There seems to be some confusion between the terms “detox” and “rehab”. For example, some people may say…
“Addiction may be cured only through proper rehab. This is widely known as detox or taking away the toxins from one’s system. Many believe detox is rehab or that spending time away from a drug like alcohol is what cures addiction.”
Your are right that addiction may be cured through proper rehab. But the second statement is false:
“This is widely known as detox or taking away the toxins from one’s system. Many believe detox is rehab or that spending time away from a drug like alcohol is what cures addiction.”
What you’re saying is: “Rehab is widely known as detox”. That’s not accurate but is believed to be similar or the same.
Traditional Rehab includes:
1. Detox, also known as the withdrawal step.
2. A series of process designed to rehabilitate the person and done AFTER the detox is fully completed
I’m about to further define what Detox really is, but for now just realize that the actual rehabilitation process really starts AFTER the detox/withdrawal step is finished.
Important Note About Detox…
There are 2 different definitions of Detox in the addiction industry.
The most popular definition of detox is: “To withdraw from specific drugs”.
So this definition of detox really means: “to keep someone away from specific drugs for some time, until he or she no longer shows withdrawal symptoms.” They call that detox because the drugs are usually no longer detected by drug tests once the withdrawal step is finished.
Now, did you noticed that I said: “To keep someone away from SPECIFIC drugs”?
Here’s what I mean…
Let’s take the example of a man who needs to get off Vicodin and Oxycontin. Detox centers will get him off these drugs/medication, which means that he is detoxing from Vicodin and Oxycontin. But most traditional detox center will detox him from these medications by putting him on some other medication like suboxone, which is another opiate pain killer. They do that to minimize the withdrawal symptoms. It’s ok if they only do that for a few days, but many “detox” centers will put him on suboxone and ask him to stay on suboxone for months and years after his detox is over and still consider the detox to be successful. The man will soon become addicted to suboxone and will need to go back to detox to get off that medication, at which point many of the traditional detox centers will put him yet on another medication. So they in fact substitute an addiction with another.
Ending Drug Dependency With Holistic Detox
With our holistic detox centers, the individual is TOTALLY off any addictive drugs/ medication by the time they leave the center. Usually, within 2 weeks no drugs or mind altering or mood altering drugs are desired by you because you feel better off drugs than on. Massive amounts of nutrients and special holistic remedies may be used in place of these if you’re quite ill when you arrive in detox for full physical rehabilitation.
They are holistic because they help the client/patient to also overcome their fear of withdrawal by educating the patient, discovering any hidden medical condition and providing specific mental processes, environmental therapies and some types of therapeutic touch that helps the patient relax physically and mentally.
But these holistic detox programs may not be full rehab programs. A person may still have negative thoughts and they may be unable to feel good when they are off drugs/medication. They would need to go to continue with rehab after their holistic detox program. Often the rehab program is done in the same detox / rehab center. All of the detox centers I work with include rehab programs which follow up the detox.
We know of holistic rehab programs that will resolve most mental and emotional problems connected to addiction.
Not Everyone Who Goes To Detox Is Addicted To The Medication…
Addiction is mainly mental and emotional. Addiction, occurs when the person lost the ability to feel good and be happy without his medication or drug. At that point the person develops a compulsive or an obsessive need to get high on the medication or drug. That’s addiction.
Dependency means a strictly a physical need to take the drug because of prolonged habituation and physiological tolerance. Such as alcohol dependency or benzodiazepine dependency. These detoxs both require medical direction. Many people have both dependency and addiction. The difference is described below.
When Drug Use Is Not Drug Abuse
Many people who were prescribed a pain killer are only taking the medication because their doctor prescribed it while the patient is recovering from an operation of some sort.
They don’t feel the need to take the drug to feel good. They are taking the medication for a short time while the body recovers from the operation.
