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The detox doctor plays an essential role in in-home detox. The detox doctor leads the clinical and medical teams, playing the deciding role when determining the best course of treatment for your recovery. With extensive medical training, as well as specific training to treat substance use disorders, a detox doctor can ensure your health and safety throughout this initial stage of abstinence and help guide you toward freedom from addiction.
What is Detoxification?
Medical detoxification is a treatment that helps people overcome the first stage of addiction recovery. People with a substance use disorder often face severe mental and physical health challenges when they suddenly stop, a phenomenon known as withdrawal.
Drug or alcohol addiction causes changes in brain chemistry and pathways. When the substance is withheld, withdrawal symptoms emerge. These uncomfortable and even painful symptoms are signs that the brain is attempting to adjust to the absence of the substance. It takes several days, and sometimes weeks, to complete the detoxification process.
Every misused drug – including marijuana, opioids, amphetamines, and alcohol – can cause withdrawal symptoms that are difficult to overcome on your own.
While each specific drug has its own set of symptoms, there are common threads throughout every drug’s withdrawal phase, including:
- Sleep disturbances
- Restlessness
- Anxiety
- Intense drug cravings
- Depression
Certain drugs, such as alcohol and benzodiazepines, can cause withdrawal symptoms that may become life-threatening. For example:
- Alcohol detox complications. An individual with severe alcohol use disorder may experience the delirium tremens on days 3-4 of alcohol detox. This is a rare but serious condition that requires immediate medical intervention.
- Benzodiazepine detox complications. Someone taking benzodiazepines for an extended period may experience intense withdrawal symptoms when attempting to stop taking the drug. To address this, a tapering schedule can help the body slowly adjust to incrementally lower dosages over a two-week period.
To achieve abstinence safely, medical detoxification expertise is advised. The detox doctor and nurses are trained to closely monitor symptoms for the duration of the detox process, and to quickly respond should serious withdrawal symptoms emerge.