What to expect from your drug detox!
Drug detox is a step that needs to be taken for some people,
but its a scary step when you dont know what to expect.
Dont think for a minute though that you are not in good company. There are
legions of people in the world facing the same problems you are with drugs.
Each year in the United States, approximately 8.2 million persons are dependent
on alcohol and 3.5 million are dependent on illicit drugs, including stimulants
(1 million) and heroin (750,000). Lets check out what you'll have to go through
if you finally want to detox and fix up your life.
The goal of drug detox is to rid the body of toxins accumulated by
drug use. The first step to expect during drug detox is drug withdrawal. The
definition of withdrawal is "Discontinuation of the use of an addictive substance,
and the physiological and mental readjustment that accompanies such discontinuation."
Once you have discontinued using drugs, physical and behavioral withdrawal
symptoms may follow.
But the detox people know this and have come up with some ways to make your
drug detox go smoother so the withrawal doesnt suck so much.
the pharmacologic treatment of drug withdrawal often involves substituting
a long-acting agent for the abused drug and then gradually tapering its dosage.
The nature and severity of the withdrawal symptoms during drug detox vary
greatly depending on the particular drug or drugs that were being used as
well as the frequency of use. These days there are few people who use one
drug exclusively so it is very common to see individuals in drug detox that
use alcohol and cocaine, or alcohol and prescription medications (dont worry,
every one can be helped).
If alcohol is your demon, alcohol-withdrawal symptoms might be expected to peak about 72 hours after the last use of alcohol, but medications can reduce symptoms within hours. In patients with delirium tremens, management with medication requires high doses of benzodiazepines (e.g., 5 to 10 mg of diazepam by intravenous injection, repeated in two to four hours if seizures occur). Unless delirium is present, medication is typically needed for no more than seven days after the last use of alcohol, although some patients will report withdrawal symptoms, including sleep problems, for several more weeks. Protracted symptoms may precipitate relapse.
As for heroin, symptoms peak within 36 to 72 hours and last for 7 to 10 days, whereas for methadone, symptoms peak at 72 to 96 hours but last for 14 days or more, and for buprenorphine, symptoms are less severe and of shorter duration.
Severe depressive symptoms may last only 8 to 48 hours, but milder ones typically persist for approximately two weeks. Although no medications have shown efficacy in reducing the severity of drug withdrawal symptoms, acute stimulant toxicity characterized by delusions, paranoid thinking, and stereotyped compulsive behavior may require neuroleptic agents or benzodiazepines such as chlordiazepoxide in the first 48 hours after abrupt discontinuation of the drug. Because those who are dependent on stimulants are often also dependent on alcohol or heroin, withdrawal symptoms due to the discontinuation of these drugs and other substances may require concomitant treatment.
Drug detox is performed in many different ways depending on where you decide
to receive treatment. Most drug detox centers simply provide treatment to
avoid physical withdrawal to alcohol and other drugs. Ideally, a trained detox
facility will incorporate counseling and therapy during detox to help with
the psychological distress that the individual may experience as well.
I think this is great because most drug addictions are caused by an underlying
emotional strain that caused the addiction in the first place. So its fine
to get the person into detox and get them off the drugs, but if you dont fix
what caused the problem in the first place then its very easy to get back
into your chosen addiction again as soon as the emotional pain resurfaces.
Detoxification should cover all aspects of the individual's withdrawal and
purification from drugs. The removal of drug residuals is a key goal in drug
detox. Without this process, drug residues can remain in ones body and cause
cravings for years after drug use has ceased. A vital step in a successful
drug detox as well as drug rehabilitation is flushing out these accumulated
toxic residues so that the individual no longer experiences unwanted adverse
effects from the drugs they have taken.
So there you have the first steps of drug detox, they take you in and get
rid of the physical addiction to the drug, clean out the by products of your
chosen drug or drugs and set you up with some counselling to make sure that
all your emotional scars are clean to heal.
Just remember that recovery doesnt end with the detox and is an ongoing process
and each aspect of life that is affected by alcohol and drug use must be addressed.
I'm truly proud of you for making it this far. Drug abuse is a huge weight
on your shoulders and I would love for you to shake the monkey and see what
the world is like on the other side.
If you need an ear or just a pat on the back, I can be reached at Ray@buildingbodies.ca
Best of luck...go make it happen.