Medical Detox & Treatment

If you believe that you or a loved one has a drug or alcohol use issue, a medical detox program can help you secure a healthy lifestyle once again. Medical detoxification (detox) is a crucial first step in recovering from alcohol and drug addiction for individuals who show signs of physical and psychological dependence on these substances. Here at Harmony Ridge Recovery Center, we provide patients with detox programs that lay a foundation to build better and healthier habits. Learning about the characteristics of medical drug detox programs will allow you to find a plan that best fits your needs. Contact us today, and let us help you make the first step toward addiction-free life.

Evaluation and treatment for potential withdrawal symptoms will be required during the addiction treatment to any of the substances listed below:

• Alcohol: Alcohol inhibits the activity of the central nervous system, which controls automated body functions like heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, stress responses, and motor movements. Withdrawing from alcohol causes a rise in body temperature, blood pressure, anxiety, tremors, and heart rate, along with other symptoms of withdrawal. Therefore, alcohol rehab is usually necessary.
• Benzodiazepines: Also known as benzos, these drugs are sedative medications for treating anxiety and, in some cases, seizures. Benzos have a similar chemical effect on the body and the brain as alcohol does. Furthermore, both benzos and alcohol cause similar withdrawal symptoms, so Benzo rehab becomes a necessity.
• Opioids: Opioids are prescription medications and are primarily prescribed to treat pain. Taking them regularly will lead to a shutdown of endorphins, which will make the body resilient to the effects of opioid use. Although opioid withdrawal is not fatal on its own, it can be extremely uncomfortable.
• Prescription Drugs: Many prescription medications are misused purposely to feel relief from stress or pain. In addition to opioids and benzos, prescription drugs like sleeping medications and muscle relaxers can also be abused.
• Stimulants: Some more popular street drug stimulants are methamphetamine, MDMA, and cocaine. Although stimulants won’t produce life-threatening withdrawal symptoms, most stimulant users will become severely depressed once usage has stopped. In these cases, stimulants rehab is advised.
• Synthetic Drugs: The most popular and fatal synthetic drug is the prescription opioid fentanyl, which also creates significant withdrawal symptoms that fentanyl detox treatment can successfully handle.

During medical drug detox, the medical staff will help customize each patient’s treatment plan to meet his or her individual needs. Prior to going through detox from drugs or alcohol, patients will undergo comprehensive evaluations to ensure that their needs are met. While this is in progress, clinicians will screen for the following things:

• Co-occurring disorders.
• Medical conditions.
• Drug and alcohol use disorders.
• Risk for withdrawal.
• Contributing psychological factors.

Once such evaluations are complete, the detox process begins.

During medically supervised detox treatment for drugs, patients will receive medications to reduce their withdrawal symptoms from drugs or alcohol and decrease their cravings. These medications are administered on a patient-by-patient basis under the supervision of clinicians and medical staff. Some of the withdrawal medications that medical detox patients most often use within a medical detox center include:

• Methadone: This drug is a fully active opioid that carries all the risks of an opioid; however, when monitored, methadone can be used as a highly effective way to prevent opioid withdrawal symptoms.
• Naltrexone: Used for the withdrawals caused by both alcohol and opioid use disorders, naltrexone will act as a long-acting opioid-blocking agent. To receive naltrexone during detox, the patient must have not used opioids for at least seven days.
• Vivitrol: This is a form of injectable withdrawal medication that is often utilized during treatment for alcohol and opioid use disorders. A patient can only receive Vivitrol once he or she has not used alcohol or opioids for at least 7 to 10 days.
• Suboxone: This prescription drug is equally effective as methadone and treats withdrawal symptoms. Its active ingredient, buprenorphine, is an activator of the opioid receptors but carries less addiction and overdose risk than methadone.
• Sublocade: This prescription drug is a long-acting injectable form of buprenorphine. Sublocade’s form of administration will help limit the risk of abuse. It is necessary to understand that Sublocade can only be administered to patients who have already received several doses of Suboxone for at least seven days.

The length of time that a substance user will need to medically detox from drugs, along with the intensity of detox that a substance user will need to receive, will depend on the following factors:

• Type of substance used: The type of substance that a person with addiction uses will determine how severe their withdrawal symptoms will be. For instance, you can feel alcohol withdrawal in just a few hours after the last drink, sometimes requiring the patient to take a dose of substitute medication for a few days.
• Duration and frequency of use: The longer a substance user has taken the substance, the more likely that he or she will develop a physical dependence on his or her substance of choice. Similarly, the more substances a person uses and the longer the period of time that he or she uses those substances, the more likely that person will become physically dependent on the substances.

Additional Factors That Impact Medical Detox Length

• Amount of substance used: A larger amount of substance abuse will usually promote a faster tolerance. Also, the more substances a person uses, the more that person’s body will likely need to take drastic measures to acclimate itself to the substance intake. As a result, individuals who consume more substances will develop a higher tolerance to those substances. Such development of a higher tolerance will then require such individuals to consume even more substances to feel their effects.
• Individual factors: A substance user’s personal weight, body chemistry, metabolic rate, and genetics will all impact the length of time that he or she will need to medically detox from drugs. All of these individual factors will also impact how intense a substance user’s withdrawal symptoms will likely be and, thus, the level of intensity of drug detox that a person will need to receive.

Although each detox patient’s timetable to fully cleanse will vary, the usual detox will last 5 to 7 days.