Medical Detox in Worcester, MA
When a person is suffering from a drug or alcohol addiction, what they may not fully realize is that their addiction is not just a matter of willpower or strength of character. It is actually a chronic disease with both physical and mental/emotional components. Both sides of an addiction must be treated in order for a person to overcome that addiction. Medical detox is the best way to overcome the physical side of an addiction (also referred to as physical dependence or chemical dependence). There are numerous reasons and ways that medical detox is the superior option for treating physical drug or alcohol dependence. Let Worcester Drug Treatment Centers be your guide.
Medical Detox and Detox in General
In order to understand medical detox, understanding general detox is important. Detox is a shortened term for detoxification. In detox, a person is no longer allowed to consume or use the drug or alcohol that they are addicted to anymore. This allows the addicted substance to leave the body and forces the brain and body to relearn how to function without the substance in the system.
Medical detox involves going through this process while under the care and supervision of doctors and other medical professionals.
Why Medical Detox Matters
Choosing medical detox matters because it can be the difference between being successful in your addiction recovery and in failing early on in the process. Going through detox without professional help is next to impossible, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse and many other experts in the addiction recovery field.
This is because professional programs, like medical detox, provide emotional support and guidance to let recovering addicts know that there are people rooting for them to succeed and that the discomfort of withdrawals is normal and will pass.
Speaking of withdrawals, they can be excruciating and intense, a fact which many people do not realize until they are in the midst of detox. Without care and support, these withdrawals can send them straight back to substance abuse. Medical detox can make withdrawals less painful and the entire detox process shorter by allowing doctors to administer prescription medications to reduce and manage the symptoms.
On some occasions, withdrawal symptoms become so severe that life-saving interventions need to occur, including IV fluids for dehydration or malnutrition, treatments to stop seizures, and fever-reducing medications or treatments. In medical detox, all of these emergency measure and more are available in an instant, while outside of such a program they are not.
Medical Detox as Part of Comprehensive Treatment
Detox is important and every recovering addict will need to go through it. However, making it through medical detox does not mean that a person has fully overcome their addiction. They have overcome the physical dependence to a substance but still need to face the mental and emotional factors that played into the development of an addiction.
Medical detox is a part of a comprehensive treatment program that also includes traditional therapies as well as alternative ones (think meditation, yoga, acupuncture, and equine therapy) as means to deal with the reasons a person abused substance and their triggers. This involves not only knowing what those reasons and triggers are, but developing ways to cope with them that are healthy and do not lead to drug or alcohol abuse in the future.
Worcester Drug Treatment Centers are always available to answer any medical detox or treatment questions you have or to get your started in your own addiction recovery process. Call Worcester Drug Treatment Centers at (774) 221-6005 today to get your questions answered and your addiction treated.