Drug detox is a short course of treatment that addicts receive to detoxify — to cleanse the brain of drugs, and allow readjustment to life without their harmful effects. When addicts successfully complete drug detox, they are no longer wracked by cravings or withdrawal symptoms, improvements that often fill them with confidence that they are fully cured. This is a common and grave misunderstanding, however. As we tell our clients at our drug detox center in McAllen, addictions are not cured; they can only be managed.
Drug detox does not cure addiction. It is only a useful tool that helps pause the continuous cycle of cravings that addicts experience. To achieve long-term sobriety, addicts need to continue rehab past detoxification, accepting intensive psychological treatment called relapse prevention.
When you are addicted to the use of alcohol or psychoactive drugs, and decide to stop at some point, the brain begins a process called detoxification. During this process, the brain and the central nervous system take several days to learn to function without these substances. During this time, the brain can experience serious chemical imbalances that produce withdrawal symptoms.
While detoxification is always extremely unpleasant, it can, in some cases, turn life-threatening. Frequently, with certain withdrawal symptoms that appear with detoxification from alcohol or benzodiazepines, the body can experience seizures that affect the brain. Cardiac arrest is a possibility with certain types of withdrawal, as well.
At the drug detox center, addiction specialists care for the patient undergoing withdrawal, administering medications to help suppress each symptom. Whether it is anxiety, sleeplessness, agitation, suicidal tendencies, pain, cravings, seizures or hallucinations, medical professionals choose from an array of medications available to them to help bring safety and comfort. In this way, getting started on the process of quitting drugs becomes almost easy to for addicts to contemplate.
Professional drug detox is necessary to ensure safe and effective detoxification. While some people do attempt to detoxify on their own and appear to succeed, such a move comes with a number of risks.
In all but the most motivated of people, attempting to quit addiction on your own can be impossible for the simple reason that the temptation to cheat is great.
The discomfort is often too much. Barring the possibility of fatal withdrawal symptoms, the pain and discomfort involved can be enough to discourage many people from even trying to detoxify. Most who attempt it, simply quit. It's important to remember that people often lose themselves in They are usually in no shape to handle the painful challenge of detoxification.
The effect of seizures on the brain can be serious. Over the long-term, people who have experienced seizures through withdrawal, relapse at rates far higher than those who have not.
The rehab industry tends to receive very little of the regulatory oversight that the rest of the medical industry works with. This means that many rehabs simply not being run to scientific principles. Many medical detox centers attempt to draw business in through simply offering detox as a complete treatment approach to addiction. Others offer questionable methods such as rapid detox and drugless detox.
Both methods work occasionally, but come with serious risks. While drugless detox is simply ineffective, rapid detox comes with a very serious risk of relapse. When attempting to undertake detox, it is a good idea to go with a method that has mainstream medical recognition.
A number of factors contribute to success in detoxification. Close medical supervision through the detox process is one of them. It ensures that no symptom is left untreated. The greater the level of comfort that the addict may feel in recovery, the greater their chances of persevering with programs for addiction treatment in McAllen.
A high level of personal motivation can be another determinant. Since most addicts are incapable of feeling a great deal of confidence or motivation, detoxifying in the midst of a warm and supportive team of addiction professionals and fellow addiction warriors can be a huge help.
Sound mental health is an important factor, as well. One in two addicts suffer from an additional psychiatric disorder. Patients who have an additional struggle on their hands rarely succeed at detoxification without a great deal of additional help.
In each one of these cases, detoxification is best done at an inpatient drug detox center in McAllen, rather than an outpatient one. Greater chances of success come to those in our inpatient drug rehab in McAllen. This happens for two reasons. To begin, they receive a greater level of access to medical professionals, therapists and fellow patients. Support can be a huge factor. The fact that an inpatient drug detox facility can offer better care for concurrent psychiatric disorders (dual diagnosis) helps even more.
If you plan to find treatment for yourself or for a loved one, you should research your options. You are welcome to call us to speak to the professionals at our drug detox center in McAllen, should you need help. Call us now at (877) 804-1531.