Is It Safe To Detox At Home?

Drugs and alcohol cause tragic consequences for people who become addicted to them. They take a toll on family relationships, promising careers, and self-esteem. Alcoholics and addicts are often to surprise to find that when they want to quit, they can’t just automatically do it. Unfortunately once the brain becomes accustomed to having alcohol or drugs, it comes to expect it. Brain chemistry changes and people are afraid when they find out that it’s not a matter of just desiring to quit.

Detoxing from drugs or alcohol is an extremely difficult thing to do, and it’s a hard decision for a recovering addict or alcoholic to come to. Detox includes not just physical symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, and sweating, but it also causes emotional symptoms such as anxiety and panic. Doing this alone is almost never a good idea, especially for an alcoholic due to the amount of physical turmoil alcoholics must go through in order to cease drinking.

The long and short answer is no. It’s a complete sentence. There is no reason to risk your physical health to withdrawal at home alone when there are so many good facilities where help exists. So while it’s possible to detox at home and take those first steps, the majority of alcoholics and addicts will feel much more comfortable if they go into an inpatient facility.

Medical detoxes are essential for those alcoholics who have drank for a very long time. When your body and mind become used to alcohol, there are often severe reactions to cessation. Delirium tremens are the most severe of these reactions and these can even lead to death if the alcoholic doesn’t receive treatment. Seizures are also common.

If you or a loved one has used drugs or alcohol for a long time and wants to quit, there’s so much help out there to do so. A supervised recovery is the best way to ensure that cessation of drugs and alcohol both occurs but occurs safely under the watchful eye of medical and mental health staff. It can make what is, alone, a very scary and dangerous process, a merely uncomfortable but safe process. There’s a lot of emotional and medical support in these facilities and in the modern era, there’s just no good reason that an addict or alcoholic wouldn’t prefer a safe, supervised withdrawal that minimizes discomfort and hurt.

The best news of all is that it’s easy to get into one of the facilities and to get help. Instead of detoxing at home and being scared during the process, simply go into an inpatient facility and see what they have to offer you. Not only will it be a safer procedure but it will be something that will also help you begin the journey of true recovery, with mental health support and things to help you forget drugs and alcohol in favor of a new and better life.