. With it all being connected, one problem will just lead to the next and so forth and so on.
That’s just skimming some of the physical effects, while a completely different mental destruction is occurring. Some drugs will cut off oxygen to the brain, whereas others just kill brain cells and leave detrimental effects on the way the brain operates. After prolonged usage, this can cause a person to have irreversible effects that will follow them for life.
As with alcohol detoxification, longer-term use of drugs and higher dosages can lead to more severe withdrawal symptoms when it comes to drug detox. Regardless of their plans for long-term treatment, individuals who have been abusing substances for a significant period of time are advised to seek supervised detoxification so that they can avoid or treat serious complications.
We offer Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)
Like other treatment plans for substance abuse disorder, medication assisted treatment is focused on identifying and treating the root cause of the addiction. Therapy is also provided to help identify situations that may trigger cravings. Developing strategies to handle your known triggers without using substances is an important aspect of your treatment plan.