As hard as it can be for someone addicted to drugs or alcohol to decide to quit, it can be harder still for them to actually seek professional help for it. Often, people who are addicted are tempted by the thought of helping themselves. It is often a matter of personal pride to know that they can manage their problems on their own. Such plans, as shown in popular movies such as Trainspotting, often make the approach seem desirable. According to one of the leading drug detox centers in Akron, OH, however, do-it-yourself plans are not only doomed for failure, they are dangerous. Professional medical detox, followed by expert psychiatric, psychological, and medical supervision, are essential towards success.
Drugs and alcohol achieve their effect by acting on the brain to force the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and adrenaline. With high levels of abuse, the brain learns to depend on the presence of unnatural substances to carry on a feeling of normal function.
When an addict attempts to quit a substance that he or she has heavily abused, one of the first things that happen is a process where the brain attempts to re-assert itself. It takes control by attempting to maintain neurotransmitter and hormone levels again. Over the first several days, the brain's levels of these substances can be haphazard, and this can result in some terrible, life-threatening withdrawal symptoms.
According to experts at leading drug detox centers in Akron, medical detox is a course of treatment that usually lasts a week. It involves professional medical intervention that helps control the ill-effects of withdrawal, to safely lead the patient from immediate drug dependence to relative freedom.
When a person abuses drugs or alcohol, the appearance of withdrawal symptoms can be a valuable sign pointing to dependence and possible addiction. Once addiction sets in, however, it is fear of withdrawal symptoms that often keeps an addict going back to abuse, even in situations where a desire exists to break away. Different withdrawal symptoms are associated with different kinds of substance abuse, and it can take a team of expert doctors to accurately judge how these may be safely encountered with medications.
Opiate withdrawal: Withdrawing from opiate painkillers can quickly cause insomnia, extreme anxiety, and agitation. Past the first day or so, the symptoms move on to dangerously elevated blood pressure and a rapid heart rate.
Alcohol withdrawal: Alcohol withdrawal syndrome can be life-threatening in those who have experienced addiction for more than a few weeks. Symptoms include everything from anxiety and tremors to seizures. Up to 5% of alcoholics attempting withdrawal without medical help perish in the effort.
There is considerable mythology surrounding addiction to drugs and alcohol, and this can lead to a lack of trust in medical detox, or a belief that it simply isn't necessary. It's important to accept drug detox treatment, however, because it is the only method proven to work without risk to life or risk of failure.
It's not about willpower. Habits and cravings are natural, everyday feelings, and can often be overcome through willpower. Since words such as habit and craving are also used to describe what addicts go through, however, addicts tend to naturally see them as amenable to willpower. The habit and craving experienced by addicts, however, are completely different. Regular reason and will are chemically neutralized by changes to the brain. Professional drug detox treatment is the only way to fight addiction.
The cravings associated with withdrawal can be hard enough to fight by themselves. Withdrawal comes with extreme discomfort of other kinds as well. It's only with participating in drug detox programs that an addict can fight the cravings of withdrawal when afflicted with anxiety, depression, mood swings, insomnia, and physical discomfort.
Those who consider detoxifying by themselves often believe that they are home-free once they manage to get past the withdrawal symptoms that appear over the first few days. Nothing could be further from the truth. Knowledgeable experts at respected drug detox centers in Akron report that 2 out of 3 people who quit rehab after detox, relapse. This is because rehabilitation involves a long-term commitment over the weeks and months. Patients undergo constant psychiatric and psychological treatment, and may require drug replacement and maintenance treatments with substances such as methadone.
Drug detox programs exist for the simple reason that they are a medical necessity. Withdrawal can put the body through extremes of stress, and medical supervision is the only proven way to get past withdrawal, into a rehabilitation course, and back to a rewarding life.
If you are in Akron or anywhere else in Ohio, setting up an appointment with Akron Drug Rehab Centers for help can be a wonderful first step toward getting back control over your life. Your decision to call us at our center can be the soundest move that you've ever made. Call us now at (234) 312--4745 for expert help.