Medical Detoxification: What Is It and How Does It Work?

How often have you heard of a detox? Health enthusiasts often use this term to refer to a way of ridding the body of all sorts of toxins that accumulate in the body over time. It should be noted that this is a rather controversial approach to restoring health. But detoxification has another meaning, which is used in the context of drug and alcohol addiction treatment. In this article, we will explain what medical detox is, why it is important and how it works.

The understanding of detoxification

A certain amount of psychoactive substances are constantly inside a person with alcohol or drug addiction. With the help of the blood, they travel throughout the body, affecting every organ. As long as alcohol and drugs are inside, no sobriety can be talked about. For this to happen, they must be removed. How can this happen?

Way 2. Our body can eventually cleanse itself on its own. The liver will gradually cleanse the blood, and the kidneys will remove residual metabolites with urine. But this process can take from a couple of days to several weeks. All this time, the body will experience physical pain caused by withdrawal syndrome. These are the so-called withdrawal symptoms, which we will talk about below. The bottom line is that people with addiction get used to psychoactive substances on a physical level, and their absence causes not just discomfort, but pain.

Medical detoxification is a controlled way to remove alcohol or drugs. It is faster and safer than the natural elimination of substances from the body, because during detoxification the patient is prescribed supportive therapy and all vital signs are monitored. That is why it is better to carry out the procedure in a hospital. Medical detox services are provided by rehabilitation centers, of which there are many in California and nearby states. If you apply here, you can be sure that relapse will not occur in the first stage of addiction treatment.

Why it is necessary

The human body is remarkably well-built. It can adapt to even the most difficult conditions. Just as it used to get used to gradually increasing doses of drugs and alcohol, it needs time to adapt when withdrawing from them. People with addiction have to pay for the feeling of euphoria with withdrawal syndrome. 

Here are its most common manifestations:

• increased blood pressure, temperature (there is increased sweating), heart palpitations;
• pain throughout the body, most commonly in the head, extremities, chest;
• nausea, vomiting, diarrhea;
• tremor;
• exhaustion: lack of appetite, short and restless sleep.

But these are only physical manifestations of withdrawal syndrome, because of which the body may not be able to withstand. For example, a heart attack or stroke may occur. 

Equally dangerous are the mental manifestations of withdrawal symptoms:

• severe mood swings;
• irritability and aggression;
• paranoid thoughts;
• depression;
• hallucinations and delusions.

All of this proves once again how much drugs and alcohol affect the brain. During the withdrawal period, people with addiction are capable of harming themselves and those around them or returning to substance use.

Medical detox reduces health risks, because doctors can track the dynamics of changes in important indicators in real time and prescribe the necessary drug. Equally important, a person under the supervision of specialists does not have access to psychoactive substances, so the risk of relapse is minimized.

How medical detox works

Removing drugs and alcohol from the body is a serious intervention. Therefore, it is preceded by a thorough examination. Each person is different, everyone has their own chronic diseases that may lead to the need for detoxification correction. The result of the preliminary stage is the creation of a detox plan.

Withdrawal symptoms can occur as soon as a couple of hours after the last intake of substances. Already at this stage, the patient is prescribed the necessary drugs against anxiety and depression, which normalize sleep and contribute to the recovery of the central nervous system. The list of medications is selected individually depending on the patient’s condition and the addiction he or she is struggling with.

The rest of the time, patients are provided with round-the-clock support, which often includes psychological help. Detox can last from a few days to two weeks. Symptoms are most acute on days 3-7, and then they subside.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized once again that withdrawal syndrome is very dangerous. Therefore, attempts to fight it on your own can not only lead to relapse, but also to the death of the addicted person. It is very important to make a conscious step on the way to a sober life and seek help from specialists in advance.