But they may still feel painful withdrawal symptoms when they get off of the medication and that’s why they’ll ONLY go to a medical detox and not a rehab program. They only need help to get over the withdrawal symptoms of the medication.
Others who’ve been on the medication for a longer period of time may develop an addiction to the medication and will need help with the withdrawal symptoms, which is why they’ll go to a medical detox, and then they’ll be advised to go to a rehab program.
When Should You Go To A Holistic Medical Detox
A holistic medical detox center is a center that have nurses and doctors that specialize in drug and alcohol detox/withdrawal and are health and healing specialists with abundant understanding of nutrients and how these natural remedies reduce or eliminate withdrawal symptoms.
Not everyone who goes to rehab needs to go to a medical detox. A medical center only giving drugs and medications to alleviate symptoms of drug withdrawal. More drugs are not the single answer to any withdrawal and many times people do better withdrawing without more drugs in their body, especially if they are in a holistic detox program.
Most people who are on Heroin, crack, cocaine and other street drugs don’t need to go to a medical detox, i.e. a pharmaceutically induced detox. They can go straight to a holistic rehab and detox center and stop using the drugs. Holistic detoxs are far better equipped for a smooth detox than a medication only program. Holistic detox can include medications, they simply focus on natural medicine first.
A person detoxing will still have to go through a withdrawal period, but because the withdrawal symptoms are quite smooth, the person can do it with the 24 /7 assistance of withdrawal specialists and under the guidance of doctors or nurses as necessary.
Others who are wanting to end dependency to medications such as benzodiazepines (Lorazepam, Klonopin), anti depressants (Paxil), methadone and other dangerous medications may need to withdraw/detox under the supervision of a doctor as these medications have much more severe withdrawal symptoms and in some instances, a person can have dangerous situations arise during their withdrawal if proper medical tests and remedies aren’t done before the detox step.
Once these people who went to the medical detox are done with their withdrawal steps, they’ll either go home and resume their lives, or go to rehab if they feel they are addicted and need rehab. A holistic detox process can be far more extensive and rehabilitate natural health.
Holistic Detox & Rehab
Holistic Rehab can cure addiction, holistic detox ends dependency. Detox eliminates the physical apparent need for the drugs or meds. Holistic detox should end dependency every time, at least when people are following all directions given for recovery. Some will need to follow special diets or have to part ways with specific beliefs or people who create trouble in their lives.
We know that Holistic detox centers and holistic rehab centers are far more effective in returning people to health. At least we know the holistic programs which we at Drug Rehab Advisor recommend are excellent in helping people regain health.
So we can help every type of person who’s stuck with a drug or medication dependency, really.
Advanced Holistic Detox
Advanced holistic detox and rehab programs have a different definition for the term “detox”. It’s a definition that is not known by most people, so we need to define the process of their detox when we mention it in our articles.
To most people, detox means to withdraw from drugs or alcohol. A complete detox step needs to be part of their rehab program.
Their clients still need to go through withdrawal or through a medical detox, depending on the type of drugs or medications they’re on.
Once they’re done with the withdrawal / detox step, then they’re ready for the full body detox.
Advanced holistic detox and rehab centers know something that most rehab don’t know. They discovered that drug residues get lodged in the fatty tissues in our body and may stay there for year. On a stressful day, hot day, or any other day where we burn more fat, these drug residues find their way back into the blood stream where they flow to the brain and trigger drug cravings, causing an addict to relapse.
These drug residues also cause unhealthy thoughts and affects his or her alertness.
These advanced holistic detox and rehab have an intense detox program that detox the body of these drug residues.
That detox step is finished once the client is no longer feeling the negative effects of these drug residues and experiences noticeable improvement in his mental alertness.
I hope this clarifies things a little.
To learn about what Drug Rehab Advisor expects of an effective holistic detox programs see this page. For Holistic rehab programs see this one.
Contact me at DrugRehabAdvisor.com once you’ve reviewed these criteria and are ready to take action.