Why Cold Turkey Detox Is Considered Unsafe

If you’ve been using alcohol or drugs for a long period and have developed an addiction, your brain has become used to their effects.

Put simply, the brain learns to manage most functions of daily life in the presence of ever-increasing amounts of a toxic substance, and has learned to respond accordingly. Suddenly removing the substance can have profound effects on the way the brain reacts to ordinary stimuli, and this continuous heightened state can cause severe issues.

Symptoms of normal withdrawal can include:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Shaky hands
• Headache
• Nausea and vomiting
• Insomnia
• Sweating

However, if the addiction is severe, then withdrawal symptoms can be severe as well.

Within about 12 to 24 hours of stopping cold turkey, individuals can experience hallucinations or seizures as the brain attempts to acclimate to life without the substance.

Delirium Tremens can occur after 48 hours without the substance.

Delirium Tremens – or DTs – can involve more serious seizures, longer lasting hallucinations, confusion, racing heart, increased blood pressure, and fever.

Why Should You Detox With Professional Help?

Rapid, cold turkey detoxification is hard on the brain and body. Psychologists, as well as other health professionals, advise users to never attempt to detox cold turkey from alcohol, benzodiazepines, or opiates.

Also, the success level of cold turkey, solo detox is low. Withdrawal symptoms often lead detox patients to give in to the urge to use again – simply to relieve the symptoms.

What is Medication-Assisted Treatment?

Bright Future Recovery uses Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder OUD.

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the pairing of psychosocial intervention with a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)–approved medication (methadone, buprenorphine plus naltrexone) to treat Opioid Use Disorder OUD.

MAT is a comprehensive way to address the needs of individuals that combines the use of medication (methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone) with counseling and behavioral therapies.

What Method Of Detox Is Best?

Most people that find themselves severely physically dependent on a substance should consider detoxing with the supervision of health professionals.

Attempting to detox alone creates cravings that lead to relapse all too easily, or causes physical symptoms so severe that they require medical intervention anyway. Symptoms of withdrawal on average tend to peak about three days from the last dose, and this time is crucial as to whether the patient will experience relapse.

However, each individual’s detox experience will be unique. Many factors contribute to individual detox experience. These factors include general health of the individual, type of substance used and how long, and the quantity used.

Tapering in medically supervised treatment and the medical administration of therapies to combat the physiological and psychological symptoms of withdrawal are the most effective combination.

Access to Bright Future Recovery medical and mental health professionals during the withdrawal stage addresses both aspects of recovery and ensures care for the physical and emotional needs in a safe, supervised setting.

Where Should Medically Supervised Detox Take Place?

Medically supervised detox at Bright Future Recovery takes place in our residential treatment facility.

Here, medical and mental health staff is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure our patients have access to help with physical pain, cravings, depression, and anxiety at any hour of the day. Our staff members have specialized training to deal with the various symptoms, stages, and other aspects of medical detox.

If you are in need of medication assisted treatment, or MAT, Bright Future Recovery professionals can prescribe the correct dosage, and administer the medication without risk of overdose or relapse.

Since detox and recovery is a multi-stage, continuous process, our staff monitors the efficacy of the medications, and adjusts dosages depending on individual needs.

In addition to the MAT program, our medical staff can address any other symptoms related to your detox with other medications so our patients can get started on the path to recovery in relative comfort (as compared to going cold turkey on your own).

What Happens After Medically Supervised Detox?

Once the detox process is complete, our patients can begin addressing the other symptoms of dependence on a substance with either residential rehab or outpatient rehab treatment.

Detox does not treat addiction – it only removes the substance from your system. If you’ve chosen to detox at our residential treatment facility, this is where the “tapering in” of medically supervised treatment begins. Professionals are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help you address your psychological symptoms as well as any remaining physical symptoms.

The benefit of tapering in medically supervised treatment is that our patients do not need to attend to the demands of continued treatment until physically ready.

When the time comes, our patients will be able to discuss treatment with licensed counselors, medical professionals, and other individuals as a part of individual and group therapy.

In addition, addiction treatment at Bright Future Recovery includes holistic therapies. The aim is to arm our patients with a variety of coping skills to take the place of self-medicating with a substance.

What Should You Do Now?

If you would like to stop using addictive substances, detox is the first important step towards recovery.

Approaching detox and treatment in a safe manner is crucial.
If you are feeling severe physical effects of withdrawal or contemplating suicide, call 911 immediately.

If you would like to begin to detox in a safe and controlled environment – contact Bright Future Recovery to see how we can help you get on the road to recovery safely.