Drug addiction leads to the development of a dangerous consequence - withdrawal. When the condition becomes critical, the patient needs to relieve withdrawal symptoms at home. Narcologists at the Vozvraschenie clinic know how to ease withdrawal symptoms and provide qualified assistance at home, helping to cope with the crisis as soon as possible.
Withdrawal syndrome occurs against the background of the need to take a dose. If the need for a psychotropic drug is not satisfied, the body begins to malfunction - withdrawal occurs. It is characterized by a variety of disorders that change both physical and mental state.
Manifestations of withdrawal cause suffering to the addict and frighten the people around him. At a certain point, the situation reaches its maximum intensity, which forces you to take action and provide assistance. Given the specificity of the problem, it should be dealt with by professionals. The drug treatment clinic offers a service of calling a team of narcologists to your home, which allows you not to take risks or aggravate the condition of a loved one, but to benefit from qualified support from specialists in a timely manner.
To relieve withdrawal symptoms at home, effective medications are used, which are selected according to the situation, the patient’s condition, and the severity of symptoms. An important factor influencing the choice of assistance tactics is the type of substance taken that caused withdrawal.
The field team has drugs from various groups in its arsenal; their use allows:
- Coping with pain and fever;
- Relieve spasms of the muscular system;
- Support and improve heart function;
- Restore the level of electrolytes in the blood;
- Relieve convulsive syndrome.
Depending on the situation, doctors determine how to relieve withdrawal symptoms at home; they use non-narcotic painkillers, antipsychotics, tranquilizers, and vitamin preparations.
Calling narcologists to your home is a way to get effective support and assistance needed by a loved one. In particularly difficult cases, doctors do not carry out manipulations at home, but offer the patient inpatient conditions that allow them to get rid of withdrawal symptoms and undergo rehabilitation treatment.
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Addiction
Such a phenomenon as withdrawal occurs if a person has developed a dependence on narcotic substances. It does not appear immediately, but before we understand the mechanism of withdrawal, let us remind you what drug addiction is.
Drug addiction is a serious disease. Unfortunately, loved ones of a sick person often forget about this. Emotions overpower when they see that a relative is sinking, degrading, completely subordinating his life to drug use. Family members can be understood, because even such a seemingly insignificant “bad habit” as tobacco addiction makes their life unbearable. A person often smokes at home, causing inconvenience to his family, and he smells unpleasant. What can we say about those cases when a patient addicted to hard drugs begins to take money and jewelry out of the house?
Behind daily problems and scandals, emergency calls to a narcologist to get out of binge drinking or withdrawal, loved ones often forget that drug addiction is a complex disease that requires comprehensive and systemic treatment. And some people don’t even know about it at all.
How to respond to a habit
In any case, there is no need to panic. Yes, it’s unpleasant to watch a husband/brother/dad (wife/sister/mom) whose hands are reaching for a psychotropic substance. At the same time, the person has little control over himself, he may develop aggression, outbursts of rage and anger. He can easily, in a state of passion, harm the health of anyone, just to get the next dose of “joy”.
Either way, remember how much you love this person. Concentrate on the fact that you really want to help him. Sometimes a drug addict cannot control his inappropriate behavior, but you can fix everything. The main thing is to believe in a speedy recovery.
Psychological craving for drugs
Many accuse drug addicts of immorality, irresponsibility, and self-centeredness. And you know, they're right. Only in this case we are looking through the telescope from the other side. Addicts certainly have these qualities. Some of them are a consequence of the disease. In order to get a new dose, in order to get rid of withdrawal symptoms, the addict resorts to deception, manipulation, and crime.
Some of the qualities that prevent a person from having good and effective relationships with others were observed before the illness. Let's say more, they were the reason that pushed a person onto the path of drug addiction. None of us wants to be unhappy, unsuccessful, or lead a life full of disappointments. Would you like to? A person prone to addiction is looking for at least some ways to establish contacts with the environment or at least distract from defeats.
At first, psychoactive drugs really help to get emotional euphoria, a new circle of friends, and even sometimes an increase in status in one’s social group, which is more true for teenagers. This becomes an excellent bait for the psyche, the use of drugs or alcohol is associated with positive impressions, and a conditioned reflex is formed. This is how psychological dependence on psychoactive drugs is born.
Possibility of relapse
Surviving withdrawal is half the battle, then it is important to prevent a breakdown. Typically, those who have experienced withdrawal no longer want to repeat it, so they either continue to use the drug regularly, avoiding any omissions, or give up completely. But the psychological factor is quite difficult to eliminate, which is why working with a psychotherapist at all stages of treatment is so important.
