When considering addiction treatment options, it's critical to look at how the treatment center approaches detoxification. Detoxing involves many risks, sometimes life-threatening when attempting cold turkey at home or without medical supervision. The safest and most effective approach is to have a medically supervised detox at a treatment facility.
Biopsychosocial and Medical Evaluation
How the preliminary evaluation is handled is a good indicator of whether a rehab center will treat you as a whole person throughout your treatment, particularly during detox, which is the first step. Biopsychosocial and medical assessments and screening provide helpful information about factors influencing a person's health and condition.
The scope and depth of merely a biomedical design will lack focus and comprehensive understanding of a person, and the substance addiction or alcohol use disorder for which they seek help will be limited. Along with the biological factors, psychological and socio-environmental factors must be considered when addressing human health and wellness.
People often discover they have co-occurring conditions they didn't know were present by going through a thorough evaluation before starting a medical detox program. A doctor may need to prescribe medication, or other special considerations may be necessary. Issues that may require extra care:
- problems with the liver
- potential pancreatitis
- depleted enzyme levels
- cardiovascular
- nervous system or neurologic disorders
- nutrient deficiency
These issues may require extra attention—not to mention mental health conditions, which may result in a dual diagnosis.
What Are the Advantages of Medically Supervised Detoxification?
There are many advantages to medically supervised detoxification, including the fact that it can help to reduce the risk of relapse, minimize post-acute withdrawal syndrome, and provide a greater level of support and care from healthcare professionals during the detox process.
Medically supervised detox can also help to ensure that detox is done safely and effectively and that any underlying conditions are addressed. In addition, medical detox can provide a higher level of support and supervision than non-medical detox, which can be helpful for those struggling with addiction.
During the detox process, you will have contact with medical personnel daily for as long as you need. They will monitor your health and track any changes or issues while toxic substances leave your body. Nurses will regularly check your vital signs, such as blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature, to ensure you are reaching optimal health before beginning your rehabilitation and recovery process.
Many detox centers prescribe medication to help with withdrawal. Some may combine medicine with intravenous (IV) therapy and other treatments like Wish Recovery to ease any unpleasant withdrawal symptoms and reduce discomfort during the detoxification.
With around-the-clock, high-level monitoring and care during the first phase of your recovery, a medically supervised detox is most beneficial in reducing the potential of life-threatening problems and keeping you safe, healthy, and supported.
What is Intravenous Detox?
Intravenous (IV) detox is a medical-assisted detox that involves infusing legal medications into your bloodstream directly through an IV. During an intravenous detox, carefully regulated dosages of medicines and supplements are infused directly into your blood, where it travels throughout your body and quickly eliminate toxins from your organs and tissues. This process is much faster than other withdrawal protocols, allowing you to complete a full medical detox in as little as one to three days.
IV detox has become a popular option for people addicted to prescription painkillers or struggling with an opioid use disorder (OUD) as a result of using heroin or other opioids. In recent years, intravenous detox has also become the go-to treatment for people with alcohol use disorder. IV detox is sometimes also referred to as "rapid detox," although this term can confuse, as it also refers to a different type of detox.
Types of IV Therapy
There are several types of intravenous therapies that can be used for alcohol detox and detoxification of other substances:
NAD+ Therapy
NAD+ is a coenzyme essential for many biochemical reactions in the body, including energy production, detoxification, and repair of DNA. NAD+ levels decline with age, linked to many age-related diseases. NAD+ therapy is a promising new treatment for substance and alcohol use disorder. NAD+ therapy can help to normalize metabolism and improve mitochondrial (cellular energy) function. This may help to reduce the risk of relapse and improve the chances of recovery.
Amino Acid Drips
Amino acid drips involve a mixture of essential amino acids, like l-glutamine, l-tyrosine, l-tryptophan, l-arginine, l-cysteine, and l-proline, which are the building blocks of proteins. During detox, your body may have symptoms like cravings, fatigue, and headaches. Amino acid drips can help ease these symptoms by delivering essential nutrients directly into the bloodstream, improving mood, reducing stress, improving sleep and energy levels, detoxifying, and healing.
Vitamin Therapy
Vitamin therapy during detox provides the body with vitamins and minerals to help it detoxify and return to good health. Many vitamins and minerals, such as B6, folic acid, zinc, selenium, vitamin C, and copper, are essential for the body's natural detox process. Other vitamins and minerals are needed to support the organs involved in detoxing the body, such as the liver and kidneys. Vitamin therapy during detox also reduces inflammation, often linked to pain.
Antioxidant Drips
Antioxidant drips are one of the most popular therapies used for detox. By removing toxins and free radicals from the body, antioxidant drips also help to boost the immune system, which might have weakened because of substance and alcohol use. Antioxidant drips are often used in conjunction with other types of treatments. The types of antioxidants received may depend on the kind of substance you detoxify.
How Effective is IV Therapy Detox?
Intravenous detox can be a beneficial start to addiction treatment for addiction. Following detox, you'll be ready to start your next stage of recovery, which is rehabilitation. Starting your sober journey with medically supervised detox means you have taken a step to eliminate harmful substances from your body and damaging influences with the support of peers and professionals and safety in rehab.
After stabilization in detox, which can take a few days to a week or more, depending on the substance and level of dependency, you'll be assessed for mental health conditions. These could range from mood and post-traumatic stress disorders to other behavioral issues that could hinder your treatment while in rehab. If found, the problems will be addressed with weekly individual and group therapy, medication, or a combination of both as necessary.
Your customized care plan will integrate various treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, dialectical behavioral therapy, relapse prevention therapy, family therapy, and more so you can develop more autonomy and emotion regulation skills.
It isn't unusual when treating alcohol and substance use disorders for specific mental health symptoms not to become apparent until after completing detox and experiencing optimal cognitive function. Through post-assessment and better insight into how underlying mental health conditions impact your AUD or other SUDs, providers can ensure you receive the best treatment for your needs.
Wish Recovery is devoted to holistic healing backed by the latest evidence-based practices for achieving the most successful outcomes in addiction recovery. You'll receive a tailor-made treatment program integrating all the components of care for you to have a healthy mind, body, and spirit.
Your journey to sober living can start with our intravenous detox, which is medically supervised and safe. You're not alone. We'll do all we can to help you reach your recovery goals so you can live a healthy lifestyle.
Contact us today to learn more about IV therapy detox.
August 28, 2020
