How To Know When A Medical Detox Is Necessary

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Signs You May Need a Medical Detox

As you have been traversing your life in the world of substance abuse, there may have been times you got sick and tired of being sick and tired. Anyone who has ever traveled this path has been there and thought that. If you are still stuck in the cycle of addiction, maybe it's time to get off at the next stop.

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At Hollywood Hills Recovery, we hope that time comes for you sooner rather than later. Of course, it's you who is going to have to take the first step toward recovery. What is the first step? You need to reach the point where you are willing to admit you are helpless against your substance of choice. It's a difficult thing to do, but if you can get there, recovery becomes a real possibility.

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The next step is reaching out for help from a quality rehab facility like Hollywood Hills Recovery. It's a big step, but addiction treatment is the best way to be overcome your substance abuse problem once and for all. We feel confident telling you that because other options just never seem to deliver lasting sobriety.

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The Addiction Treatment Process

If you are ready to at least consider getting help, it might help to motivate you if you know more about the addiction treatment process. It can actually be divided into four parts:

• The intake process
• The detox process
• Therapy and counseling
• Ongoing aftercare

All of this gets rolled into a process that in many cases, takes 30 to 60 days to complete. In cases where the client has a significant substance abuse problem, the treatment process could require up to 180 days. The point is that treatment continues until an addiction treatment specialists feels a client has a reasonable chance of maintaining lasting sobriety.

Admittedly, each of these four steps is important to the overall treatment process. Detoxing properly and safely is one of the biggest hurdles in overcoming your addiction and beginning the road to recovery. For that reason, we would like to devote some time to a larger discussion about the detox process. That includes both alcohol detox and drug detox.

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More About The Alcohol and Drug Detox Process

Medically assisted detox is often necessary to ensure your health and safety and is often times more successful. There are health risks to consider when a long-time substance abuser suddenly makes the decision to stop using their substance of choice.

Over time, your body and mind will create a dependence on your substance of choice. When denied access to that substance your body will withdrawal. Some withdrawal symptoms can pose a significant danger. As a point of reference, we’ve listed some of the most common withdrawal symptoms one might experience, depending on the substance to which they are addicted:

• Respiratory issues - trouble breathing
• Sudden increase in heart rate and blood pressure
• Diminished control of bodily functions such as deification and urination
• Hallucinations, DTs, nightmares
• Severe stomach cramping
• Trembling and muscle convulsions in the extremities
• Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
• Psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideology

We take all of these symptoms very seriously which is why we don’t often recommend the “cold turkey” method.

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How Do We Determine If You Need A Medically Assisted Detox?

During the intake process, we collect information about the extent of your addiction problem. We do that to help determine the right course of treatment. This is determined based on the following criteria:

• The substance that is being abused
• The frequency of the substance abuse
• The amount of substance that is being consumed each day and each time
• The amount of time the individual has been abusing their substance of choice
• The last time they used

Based on this information, we can come up with a treatment plan. In cases where the client's addiction seems substantial, we know a medically assisted detox is the best path.

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Standard Medical Detox Program

Our medical detox programs are managed by medical professionals (nurses and doctors). Their job is to closely monitor the progress of each patient. The moment any patient shows signs of distress or pain, it's at that point that a medical detox intervention takes place.

During a medical detox intervention, a doctor will usually end up prescribing medication to ease the symptoms of distress or pain. When dealing with patients who come to us because of an opioid addiction, prescribing the right kind of pain medication can get a bit tricky. Fortunately, there are low-level pain blockers that can control pain without triggering addiction issues.

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Tapering Medical Detox Program

In the case of a significant addiction to alcohol or drugs like heroin and fentanyl the patient might need to submit to a medical detox program that requires a more methodical approach. This is typically the right program choice if there is a real chance that withdrawal symptoms would cause a threat to safety.

As part of a substance tapering process, it's necessary to allow certain patients more time to slowly taper off their substance of choice. Doctors can control this through prescribing tapering drugs such as Methadone or Suboxone.

Suboxone is often used as a tapering drug for heroin addicts. It's a form of opioid that isn't nearly as addictive as heroin but has similar effects on the body which minimize the severity of withdrawal symptoms that without would be extreme. Our doctors begin with a certain dosage determined by the level of addiction, and then over time the dose is slowly lowered until they feel the patient is safe to get through the rest of the process without further drug intervention.

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What's in Store for You After Alcohol or Drug Detox

After a successful detox, you will have better control of your ability to continue healing without the risk of relapse. Then you can begin the other aspects of rehabilitation such as counseling and therapies tailored to heal the root cause of your addiction.

We are here for you. If you would like more information about our detox programs, we invite you to contact us today to learn how to take the first step towards a healthy and lasting recovery.

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