It is necessary to maintain the patient's confidentiality as much as possible. This will make it easier to start a new life. The ideal option is to move to another city, change occupation. A person must undergo social adaptation and get used to solving his problems without the use of psychotropic substances that help him relax and have fun. During the sessions, a person learns to enjoy completely different things and put the experience gained into practice in real life.
Physical craving for drugs
Further developments are already a matter of time. Depending on the type of drug, the mode of use, the psychophysical characteristics of a person and even the events of his life, the first stage of the development of drug addiction can last from several days to several years.
The first stage of drug addiction is the period from the beginning of use to the beginning of regular drug use and the onset of withdrawal symptoms and withdrawal symptoms.
If you use hard injection drugs, such as heroin, you will become an addict who is feverishly looking for a new dose within the next week after the first injections. If this is a cannabis addiction, then you will remain in the illusion of the safety of smoking for six months or a little longer, but then withdrawal symptoms will begin when you stop using “weed.”
When the drug is taken regularly, it is integrated into the metabolic processes of the body, participates in metabolism, replacing its individual components. Meanwhile, the body stops producing the corresponding compounds itself, because they already enter it with each new dose, and even in huge quantities. This is the formation of a physical craving for a drug, a sign of the onset of the second stage of drug addiction.
Physical and mental features of withdrawal
The clinical picture of the initial withdrawal phase manifests itself in the form of the following physiological symptoms, reminiscent of a flu-like state:
- tearfulness;
- sneezing;
- runny nose;
- chills, which later gives way to fever;
- weakness;
- dilated pupils;
- dizziness;
- sweating
As withdrawal symptoms develop, a person experiences convulsions, frequently interrupted sleep accompanied by nightmares, or insomnia, impaired coordination of movements, spasmodic pain in muscles and joints, surges in blood pressure, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea leading to dehydration.
Important: in some cases, drug addicts experience individual symptoms of withdrawal in the form of tremors of the limbs and facial muscles.
Drug use gradually impairs the functioning of the brain, so psychosis develops after stopping drug use.
Psychological signs of withdrawal:
- irritability;
- rapid mood changes;
- depression;
- apathy;
- outbursts of rage;
- hallucinations. The drug addict perceives those around him as terrible entities and demons, which pushes him to commit aggressive acts;
- rave;
- memory losses.
In this state, the drug addict develops a feeling of the meaninglessness of life, which often leads to suicide.
Signs of clinical withdrawal symptoms disappear in reverse order.
What happens during withdrawal?
If a patient who has already acquired physical dependence on a psychoactive drug suddenly reduces the dose or does not take it at all, then the body cannot work according to this painful scheme; it needs doping. He cannot immediately adapt to the old, natural scheme of work, because this takes time.
While drug residues or their toxic half-life products remain in the body, the addict experiences withdrawal symptoms. This is a collection, and quite extensive, of painful symptoms of a physical and psychological nature, which is called withdrawal syndrome or drug withdrawal syndrome.
Why does a drug addict go through withdrawal?
When an experienced drug addict has been using drugs for a long period, he is most likely to experience withdrawal symptoms. This condition is properly called withdrawal syndrome. What happens when a person uses drugs. He needed a new dose to recover, but for some reason (there are several of them) the money ran out, he no longer had the strength to consume, or the person himself decided to give up drugs, and he begins to experience withdrawal. That is, it is a withdrawal syndrome in which a person who uses drugs suddenly stops taking them. It is then that he becomes ill; this is the most difficult period in the life of a drug addict.
It is impossible to answer in one word the question of how difficult it will be to overcome withdrawal symptoms. This depends on several questions. What drug did the addict use? If he used marijuana or hashish, withdrawal will follow one scenario. And if he used heroin or pharmaceutical drugs in large doses, then everything will be much more serious. Withdrawal is also very problematic for those who take spice. The next factor is how long a person has been using drugs, how long he has been using drugs, and how long ago he started. There is also the question of the amount of drugs used last time before withdrawal. Yes, this is also very important, because it determines how severe the withdrawal will be.
How to get rid of withdrawal symptoms?
There are several ways to get rid of withdrawal symptoms:
- The first of them is the most dangerous and leads to a new round of suffering - taking a new dose. If the addict does not die from an overdose, then he relieves the painful symptoms of withdrawal. Is he having fun? At the second stage, the disease is practically gone; more precisely, all the pleasure comes down to the absence of pain from withdrawal; drug addicts are never able to repeat the euphoria of the first methods.
