It is an unfortunate fact that many Americans are addicted to dangerous drugs or abusing alcohol, and some of the surveys conducted to track Americans’ health show how often Americans are abusing such substances. Often, adults or even youngsters as young as 12 are abusing substances, and with great consequences. The good news is that it is never too late to start the road to recovery, and anyone with a drug habit or an alcohol problem may take the steps to reclaim their life from addiction. Often, this may be done after an intervention, when concerned friends and family step in to encourage the addict to start recovery. How can this be done? An alcohol detox center can be found and visited for an alcoholic, and someone abusing hard drugs may visit a rapid detox center to start the detox process quickly. Detoxing quickly at a rapid detox center, under medical supervision, can kick-start recovery.
Drug Abuse
It may be necessary to understand the current state of drug abuse in the United States to see why rapid detox centers are necessary. It is believed that around 23% of people who use heroin end up with an opioid addiction, and around 80% of heroin users had started out by abusing prescription painkillers. Drugs do not always happen all at once; a person may use legal, prescription drugs and then transition into full-on abuse of both legal and illegal substances. A person who abuses drugs or alcohol is likely to lose their job, and they may spend all of their money on drugs or even steal and sell items to continue funding their habit. Drugs may also shatter a person’s connection to friends and family and ruin a marriage. What is more, drug overdoses rank as the top cause of accidental death in the United States. Opioids in particular are a major cause of this, and some Americans may lose their lives to alcohol. Serious alcohol use may lead to driving drunk and getting into a crash, or simple alcohol poisoning.
Someone who knows a drug user may take heart that recovery is always possible, and many medical services exist to ease an addict out of this habit and transition them to a clean lifestyle. As mentioned earlier, interventions may staged, and sometimes, an addict or alcoholic may even seek recovery on their own initiative. The reasons may vary, but they all lead to specialized branches of the medical industry.
Recovering From Drugs and Alcohol
When a drug addict stops using a substance, they will experience withdrawal, when their body suffers unpleasant side effects. A drug addict seeking recovery is discouraged from attempting a detox on their own in private, since they are likely to relapse and thus undo their progress. It is a challenge to stay clean while drugs leave the body, after all. And some cases of withdrawal prove dangerous, and that is a real problem if no one is around to help. Instead, the addict may find and enter a rapid detox center, where medical professionals will monitor their detox process. The patient may spend a few days here and allow drugs to leave their body, and they will endure the withdrawal symptoms.
Medical staff may intervene if the detox process proves dangerous, and help the patient stabilize during this process. Withdrawal may even present with seizures in some cases. At any rate, once the actual detox process itself is complete, the addict is clean of drugs, and they will be more receptive to counseling and therapy engineered to help them start a new, clean lifestyle free of drugs. This may include discussing why the person started using drugs in the first place, and giving emotional support and encouragement the entire time. The patient may start to recover their finances and get steady employment, and they can find healthier ways to deal with any problems or difficulties that may have prompted drug use. Alcoholics, meanwhile, may often swear off alcohol entirely to prevent any chance of relapse, while others adopt a much more modest and healthy level of drinking.
