Detox Program

A detox program is necessary for anyone who is hopelessly hooked on drugs or alcohol and cannot seem to shake the addiction on their own.  They need help in order to get off the drugs or the booze and a detox program of some sort can help them to do this.  The general idea behind most detox units is that they are medically supervised and tightly controlled as far as what you can and cannot bring in to them.  They obviously do not want people sneaking in drugs or alcohol and getting high while they are trying to get people off of these substances.

Most detox programs use medication of some sort in order to assist with the withdrawal process.  It all depends on what chemicals or substances a person is coming off of, but in most cases, there are medications that are generally used in order to both make it safer for the person, but also to make the person more comfortable.  For example, with opiate detox, people are usually really uncomfortable because they are detoxing from opiate drugs that normally stimulate their body with extra levels of dopamine.  Taking the drug away makes their entire body feel miserable.  Body aches and pains are very common, as well as having a host of other symptoms that usually mimic the flu.  One way that detox centers have learned to deal with this is to give small amounts of a synthetic, partial opiate to the patients so that they can relieve some of these symptoms without getting the patients high.  They can do this for the first few days and then taper the person off of the synthetic opiate very quickly.

Now for alcoholics it is a little bit different story.  While opiate withdrawal can be extremely uncomfortable, alcohol withdrawal can be extremely dangerous.  In fact, people can die from alcohol withdrawal if they are not careful and being medically supervised.  This can happen due to extreme dehydration and also from complications due to seizures.  Because of the threat of seizures runs so high during alcohol withdrawal, most detox centers will give some type of medication that helps to prevent seizures.

Unfortunately, detox programs are usually very expensive.  This is unfortunate because you can't really get to other methods of treatment until you are detoxed from the chemicals themselves.  Therapy and counseling does not really work if you are still intoxicated, so detox is a very necessary part of the healing process. 

In some cases a person can detox themselves, but this is not usually recommended.  If you are coming off of alcohol then it is strongly recommended that you get to a detox center of some sort, or at the very least go to the emergency room if you start to shake at all.  Remember that alcohol withdrawal is life threatening so it is not something to mess around with.  If you are coming off of opiates, you might actually feel much worse than if you were detoxing from alcohol, but this is not a life threatening condition and the emergency room will not be able to help you in most cases.  Therefore the best bet if you are coming off of either alcohol or opiates is to seek out a medical detox unit at a drug rehab center.  This is also going to be true if you are detoxing from Benzodiazepines such as Valium, Xanax, Klonipin, Ativan, Librium, and so on.  Coming off of those types of pills can be dangerous and seizure inducing as well, so take extra precautions. 

If you are detoxing from Marijuana, Cocaine, or just about any other drugs, you can probably do it yourself without too much trouble.  Just make sure that you have some sort of plan for how you are going to stay clean and sober, or you will probably just end up relapsing right away.  This is why many people go to drug rehab even if they do not need detox.  They need to learn a new way to live and that is what treatment can provide.  If you need detox then chances are good that you also need to find a new way to live without self medicating all the time.  Do yourself a favor and check yourself into a residential treatment center that also has a detox unit.  This can be the start of your new life if you want it to be.  Good luck.