- Endure the painful condition without the help of a narcologist, relieve withdrawal symptoms at home. This is possible if we are talking about a short period of addiction and drug addiction with the least intense withdrawal symptoms. There are, of course, stories about how people were able to survive heroin or methadone withdrawal on their own and did not relapse, but let’s be objective - these are facts from the category of miracles. But it is quite possible to speed up the elimination of cannabinoids from the body or relieve a mild hangover using home remedies.
- Rapid detoxification with the help of professional drug treatment. If you consult a doctor, you can expect the fastest possible relief from withdrawal symptoms. So, when treating alcohol withdrawal with the help of droppers, the patient will feel better on the same day. Even heroin withdrawal is now removed in a few hours using a special UBOR procedure, and at home the patient would be subjected to incredible torment for two weeks.
It is worth noting that with natural detoxification, that is, when relieving withdrawal symptoms at home on your own, the removal of the drug from the body takes much longer, and then the body still needs time to start natural metabolic processes. You can immediately add drugs to the droppers that restore the functioning of internal organs. And intravenous infusions themselves help get rid of withdrawal symptoms much faster than folk remedies. However, home therapy can perfectly complement specialized drug treatment.
Initial symptoms
To cope with withdrawal, you need to learn to recognize its approach. The first symptoms appear within 7-15 hours after the last dose. The following psychological symptoms signal the approach of withdrawal:
- irritability;
- a sharp change from activity to a passive state;
- lack of control of emotions;
- aggression;
- paranoid tendencies.
Heavy sweating appears. The patient feels either hot or cold. Severe chills may begin. The pupils stop reacting to light after an hour. At this stage, you need to seek medical help, because subsequent symptoms of withdrawal often provoke a person to use drugs in order to alleviate their suffering.
Relieving withdrawal symptoms at home. Important!
If you are dealing with drug withdrawal at home yourself, then pay attention to the following factors:
- Such treatment is usually effective with a short history of addiction.
- Self-medication of withdrawal has a chance of success in those types of drug addiction that cause less intense pain, physiological and mental disorders.
- If there is a suspicion of acute conditions: bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract, breathing problems, heart function, severe pressure surges, problems with urination, you should urgently call a doctor.
- If you feel that you are on the verge of a breakdown, call a narcologist.
Hospital treatment
Only qualified drug center workers can help a patient with drug withdrawal from methadone and other strong drugs: heroin, opiates. At the first consultation, the patient's condition is determined. Relatives and the patient himself are interviewed, examined, and tested.
In inpatient settings, treatment with drugs to relieve withdrawal symptoms is carried out in combination with psychological training. Tranquilizers are used to relieve severe pain. These are strong drugs that have a relaxing effect on the muscular system, relieve pain, spasms, and have a strong hypnotic effect. Depending on the intensity of the effect after a tranquilizer, a person can sleep from 12 hours to several days.
Antidepressants are prescribed with great caution, because they are addictive when taken for a long time. Amino acid preparations are prescribed to stimulate the work of brain centers, improve sleep quality, and increase the tone of the whole body. In the most extreme cases, psychotropics are prescribed. They are indicated if the drug provokes a mental disorder: schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder.
Relieving withdrawal symptoms at home: remedies
First of all, we note that we do not recommend using medications without a doctor’s prescription, unless they are the most harmless ones, which definitely will not harm. You shouldn’t play “drug treatment at home”, as you could end up with poisoning, addiction to pharmaceutical drugs, or other complications.
At this time, you need to retire and cut off contacts with co-users so that there are no temptations to buy drugs. You can arrange house arrest or go to the country. It would be a good idea to clean out your phone book; even throwing away some things that are especially associated with use is also useful.
The general painful state of the body will be relieved by contrast showers and warm baths with added salt. During this period, the patient’s body’s thermoregulation is often disrupted and severe headaches occur. You can use with great caution drugs that are analgesics and at the same time used to reduce temperature, such as Pentalgin, Baralgin. Aspirin can help with chills.
Gastrointestinal disorders are extremely common during withdrawal. You can help your digestive system with Festal, but it is also important to follow a diet. It is necessary to exclude fatty, spicy, fried foods from the diet, and eat vegetables and fruits. For diarrhea, you can take Smecta, Imodium. Cerucal is used to relieve the urge to vomit, and Karsil helps with pain in the liver. But you shouldn’t get carried away with medications without a doctor’s prescription.
The safest natural detoxification is carried out using charcoal-based adsorbent tablets and drinking plenty of plain water. The diuretic effect can be enhanced by using green tea and special herbal kidney teas, which are drunk 3-4 times a day.
