With detox, withdrawal can be excruciating. In fact, for many people, the idea of getting clean is inhibited by the fear of painful withdrawal symptoms or the potential failure of not succeeding. In fact, only 13% of people with addiction problems get any form of treatment, usually because of fear. However, there are medically managed withdrawal programs today that make it much to overcome your symptoms, no matter what they are.
Understanding the mechanisms behind withdrawal and how medical withdrawal management can help will go a long way toward preparing you to find the right withdrawal management programs.
What is Withdrawal?
Withdrawal is a physiological response when you slow down or stop using something your body has become dependent on. We often think of withdrawal symptoms as associated with drugs and alcohol. Still, realistically you can experience withdrawal symptoms if you suddenly decrease your sugar intake or cut back on your caffeine dramatically.
The emotional, mental, and physical symptoms of withdrawal will vary depending on what it is you are using. If, for example, you are taking opioids for pain management and you become addicted, when you stop taking opioids, the amount of pain you were in the entire time, which was masked by the opioids, comes back in full force. If you were taking sedatives for anxiety and became addicted when you stop taking sedatives, your brain activity increases immediately and causes severe physical and psychological discomfort.
What Causes Withdrawal?
When you use drugs or alcohol, eat a lot of sugar, or drink a lot of caffeine, your brain adjusts to those substances. The same can be true of simple over-the-counter medications. If you take an antacid every day, your body will stop naturally producing the same levels of stomach acid that it’s supposed to. So at some point, if you stop taking those antacids, you won’t have the right level of stomach acid on your own.
This same concept applies to any substance. Using drugs and alcohol can bring some of the most significant withdrawal symptoms and necessitate withdrawal management to overcome.
You cannot avoid withdrawal. Withdrawal is an inevitable response as your body tries to reach a new balance without any chemical influences.
So what options are available for withdrawal management? That depends on your common symptoms.
What are Common Withdrawal Symptoms?
Common symptoms include elevated heart rate, sweating, insomnia, anxiety, headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia, and muscle pain. If you are withdrawing from alcohol, you might also experience tremors or hallucinations. If you are withdrawing from opioids, you might have hot or cold flashes, flu-like symptoms, and excessive yawning. Withdrawal from benzodiazepine can cause seizures and agitation, while withdrawal from cocaine can cause depression, paranoia, increased appetite, and problems with concentration.
With medically managed withdrawal, doctors can give you over-the-counter medications like anti-diarrheal medications, ibuprofen, muscle relaxers, sedatives, or FDA-approved medications for more severe things like opioids and benzodiazepines withdrawal.
What is Withdrawal Management?
Proper medical withdrawal management pairs you with over-the-counter and FDA-approved medications that can be used to reduce or manage your symptoms.
Withdrawal management is very important because if you withdraw from certain substances like benzodiazepines, alcohol, or opioids, your symptoms can be severe and, in rare cases, lethal. Severe alcohol withdrawal results in delirium tremens, which can progress to seizures and death. Opioid withdrawal can be incredibly uncomfortable to such a degree that it makes it next to impossible to stop on your own. But that is where medically managed withdrawal is so useful.
How to Find Withdrawal Management Programs in Los Angeles
Suppose you are ready to get help managing your symptoms. In that case, medical withdrawal Management Programs provide a team of doctors and nurses who can help alleviate your discomfort, minimize the risk of dangerous complications, and manage your withdrawal symptoms early in your recovery. This helps you alleviate any of the remaining toxins from your body before you transition into an inpatient or outpatient rehab program.
Laguna View Detox offers withdrawal management programs in Los Angeles. With our state-of-the-art detox program in Southern California, our team is on standby to help you be as comfortable as possible while you undergo the initial detox process. It’s common to experience withdrawal symptoms like increased heart rate, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, sweating, and seizures. At our Los Angeles rehab center, we can help stop things like nausea, use an IV if necessary to make sure you stay hydrated and get the right nutrients your body needs to continue its fight.
When you are ready to find withdrawal management programs, reach out to Laguna View Detox for more information about inpatient treatment in Laguna Beach.