One Tool in Addiction Recovery
When it comes to drug detox for addiction, Los Angeles treatment centers offer a variety of options you can choose from, including medical care, holistic therapies, prescription medications, and more to help you through your withdrawal symptoms, but detox is only one part of the recovery process.
After you have gone through the process of removing all toxic substances from your system, the next step toward sobriety is to work on changing behaviors, attitudes, perspectives, and ways of thinking to more helpful, healthy routines and thought processes. These life-long changes begin in rehab through plenty of individual and group therapy, behavioral therapy, exercise and health care, diet and nutrition programs, holistic healing, 12-step and other support groups, and more. The goal is to learn healthy life skills, practice them, and incorporate them into your life while teaching relapse prevention strategies for encountering everyday temptations, stress, and triggers.
What Is Drug Detox?
Drug detox is the process the body and mind go through after you have decided to stop taking drugs for good. Detox programs will help patients safely manage this process because for some, it can cause serious health issues and withdrawal symptoms that can be distressing, painful, and even dangerous.
Common withdrawal symptoms are:
- Bone, muscle, and joint pain
- Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
- Anxiety and/or depression
- Seizures
- Insomnia
- Difficulty concentrating
- Mood swings
- Flu-like symptoms
- Drug cravings
- Types of Drug Detox
There are a few different types of drug detox Los Angeles residents can try. These are:
- Quitting cold turkey at home – This option is not recommended. While you detox, serious side effects can be painful, problematic, and even fatal if you do not get quick medical attention. Cold turkey cessation is especially dangerous when quitting alcohol, benzodiazepine drugs, and opioids (including prescription pain medications).
- Quitting under a doctor’s supervision while living at home – This may be an option for people with a mild addiction, but the risk of relapsing is very high if you are at home. Drug cravings can become so intense it can feel impossible to stay away. You may also experience painful or anxiety-inducing withdrawal symptoms that are so uncomfortable that returning to drug use may feel like the better option at that moment, and because your tolerance will be lowered you are at much greater risk of overdosing. Living at home while detoxing is not the best option for most people.
- Inpatient medical detox program – For most people quitting drugs and/or alcohol, inpatient detox is the safest and most effective option. You will live inside a comfortable, stable, and safe environment for the duration of your detox (usually fewer than 14 days), with 24-hour care, prescription medications, and support. These programs can also integrate you seamlessly into counseling, therapy, and rehab programs that will provide you with the knowledge, healing, good habits, behavioral health care, and care you need for a long-lasting recovery.
- Inpatient detox without medications – You will receive 24-hour medical supervision in this detox program but will not receive medications to help with pain and other symptoms. Holistic treatments may be offered for natural healing depending on the program.
- Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program – This is often used in tandem with an inpatient or outpatient rehab program; a MAT plan provides long-term prescriptions to FDA-approved medications like methadone and buprenorphine to help people with serious addictions to drugs like heroin, fentanyl, oxycontin, and other opioids, as well as benzodiazepines to taper off their use in a slow, scheduled way. These programs provide a maintenance dose of these substances that will not produce a high or cause a new addiction but will remove withdrawal symptoms so the patient can concentrate on getting their life back together, working on their health and wellness and taking control back after drug addiction.
11 Signs You Need Drug Detox
Some of the signs that you should go to drug detox to quit using drugs include:
- Using drugs first thing in the morning or using them in secret
- Hiding drugs and paraphernalia or keeping stashes around your home, workplace, or person (in your purse, jacket pockets, etc.)
- Noticing an increased tolerance for the drug, needing to use more to feel high than you once did
- Feeling withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop using drugs or even when you cut back or run out for a short period of time
- Having difficulties managing your normal daily responsibilities and routines due to drug use and hangovers
- Using drugs in risky scenarios, like getting high then driving or using drugs at work
- Calling in to work or missing classes because you are high or hungover
- Not being able to control how much you use once you have just a little bit
- Feeling like you cannot get through the day without using drugs
- Continuing to use drugs even when you want to quit and even when your drug use is causing serious problems in your life
- Feeling drug cravings or feeling like you are obsessed with getting, using, and recovering from the drug
What Happens After Drug Detox?
Because addiction is a lifelong affliction, it is sadly not cured just by stopping using drugs. Substances like crack, heroin, alcohol, meth, and other drugs cause chemical changes in the brain that never return to how they were, so continuous management of your addiction is imperative to staying sober long-term. It may sound difficult, but it is possible.
This means that after you complete your drug detox, Los Angeles rehab programs are the next step. You can find inpatient and outpatient treatment programs that can be customized to suit your needs, including partial hospitalization day programs and more flexible intensive outpatient programs.
For many people, the best way to gain new healthy habits, unlearn old thought processes, and overcome the underlying causes of addiction is to go to an inpatient program first, usually for 30 to 90 days. This type of treatment removes you from the possibility of easily scoring drugs, keeps enablers at a distance, and helps you gain a new, healthy perspective as you learn crucial relapse-prevention techniques. These programs all involve therapy, community, and support, with behavioral health, mental health, physical health, and social programs in a whole-patient approach to healing the mind, body, and spirit.
Muse Treatment Offers Effective Drug Detox in Los Angeles
Muse Treatment is a safe place to go for drug detox, offering medical detox programs that will ensure you do not experience excessive pain, anxiety, nausea, discomfort, or danger as you detox, as well as the entire continuum of rehab treatments you need to remain in recovery for the rest of your life.
Detox at Muse Treatment begins with your intake interview, in which a counselor will review your medical history and drug addiction, working with you to create a treatment plan that is right for your unique needs. You will also take a tour and visit the room you will stay in during detox.
The next step is a medical evaluation by a licensed nurse practitioner or a doctor, who will check for serious health issues drug use may have caused like nutritional deficiencies, organ damage, dehydration, and other problems. They will also go over what to expect when it comes to withdrawal.
Medically supervised detox occurs once you have moved into the treatment center. This is when you are provided with medications to help purge your body of toxins under medical watch to ensure everything goes smoothly. You may also receive nutritional supplements and pain relievers as needed so your detox is as safe, restorative, and comfortable as possible.
Our drug detox program will give you the best chance at long-lasting recovery. Our team is caring, professional, and licensed. Take the first step down your own personal road to recovery by calling Muse Treatment at (800) 426-1818 today.
