Detoxification is an uncomfortable process to go through no matter what your level of addiction. Withdrawal can be a nightmare, but it’s nothing compared to the nightmare of continued addiction. I was a chronic alcoholic for most of my adult life and there was no way I was going to make it to old age.
Most of the people in my family suffer from alcoholism, so it’s no surprise that I developed such a terrible drinking habit. Alcohol has always been in my life one way or another. There wasn’t one family function or holiday party where half the people weren’t drunk.
I think the reason my family valued these get-togethers so much was that they were excuses to binge drink. I at least know that’s how I view get-togethers like that.
The Hidden Dangers of Detox
Coming from a family with substance abuse has unique challenges. When you’re brought up in that environment, drinking becomes normalized. I actually thought my friend’s parents who didn’t drink were the unusual ones. For as long as I can remember, there was alcohol readily available in our household.
When I started sneaking beers in middle school, my parents didn’t initially notice. Even after they did, they didn’t make a big deal out of it. I was simply led to believe that this is what you do. Drinking is a part of everyday life. When I got older and realized a lot of people don’t live that way, it was a strange thing to come to terms with.
It still feels strange to me once in a while. When I meet people who have never drunk alcohol, it astounds me. I’m pretty envious as well.
I arrived at Divine Detox still drunk from the night before. I had gotten to a point in my drinking where I was chronically addicted. It would have been very dangerous for me to try and detox on my own.
Detoxification from dangerous drugs and alcohol requires medical supervision. There are risks associated with detox even when you do it the right way.
Detox is by no means an easy or comfortable process. The staff at Divine Detox were very professional and helped me through the worst of it in the best way they could. Even with all of the help I got along the way, it was still scary.
Divine Detox is one of the best treatment centers for dangerous detox. With the drinking problem I had being so bad, I knew I had to pick a top-notch facility in order to get through the first few days of detox. I can say that I am alive today because of the facility that I chose.
They take on the heaviest addictions at Divine Detox and have a great track record. Typically, in the world of recovery, a lot of the people who work in treatment centers are recovering addicts themselves. This is an area where you often need to have direct experience with substance abuse to lend a personal perspective.
Traveling for the best detox is necessary if you find a good place that is far away from you. Finding the right place for you is very vital to the process. One of the reasons people go through rehab so many times is because they don’t find the right fit. Another big reason is a lot of people are not ready to get clean.
There were a lot of times I thought I was ready for sobriety and I wasn’t. I tried rehab four times before it finally worked for me. The difference with that fourth and final time was that I wanted it bad enough. I made the decision in my mind that I was done being addicted, and I meant it.
The Most Dangerous Drugs
Certain drugs are much more dangerous to detox from than others. In my case, because I am an alcoholic, it was particularly difficult. Alcohol is one of the most commonly abused drugs, and also one of the most dangerous to quit.
When you are physically addicted to alcohol like I was, the detox can make you go crazy, kill you, or both. Alcohol has such a powerful effect on the body that it will scare you once you try to go without it. Once you initially stop drinking, the withdrawal comes on pretty strong. Cold sweats, headaches, nausea, and this is just the beginning.
The mood swings can be very tough. I went through the full range of emotions when I was in detox. I was extremely sad, angry, and then I would have brief periods of joy. I had moments where I thought I could take on the world. I knew I was doing the right thing, and I just needed to tough it out.
These feelings didn’t last long. The emotion I felt the most was sadness. Depression is a common symptom of withdrawal. Because your body and brain are wired to need alcohol to function, it doesn’t know what to do without it. The euphoric sensation that your body craves is not there. It’s really hard to get past that initial discomfort.
Why Choose Medically Supervised Detox?
After a day or two of not drinking, a severe alcoholic can suffer from seizures and delirium tremens, commonly referred to as DT’s. When you develop delirium tremens, you become confused, agitated, and even begin to have hallucinations.
This is why detox in a medically supervised setting is so important. If you have to suffer through seizures or delirium tremens without medical intervention, it can easily kill you. The danger of at-home detox cannot be understated. If you have a serious addiction, do yourself a favor and do it the right way.
Another dangerous drug to detox from is benzodiazepine. The withdrawal symptoms of benzos are similar to alcohol, though it can actually be much easier to suffer from seizures with benzodiazepine. This is another drug that causes your brain to go through a whirlwind of emotions.
A lot of people who detox from benzo’s run the risk of suicide due to the anxiety and depression that can occur. Opiates can also be very dangerous to detox from for that same reason. Detox from opiates can also result in muscle aches, insomnia, digestive problems, and diarrhea.
Simply put, if you are going to detox from dangerous drugs like alcohol, benzo, or opiates, you must be fully aware of the risks involved.
Sources of Support in Sobriety
When you tell your addiction story, you might save someone’s life. When I was going through my daily bottle of whiskey I didn’t want to hear anyone try to convince me I was killing myself. I especially didn’t want to hear from non-addicts.
Of course, they meant well and their concern was valid, but they couldn’t relate to what I was dealing with. I didn’t want to be confronted. Initially, I found a lot of addiction support online. It was easier to do it that way than through an in-person confrontation.
I didn’t want to be caught off guard. I wanted to gather whatever information that I could from a distance, and seek out what I wanted to seek out.
The addiction support that I found online created the foundation for me to seek help in person. I was able to chat with former addicts and listen to what they had to say. I was able to say whatever I needed to say, and if things got too uncomfortable, I could always log off and check back in at another time.
Addiction support online can be a great outlet in order for you to feel more comfortable opening up. I felt like it would have been far too overwhelming to go all in at once. After finding the right online resources, I was ready to be in a room full of other addicts.
I was able to tell my story more openly. I had already begun the process on my computer, and this was simply the next step that worked for me.
Easing Dangerous Detox Symptoms: Share the Burden
Once I started to tell my story in front of other people, I realized how much I could help others while also helping myself. Regardless of how you got to where you got, your story can help somebody. A lot of our stories are similar, yet they are all unique in that they are our personal stories of survival.
When you are going through recovery, opening up is one of the things that will help you maintain your sobriety. The more you can talk, and the more honest you can be, the more faith you will gain in your ability to walk that righteous path. Finding a good support system is the most important part of staying sober.
Once you go through the initial struggle of detox and rehab, you are going to need the right people around you so you don’t go back to where you started. Your recovery starts with you, but it continues with the people you surround yourself with.
I had to break off a lot of relationships when I first got sober. People I had been friends with for a long time. It was hard, but I realized that it was the best thing I could do for them and myself. When you have relationships that are based on substance abuse, it’s pretty hard to continue them when one of you gets clean.
All I can do is continue on my path and hope that those people understand. Who knows, maybe I’ll see them again someday at a meeting.