Detoxification Treatment
During Prohibition in the 1920s and early 1930s, drunks and drug addicts were routinely tossed into sanitariums, jail cells, hospitals and insane asylums to “dry out.” That was just about the extent of the science of detoxification back then. Little wonder alcoholics and drug addicts found it nearly impossible to sober up.
Today, of course, the detoxification process has been improved a thousand fold, but you should know this: A medically supervised detox from alcohol or drugs is not a cure for alcoholism or drug abuse. Eliminating the substance from your body and getting yourself physically stable is only the first step if your desire is indeed to get off the bottle – or needle or pipe or pill – for good.
Those doctors of yesteryear equated detoxification with rehabilitation and, unfortunately, some health care professionals still maintain this belief. But detox has absolutely no impact on the mental, social and physical aspects of addiction. It’s just the beginning of the road to recovery.
Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach, California, specializes in substance abuse detoxification, with comprehensive programs for those addicted to alcohol, opiates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methamphetamine and methadone. Our medical staff and health care professionals are available 24 hours a day to manage and oversee the acute physical symptoms that often accompany withdrawal from alcohol and drugs.
And they do so in an environment that is safe, quiet and comfortable, setting the stage for a successful detox. If plenty of sleep and rest is what you need, sleep and rest is what you’ll get in our home-like residential facilities. If medications are called for, we have experts in pharmacology who can prescribe and administer those medicines in order to make your withdrawal experience as pain- and stress-free as possible.
Meanwhile our psychiatric and medical professionals create an overall physical and mental assessment of your condition that will be useful when a treatment plan is established. Complete detoxification can take days, weeks or even months, and we provide the support and medical supervision you require during those first few hours or days of abstinence – a time when your withdrawal can seem overwhelming.
Withdrawal symptoms range from mild to severe, depending on the substance you abused and how long you abused it. If you’re an alcoholic, for example, you might experience delirium tremens, excessive perspiration, seizures, nausea, a rapid heartbeat and an inability to sleep.
Things get a little more intense for those addicted to opiates, with withdrawal signs that can include flu-like symptoms, pain throughout the body, intestinal spasms, diarrhea, vomiting, severe backache, hot and cold flashes and many other symptoms.
The good news is this. Medications can go a long way toward relieving many of the symptoms you’re likely to experience. In the case of alcohol detoxification, our medical team might prescribe Valium, Librium, gabapentin, Vistaril, Inderal or other medications to ease the discomfort you’re likely to experience.
For those withdrawing from benzodiazepines, we have a detoxification procedure that takes into consideration the complexities of that process. Our medical professionals understand that when it comes to detoxing from benzos, tapering off is the prescribed method. Going cold turkey off benzodiazepines can spark severe convulsions. A medically supervised detox is a must.
Among the toughest drugs from which to detox are opiates, because of the intensity of the withdrawal process. Morningside Recovery has medications that can help you in your battle to overcome opiate addiction, and we can get you through the difficult withdrawal with a minimum of discomfort.
Suboxone is a medication that has been approved by the FDA to ease the withdrawal symptoms from opiates such as heroin, OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone, among others. The procedure substitutes Suboxone for your opiate of choice. Over a period of a week to three weeks, our medical staff gradually reduces the medication until finally, it is discontinued altogether. Many of our patients who have take Suboxone to detox from opiates say they are amazed at how quickly they are up and walking around and displaying a minimum of symptoms.
Once you’ve graduated from any of our detoxification programs and you’re starting to feel human again, the next step is to get you into Morningside Recovery’s residential treatment program. This three- to nine-month program features psychotherapy, individual and group therapy, lectures, classes and lessons in life skills – all with the purpose of getting your life back on track without drugs or alcohol.
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