Do You Need Medically Assisted Treatment?
Substance use disorder occurs when you develop a reliance on drugs, alcohol, or another substance that leads to health issues, disruption of work or school, or trouble within a relationship. This somewhat common disorder can exert an extremely powerful influence upon you that can take over nearly every aspect of your life. As a result, substance use disorder is typically very difficult to overcome unless you have professional support and guidance. Plus, it’s always nice if someone has your back.
In particular, the first stages of beginning drug or alcohol treatment can be extremely difficult to handle on your own. If you’ve developed a habit of regular alcohol, drug, or other substance use, you may require detoxification before you are able to begin treatment safely. Going through the detox process on your own could be dangerous.
What Is Addiction Detox?
Whether you’ve built a routine in which you regularly use alcohol or drugs, a pattern of binge drinking, or a physical dependence on a substance to cope with daily life, your body and brain become used to having these chemicals in your system every day. Once you stop taking that substance, your body can experience serious, and sometimes dangerous, symptoms of withdrawal. For that reason, the beginning of substance use disorder treatment can pose serious medical and psychological issues that make progressing through treatment dangerous, difficult, or both.
Drug and alcohol detoxification (commonly known as detox) is a medically-supervised process by which you remove all traces of the chosen substance from your system. It’s usually the first step in your recovery journey. The process helps prepare you for the next phases of treatment and increases your chances of success. Perhaps most importantly, addiction detox helps address lingering symptoms of withdrawal in a safe way because you are monitored by a healthcare professional.
Why Is Addiction Detox Important?
When you stop using a drug you’ve become dependent on – particularly if you have a long history of substance abuse – your body and brain can begin experiencing withdrawal symptoms within two hours. While withdrawal symptoms are sometimes limited to mild discomfort, depending on the frequency of your use, you may experience early withdrawal symptoms right away. Withdrawal symptoms may include headache, nausea, sweating, sensitivity to light and sound, and irritability.
For people who have substance dependence, withdrawal symptoms can become more severe, including:
- Tremors
- Seizures
- Hallucinations
- Cardiac arrest
For this reason, it is essential to undergo detoxification with the assistance of a medically licensed detox professional. Ongoing medical supervision can help look after your symptoms, and ongoing counseling can help you navigate through your withdrawal mentally. The beginning stages of drug and alcohol treatment present the highest rates of relapse. Utilizing outpatient detox services can provide you with support when you are withdrawing and most are tempted to use again. Supervised detox can help get through to the crucial next stage of treatment.