5 Things That Will Never Happen With Medical Detoxing
Taking the choice to stop using and being stronger than the addiction is a very brave and difficult step to take. And medical detoxing can help.
Normally, our body is able to produce chemicals, in the form of hormones, neurotransmitters, and endogenous substances. These substances regulate our daily bodily functions, our mood, appetite, focus, and physical activities.
Addiction changes the way our body is supposed to function normally, and many substances cause physical dependence. This means that the body can’t function normally anymore without the abused substance.
Even more, most of the abused substances result in psychological dependence and cravings.
Despite all of that, some addicts make the conscious and brave decision to stop using. Some decide to quit cold turkey, some choose a home detox routine, and others opt for medical detoxing. But which option of these works best?
Why Go Through Medical Detoxing?
The severity of the addiction and its withdrawal symptoms differ depending on the drug in question.
Some cause severe, even fatal, withdrawal symptoms. Others aren’t as severe to quit, yet aren’t easy either.
Different drugs also have different psychological effects. And, of course, the duration of use and how prolonged the body was dependant on the substance all affect the severity of the addiction.
When asking the question of which is better, a home detox or medical detox, the answer is usually the last one. That’s due to the fact that it’s much safer, effective, and it promises better results than detoxing at home.
There are many reasons why medical detoxing is safer and more effective than a home detox.
Here are 5 things that will never happen with a medical detox:
1. Life-Threatening Physical Withdrawal Symptoms
As we’ve mentioned, some drugs, specifically alcohol and opiates, cause severe and even fatal withdrawal symptoms when quitting cold turkey.
If it’s left unsupervised by trained medical professionals, the withdrawal process can be very dangerous for the individual. Symptoms like heart attacks, respiratory depression, seizures, and strokes can be very possible.
That doesn’t happen with the medical detoxing. The process includes tapering the abused substance with a less-addictive substance to take off the edge. After this, another phase of detoxing from the new substance takes place, making it much safer than quitting cold turkey.
2. Non Supervised Psychological Withdrawal Symptoms
Statistics have shown that most addicts suffer from strong mental disorders and trauma.
The substance-use used to take off the edge of those strong emotions. So when stopped, the edge comes back even exaggerated.
If the recovering addict starts to suffer from suicidal thoughts and depression, the medical staff is close-by and ready to help.
3. Severe Pain Associated With Withdrawal
Some substances result in straight in physical dependence, others cause a great deal of pain and discomfort when quit.
The medical detoxing programs take care of these cravings, pain, and discomfort, usually through non-addictive medical remedies.
4. High Risk Of Relapse
Another high risk accompanied by home detox programs is that many fall back into relapse.
Whether that’s due to the inefficiency of the program or the lack of support, the case is different with medical detoxing.
5. Long-Term Complications
In the case of long term addiction, there is an increased risk of damage in different organs, like the liver, brain, heart, or lungs.
Part of the medical detoxing is to carry out a full body check-up, which can catch the damage early on and treat it properly. That doesn’t happen in home detox programs.
The process of getting their life together after a period of substance abuse, no matter how short or long, is both brave and difficult.
While many addicts decide to take the step of sobriety, most of them fail due to wrong methods of detox. This increases the risk of relapse, and even suffering from dangerous withdrawal symptoms.
Not all substances are easy to overcome, and the best way to live an addiction-free life is to take the right first step. Medical detoxing, in that case, can be the best help they can get.