Drug Detox Central

Addiction Help is on the Way

One of the hardest things about addiction is recognizing it for what it is. Whether it’s your own struggle or a loved one’s struggle, it hard to know that you’re really truly seeing addiction and not something milder. Who wants to face addiction? So much better to chalk it up to a stressful time or a “small habit” that you can quit at anytime.

Here are some symptoms of addiction. Please note that these symptoms could be attributed to something else, something not as severe as drug addiction. Only you are going to know the right answer. Some parts of the list are targeted particularly to friends and family members as ways to help you figure out if someone in your life is struggling with addiction.

Restlessness, combined with insomnia.
Slow speech or reaction time (associated with downers.)
Sudden weight loss.
Excessive sleep cycled with manic periods.
Continuous sinus troubles and/or nosebleeds.
Severe dental issues (associated with meth use.)
Changes in clothing, usually wearing long sleeves to hide needle marks.
Persistent cough that worsens instead of improving with time.
Apathy about life.
Increased irritability and an increased tendency to violence.
Paranoia.

Addiction is a tragedy and there are lots of reasons for why it happens. First and foremost: if there is a history of addiction in your family, the odds are higher that you will become addicted. Genetics plays its part in this equation as does the fact that many people use drugs to self-medicate. So if you have mental illness in your family tree, that might have been the trigger for the drug use and abuse for other family members as well as yourself. One final addiction factor that has to be mentioned is physical pain. Especially these days, you read about people being addicted to pain killers, opiates or opiate-derivatives like Oxycontin.

Once you think you’ve identified that there is truly addiction, there are several treatment possibilities. We’re very lucky to be living in such an enlightened age — addiction is seen for what it is: a medical problem.

First, there is Residential Treatment. This means that you (if you are the addict) or your loved one lives at a treatment facility.  It’s intensive treatment so it only lasts from 30-90 days.

Second we have Medical Detoxification. Any addiction help is probably going to involve some level of drug detox because the drug needs to be out of your system as soon as possible. Many people begin their recovery journey in this way because of an overdose or time spent in the emergency room. A medical professional, during assessment, recognizes that detox is required.

Third, Partial Hospitalization. This is often used as relapse prevention. You go to the hospital 4 or 5 times a week for about 6 hours a visit. Think of it as outpatient addiction treatment.

Fourth, an Intensive Outpatient Program. With this type of treatment, you usually meet 3 days a week, for 2-4 hours. What’s nice is that a program like this can be scheduled around work or school so there are no conflicts and, more importantly, no excuses.

Next, Counseling. This works best when paired with another kind of treatment or as a support structure. Being able to talk with a trained professional, about your life and struggles, about the choices you’ve made that have lead you to this here and now, it’s invaluable as a way to stay clean.

Last, Sober Living Program. These facilities are particularly good if your home life could be a trigger for relapse. You live in a house with other recovering addicts, getting support, some counseling and most importantly, an alcohol and drug free environment.

The Basics of Drug Detox

Drug detoxification refers to several possible intervention strategies related to controlling drug addiction and/or drug withdrawal. Flushing the body of traces of the drug is paramount to recovery. Detoxification will mitigate the physical effects caused by the drug or drugs and can be an important step on the road to becoming drug-free.

It must be noted that detoxification programs do not necessarily treat other aspects of drug addiction. The psychological aspects of addiction, the behavioral and the social must be treated in tandem or after the detoxification process has occurred.

There are typically three steps to clinical drug detoxification
First, evaluation. The patient is tested to see what substances are presently in their bloodstream. The amount of the drug or drugs is also noted. Staff will also review the patient’s history and current behavior for potential disorders, mental or behavioral issues.

Second, stabilization. At this point, the patient goes through the process of detoxification. Medications may or may not used during this phase. Generally, medications are used.  As a secondary part of stabilization, information is extremely important. The patient should be informed about what to expect during treatment and recovery. If it seems prudent, family members and friends can be introduced into the environment to aid in stabilization.

Third, treatment. The last step in the detox process is to ready the patient to enter a recovery program. Remember, drug detoxification only deals with the physical dependency. It cannot meaningfully address the psychological aspects of drug addiction. The treatment stage concludes with agreement that the patient will complete the recovery by going to rehab.

Drug detoxification can happen in many settings. The level of intensity and patient commitment can vary within these settings. Deciding which sort of clinic, hospital or other setting should be determined by the patient’s needs. It’s important, as the process starts, to begin thinking about post detox help. Often this can happen in the same facility as the detoxification. Insurance, or the lack of insurance, plays a huge part in where and for how long the process can happen. People needing to detox come from all walks of life and income situations. Clinics realize this and most offer plans equipped to tailor treatment to their client populations. Knowing that detox was successful can be measured, in part, by whether someone enters or remains in rehab after detoxification.

Where the patient goes for detox (and possibly post-detox treatment) depends in part on the drug or drugs used. Experts suggest that for alcohol, sedative, and opiate withdrawal, hospitalization (or some form of 24-hour medical care) is often the preferred setting for detoxification. If hospitalization cannot be provided, then a setting that provides a high level of care – 24/7 – is recommended.

A big challenge for detoxification programs is ensuring that exiting patients have information and access to substance abuse treatment services. Spending time in treatment is almost always needed if the patient is going to be clean in the long term. The stats are astounding. Over 250,000 people detox in hospitals every year. Only 20% of them go on to receive substance abuse treatment.

Stats come from this document:
Detoxification and Substance Abuse Treatment
by Norman S. Miller, M.D. & Steven S. Kipnis, M.D.