Who Answers

Calls to the website’s main number are answered by our placement specialists.

When Do You Send Someone to Medical Detox for Drug or Alcohol Abuse?

Last updated on: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
  • What You'll Learn

When a loved one realizes that he or she needs to break free of alcohol or drug addiction, the next step is getting help. The first stage of that help is detox, which is ridding the body of all the toxins that have built up over time from the substance they have been abusing. It is seriously important to make sure the person has a medical professional give him a physical and check him out thoroughly before starting detox as many addicts can have one of two things going on: either they have a medical problem that will be affected by the detox, or they have the type of addiction that can cause physical problems during detox.

There are occurrences where a person is terrified of the withdrawal symptoms of detoxing and opts for medical detox. This is when a person goes through detoxification with a little help from a medication prescribed by the doctor on hand. A lot of people who are addicted to drugs have heard horror stories of withdrawal and have opted for medical detox. If a person says no way is he or she going to stop drugs if the withdrawal symptoms are that bad, then let him know about medical detox and encourage him to go that route. The result needed is that the person gets clean.

If a person is addicted to alcohol or to certain forms of drugs, it is imperative that they go through medical detox so that heart problems and seizures do not occur. Did you know that some seizures can actually endanger your life? It is important to have a doctor or other medical personnel on hand for detoxing so that such life-threatening possibilities do not occur, and if they do, they can be tended to immediately.

Anytime a person has other medical conditions no matter what they are, it is best to have him or her screened by a medical professional before the detox. Medical professionals will always put the safety of a person first and will decide if natural detox or medical detox is best for each individual situation. Both methods are good to use. One completely divides your system of toxins while the other helps you detox by taking a mild medication to get you through the withdrawal symptoms safely. It truly depends on your physical well-being as well as what type of addiction you had. A medical professional will be the best one to answer the question of when to send someone in for medical detox. Follow his or her professional advice.

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ARTICLE

{echo:get_author_info('title')}
NICKOLAUS HAYES

AUTHOR

More Information

Nickolaus Hayes has been working with Drug Rehab Services for the past ten years. Over the past 15 years, he has remained connected to helping people who have been struggling with addiction. He first started working as an intake counselor at a drug rehabilitation center in 2005. During the five years as an intake counselor, he was able to help hundreds of people find treatment. Nickolaus was also fortunate to be able to work with professional interventionists, traveling across the country performing interventions.