Medication Assisted Detox: 10 Major Benefits You Should Know About It

One of the biggest mistakes people make when going into detox for any addiction is not accepting help. They charge headlong into the struggle of withdrawal under the belief that since they got themselves into their addiction, then it is their sole responsibility to get themselves out.

As invigorating as this kind of individualism is, it is misplaced in this circumstance. Nobody can deal with drug detox alone. It is just too much. People need emotional support from friends, family, or counseling, and they need medical support from doctors and psychiatrists.

When an addict gets proper medical treatment for their detox and withdrawal process it is called “medically assisted detox”. When it includes medication, it is called “medication assisted detox”.

It is important to understand what medication assisted detox can do for you. Medication is often imagined in the same way as performance enhancing drugs. But the reality is that medication makes you operate closer to what is normal for a person rather than boosting anything up.

So, here are 10 benefits to medication assisted detox.

Higher Survival Rates

Let’s lead with the most important one. The longer and more intense the drug or alcohol dependency, the harder the detox symptoms will hit. Some can hit so hard, in fact, that they cause seizures and blood pressure increases. These have to receive medical attention.

Medication can help prevent these things and make them far less intense.

It Lets You Know What is Wrong

Imagine you are detoxing and have chronic dizziness. Dizziness can be caused by a lot of things. Taking a medication for one thing, such as sinus irritation, can lead you to discovering that the problem has nothing to do with your sinuses. 

Eventually you can narrow down the possibilities to a single cause and deal with that.

 Finds When Other Things are Wrong

Let’s take a look at that dizziness example. Once sinus issues are ruled out, a test can reveal that it is actually an infection in or around the ear. In turn, that can be evidence of an immune system issue which will have to be considered when undergoing further detox.

One discovery can lead to another, which can lead to a healthier life.

Bad Habits Get Exposed

The actual act of processing medications is more intensive on your body than you might think. Some things that can make it harder for your body to take medications are salt and sugar.

There are lots of other things, but those are the most common. So, if you or your doctor finds that your medications are making you unduly tired, it might reveal another condition.

Mood Swings can be Reduced

One of the most common side effects of detox is mood swings. It makes sense: Your body wants whatever you are addicted to, and you are denying it. You feel bad, and it makes it hard to control your mood. But since medication will frequently aid whatever is feeling bad, those mood swings can be easier to control, even if they do not go away completely.

Makes You Able to Work

Addicts in recovery often have conflicted feelings towards their own agency. They want to keep living normal lives so that they do not feel like a parasite. But they also know they have to recover before they can be functional. Medication can help a person get back on their feet.

Helps You Stay Active

All doctors advise physical exercise as a way of helping with addiction recovery. Even people who are undergoing serious detox and withdrawal can and should exercise.

But obviously, that is quite hard. You will not die from exercising while detoxing, but you will feel like you will. Medication is often designed to make a person feel at least good enough to stand up and move. As a result, that medication can make it possible to exercise when you couldn’t.

Lowers Blood Pressure

Detoxing from most substances will cause blood pressure issues. It is a combination of stress on the mind and stress on the body. These heart concerns can be a problem on their own, sometimes requiring their own medication. They can also develop during detox.

Medicating early on can help prevent your blood pressure from being chronically high. It can also be the only solution to high blood pressure once it develops.

Better Mental Health

The world of psychology is a complex one, and no one is saying that medication assisted detox is going to cure your depression. But if you are fighting depression at the same time detox is giving you seizures, then you are not really getting a chance to fight depression at all.

Medication for your detox can help set the stage for you to deal with mental health issues. It is not a direct “cure”, but it is indirect aid that can make things easier to deal with.

It is Faster

We saved this for last because we do not want to give the impression that medication is a shortcut to ending detox. Just like a healthy diet and frequent exercise, medication is a long-term habit that you have to build up, not a magic pill to jump you to the finish line.

Even still, detox is the process of your body reordering itself to live without your addiction. And that process is much easier with medication specifically designed to hasten that process.

Conclusion

Addiction has a lot of stigmas around it. People are afraid that if they tell a friend about it, they will lose the friend. If they tell a doctor about it, they are afraid they’ll get arrested.

But of all the people in the world, a doctor is exactly the person you should tell. Doctors want to help. And not only that, but they are also qualified to help. So, go to the Epiphany Wellness home page if you want to find somewhere or someone near you that can get you that help.