What Happens During Detox

Drug detox is the first part of a comprehensive program an individual goes through for substance abuse rehabilitation. A drug and alcohol rehab program will offer you a complete set of tools required for rebuilding and recovering. Drug detox may prevent unpleasant feelings or fatal circumstances from suddenly occurring when you stop the use of drugs and alcohol.

A detox program’s ultimate goal is to provide physiological healing following long-term drug and/or alcohol addiction. This is done first by stabilization followed by a period of detoxification. Once stabilization is completed, the focus of a drug and alcohol detox program alters to monitoring and supporting the various processes of the body. The body must expel the drugs and alcohol inside of it. A detox program will help with managing this typically unpleasant process known as withdrawal.

Detox program are deployed to help the body heal following drug and/or alcohol addiction. Once this is done, you can transition into the next phase. Without detox, there is no moving onto the other aspects of rehab.

The withdrawal process can take days or months to complete. A drug’s effect on you and the length of usage will dictate the amount of time you need to detox.

Factors that will determine your length of drug and/or alcohol withdrawal include:

• Substance you are addicted to
• Length of time the addiction has lasted
• The depth of the addiction
• Your method of drug abuse such as snorting, smoking, injecting, or swallowing
• The amount of the substance you take at one time
• Family history of drug and/or alcohol misuse
• Genetic makeup
• Medical conditions and health
• Any underlying mental health conditions

Is it Safe to Detox at Home?

You may take the step to detox at home. Plenty of people attempt to detox from the privacy of their own residence. However, at-home detox isn’t always the best choice. In fact, there are a few reasons it could be the wrong choice overall when it comes to drug detox.

Detoxing at home may not be safe. At an in-patient drug rehab center, you have professionals overseeing your stay and detox. If you choose to stay at home to detox, there isn’t likely to be anyone overseeing your withdrawal symptoms, especially not a trained medical professional.

Another reason at-home detox may not be ideal is that it doesn’t always work. The pain and discomfort a person goes through during detox may see them quickly end the process and take drugs. Detox can be difficult due to the withdrawal symptoms you undergo. Therefore, you may not have the will power on your own to continue.

Finally, detox at a professionally run rehab facility is far safer as medical professionals and trained individuals are on hand. They can make the process far more comfortable than you are able to be at home. In addition, the process at a rehab is more effective with a trained individual overseeing it.

There are at-home detox kits available to purchase. These claim to help an individual through the withdrawal process without going to rehab. These aren’t ideal to use due to oftentimes being ineffective. Without supervision, something may go wrong and be catastrophic.

The best thing to do is to speak with a medical professional or mental health advisor about the best options you have available for detox.

Understanding Drug and Alcohol Detox

You should understand that the initial phase of drug detoxification is rather intense. At a rehab facility medical and psychiatric members of staff will be available to continually provide support.

The most common withdrawal symptoms during detoxification include:

• Sweating, sometimes profusely
• Excessive yawning
• Anxiety
• Agitation and frustration
• Muscle aches and pains
• Watering of the eyes
• Runny nose
• Insomnia
• Mood swings
• Drug cravings

These symptoms can be very uncomfortable, although typically not life threatening. Having psychiatric and medical care during drug detoxification is beneficial. A variety of issues may present themselves to patients in the first few hours of detoxification. Rehab staff will address your most urgent needs until you are stabilized.

Issues that may present themselves during detox include:

• Violence
• Psychosis
• Injury
• Medical illness
• Threat of self-harm

During medically-assisted detoxification, you will be given controlled medication to help with the detoxification process. Unfortunately, no medicine has been created to prevent the symptoms of withdrawal. However, there are medicines that can lower the impact of symptoms. Medications are administered to ease depression and anxiety, to help you sleep, and to offset other common problems.

Attending Drug Detox

You shouldn’t choose a drug detoxification program based on its location near you. In fact, location should never be taken into account. For some people, attending a rehab that is far away and gets them away from local triggers. For other individuals, being close to family helps. In the end, your decision to attend a specific rehab should be based on the program’s ability to help you. This includes any co-occurring disorders you experience.

Dedicated Detox Facilities

Remedy Wellbeing is the only specialist detoxification facility in Europe. Part of the award winning Remedy Hotels Group, the clinic is designed to ease the discomfort of detox, in luxury surroundings with friendly medical staff and clinicians.

The ultimate goal of Remedy Wellbeing™ is to provide physiological healing from the ravages of addiction. The body is an amazing machine, and for most surviving addicts their bodies have suffered many years of chronic physical abuse. The award winning detox @ Remedy™ is a comfortable and luxurious process.

Risks of Rapid Detox

Some rehabs advertise rapid and ultra-rapid detoxification. These processes and programs have plenty of risks that you should be aware of. Rapid detoxification removes drugs from a person’s system more quickly than regular drug detoxification. Proponents of rapid detoxification claim the process is a faster way to remove drugs from the body. In addition, it allows you to avoid painful withdrawal symptoms.

Rehab programs offering rapid detoxification are not cheap. In addition, the process can be physically and mentally harmful. During the detoxification program using rapid detoxification, you are sedated with anesthesia and administered medication to replace the drugs in your body.

The method was initially created for patients addicted to opiate drugs such as heroin and painkillers. Although rapid detox sounds great, its risks usually outweigh the benefits.

Risk of Detoxification includes:

• Heart attack
• Paranoia
• High body temperature
• Infection
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Aspiration
• Choking
• Death

Detoxification is the first step to drug addiction treatment. Merely detoxing by itself is oftentimes insufficient to a successful recovery. A full treatment plan provided by a reputable rehab facility will enable you to recover completely following detox.

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