Addiction to alcohol, painkillers, and heroin is a serious epidemic in the United States that is doing serious damage to so many American families. Unfortunately, painkillers and heroin go hand-in-hand in terms of addiction and developing a drug addiction. As a result, detox doctors are now more prominent than ever to help provide people with the proper detox process. Here are all of the facts on detox doctors and the detox processes.

In 2015, an estimated 21,000 adolescents had used heroin in the past year, and an estimated 5,000 were current heroin users. Additionally, an estimated 6,000 adolescents had heroin a heroin use disorder in 2014. Most people know very little about the detox doctors and their work. For instance, drug detox must be completed before drug rehab can begin. Here are some of the ways in which detox doctors work!

Detox Doctors Can Help With Alcohol Addiction

While alcohol is socially acceptable, it is still technically classified as a drug and it may be on the of the most dangerous drugs. Alcohol can be dangerous because the social aspect of drinking and college-culture has normalized binge drinking for younger people. As a result, some people grow into an alcohol addiction which can be very harmful.

On average, alcohol addiction patients receive treatment 8 years after the age at which they develop the condition. This process takes so long because it is meant to help people avoid a relapse. Understand that after acute withdrawal, there’s a second phase of withdrawal called post-acute withdrawal syndrome, also known as PAWS, which can last a year or more. Acute withdrawal will usually last anywhere from three to five days.

Alcohol can be dangerous because it clouds judgment and in some cases ends up with people getting hurt because they act foolishly. Among emergency room patients admitted for injuries, 47% tested positive for alcohol and 35% were intoxicated. Out of those who were intoxicated, 75% showed signs of chronic alcoholism. Therefore, it is easy to understand where the harm comes from with binge drinking.

So many detox doctors work with alcohol just because of the sheer popularity of this drink. More than seven percent of the population ages 18 years and older, which is equal to nearly 13.8 million Americans, have problems with drinking, including 8.1 million people who suffer from alcoholism. Luckily, this does not mean that everyone will develop a serious drinking problem. Understand that only about 10% to 20% of alcoholics have alcohol withdrawal that’s severe enough to require monitoring and medication.

Detox Doctors Can Help With Drug Addictions

Painkillers and heroin have been linked together because of their addictive nature and because people manage to end up hooked on heroin after taking painkillers. Of the 20.5 million Americans 12 or older that had a substance use disorder in 2015, 2 million had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers and 591,000 had a substance use disorder involving heroin. This is incredibly dangerous because if people are receiving painkillers for pain then they are bound to get hooked on one of these drugs!

It is estimated that 23% of individuals who use heroin develop an opioid addiction. Four in five new heroin users started out misusing prescription painkillers. Anyone that is looking to their doctor for help with pain should not be misled down this road of danger. Instead, people should be receiving proper help that is safe and will not potentially derail their lives.

Goosebumps and fever are signs of a more severe withdrawal. The rates of relapse among people who go through detoxification alone are roughly 95%. Withdrawal symptoms for short-acting opioids usually peak within 1-3 days and taper off over the course of a week. Chronic symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, and dysphoria may last for weeks or months following withdrawal

Last Thoughts On Detox Doctors

Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, with 52,404 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 12,990 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2015. Make sure that you take yourself to one of the many detox doctors if you or someone you know needs help with addiction.