Seeking treatment in a drug detox center in McKinney is the first step on the road to recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. The objective of drug and alcohol detox programs is to safely help a person caught in the grip of addiction to stop taking drugs or alcohol under medical supervision.
Drug detox treatment may include administering prescription replacement medications that help make the withdrawal process more comfortable. This is often used for people detoxing from opiate drugs, such as heroin or OxyContin.
For other people, drug rehab may involve tapering down the existing dosage of medication under medical supervision until the person's physical dependency is broken. This type of drug detox treatment is more common for people struggling with an addiction to sedative medications such as Xanax or Valium.
The actual type of drug rehab program used will depend heavily on the type of drug being taken, the length of use and dosage being taken, and the severity of the addiction. The safest way to withdraw from any substance of abuse is to see professional treatment in a prescription drug rehab center in McKinney.
Medical detox is a process designed to reduce or alleviate the worst of any withdrawal symptoms associated with the early drug or alcohol addiction recovery process. Anyone who tries to quit drugs or alcohol after a period of heavy use could experience physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms that can be unpleasant, dangerous, or even potentially life-threatening.
There are several types of drug and alcohol detox programs, including:
Natural Detox: Natural detox is also commonly called going ‘cold turkey', where the person simply stops taking the substance suddenly. Going cold turkey with any substance of addiction can cause unpleasant and even life-threatening withdrawal symptoms that may require emergency medical assistance.
Medical Detox: Medical detox is a medically-supervised process designed to safely manage acute physical symptoms of withdrawal from addicting drugs. The person may be prescribed with specific treatment medications, such as methadone or Suboxone, which reduce the worst of any withdrawal symptoms during the detox process. Over a period of time, the dosage of treatment medication is tapered down, so the person becomes free from both drugs by the end of the detox process.
Medicated Detox: There are no treatment medications for withdrawing from some types of drugs, such as methamphetamine, cocaine, or even alcohol, so replacement medications can't be given during detox. Instead, the recovering person may be given non-addictive prescription medications to help treat any withdrawal symptoms that do emerge. For example, antidepressants or anticonvulsant medications may be given to make the person as comfortable as possible during the drug detox process.
Withdrawal Symptoms Associated with Medical Detox
The symptoms associated with detox will vary, depending on the type of drug being taken. The severity of symptoms will also depend on the type of drug detox program being used to help the person withdraw safely.
For example, a person trying to quit opiate drugs cold turkey may experience unpleasant abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle aches, and depression. By comparison, a person participating in treatment programs in McKinney at our drug detox center may be receiving prescription replacement medication, so withdrawal symptoms may be minimal at best.
By comparison, an alcoholic trying to quit drinking cold turkey may experience tremors and shaking, vomiting, agitation, insomnia, hallucinations, depression, or seizures. Yet, seeking help from a drug detox center in McKinney offers the opportunity to receive medical supervision that can reduce the worst of any symptoms using antidepressants, non-addictive sleeping medications, anti-anxiety medications, or anticonvulsants.
It's common for many people to believe that quitting any substance of addiction to simply require a bit of willpower and learning to ‘just say no'. In reality, taking any drug of addiction can cause significant changes in the brain's chemistry that require specialized treatment to overcome successfully.
A person who attempts to quit drugs or alcohol by going cold turkey is more likely to experience unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Depending on the type of drug being taken, symptoms can range from mild to moderate, through to extremely unpleasant and even potentially life-threatening.
It's never recommended that anyone tries to detox at home without medical supervision. Instead, it's strongly advised to seek treatment at a drug detox center in McKinney.
Drug and alcohol detox is only the first step in a comprehensive treatment program. Detoxification works to eliminate the effects of the substance from the body and helps to break the physical dependency on the drug.
However, detox does nothing on its own to treat the underlying psychological aspect of addiction. A good drug detox center in McKinney will integrate the right combination of behavioral therapies and counseling sessions to begin identifying each person's unique addiction triggers. Treatment then works to replace self-destructive behaviors and attitudes with healthy coping skills and recovery tools for living a clean and sober lifestyle over the long term. Call us now at (877) 804-1531