How does a habit appear?
A person who takes drugs falls into psychological and then physical dependence. Why in this order?
The first sample of a narcotic substance is naive in nature. Here, as a rule, curiosity takes place when a person is sure that he is not in danger of addiction. It happens that personal reasons influence (divorce, girlfriend left, lack of self-confidence, etc.), and a person consciously picks up a psychoactive drug. This is how people try to forget themselves, find answers to troubling questions, and relax from accumulated stress. If a person is too emotional or mentally weak, he finds a solution to his own problems in taking drugs. Psychological dependence appears.
Our body consists of millions of molecules that every second enter into chemical bonds, forming reactions. In the process of acquiring an addiction, the patient develops an internal need to take a substance from the outside. In other words, the body can no longer function without the elements that drugs provide it with. Another stage of habit begins, the physical one. Withdrawal occurs.
Treatment of withdrawal under the supervision of a narcologist
Please note that a relapse after several days of abstinence is especially fraught with overdose. A cleansed body is less tolerant even to the usual doses. When treating in a drug treatment clinic, the patient’s access to drugs is excluded, so it is safest to treat withdrawal symptoms in a specialized hospital.
We have already written above that detoxification using IVs will quickly relieve withdrawal symptoms. In addition to droppers, the narcologist at the clinic also has hardware methods of detoxification and therapy, including ultra-fast opioid detoxification for drug addicts who use opium derivatives.
A narcologist can also provide assistance to a drug addict during withdrawal at home, if acute conditions are not observed. Infusion therapy is now carried out at home at a high level. At the same time, to eliminate the possibility of a relapse, medications are used that reduce cravings for drugs, and coding methods are also used in agreement with the patient.
What deviations are expressed in withdrawal from a psychoactive substance?
Each drug has its own specific pattern of withdrawal symptoms. For example, withdrawal from methamphetamine is quite mild, the clinical complaints are unclear and “blurred”. But we can also identify a number of common problems among patients with different types of drug addiction.
These include:
Increasing psychophysical discomfort.
- Runny nose, lacrimation, the presence of overly wide or narrow pupils that do not respond to light stimuli.
- Chills, weakness, excessive sweating, quickly turning into fever.
- Depression, insomnia, fears, hallucinations.
- Pain in the body of an aching-twisting nature.
- Lack of appetite, nausea, intestinal disorders.
In some cases, there are specific manifestations, for example, among the symptoms of amphetamine withdrawal, narcologists identify severe photophobia, and the patient himself notes attacks of hunger.
Very severe withdrawal occurs when trying to get rid of the abuse of desomorphine, a synthetic version of codeine. In patients with withdrawal symptoms, serious damage to internal organs, tissues, and blood vessels develops. The most terrible complication is gangrene of the limbs, which threatens amputation. Patients with this type of drug addiction live no more than 3 years. It is very difficult to cure them.
Comprehensive drug addiction treatment in
The disease drug addiction is caused by a pathological attraction to drugs, where one of the components is psychological dependence on use. That is why, when treating it, it is not enough to relieve withdrawal symptoms and reduce physical cravings for drugs; it is important to eliminate psychological cravings and help the patient return to normal life.
We provide comprehensive treatment for all types of chemical addictions. We help the patient overcome severe emergency conditions, including withdrawal, and provide drug treatment for addiction, psychological rehabilitation and resocialization.
We have already noted how dangerous delay is in treating drug addiction, because most drug addicts die from overdoses, and those who remain alive acquire irreversible pathologies of internal organs due to constant intoxication. Therefore, every day and hour is important here.
Moreover, nothing prevents you from asking your questions about drug addiction treatment, finding out the approximate cost of the course and generally understanding the situation right now. Our hotline operates 24 hours a day and calls to its number are free, even from a mobile phone. Call our consultant and get a qualified answer to all questions regarding the quick relief of withdrawal and effective treatment of drug addiction.
Eliminating withdrawal symptoms
The withdrawal symptoms that a person experiences for the first time can be relieved only through medications.
You should not prescribe medications yourself, as this can lead to more serious complications.
Relief from withdrawal symptoms can be achieved by using one of the following measures:
- hypnotic;
- alcohol instead of drugs;
- psychostimulants.
Sleeping pills have a short-term effect, so when self-medicating, the drug addict, in an attempt to prolong sleep so as not to feel pain, tries to take a large amount of the drug at once. Taking psychostimulants is nothing more than replacing one drug with another. Some patients try to replace hallucinogens with alcohol. But, like all the methods described above, it is ineffective and removes the desire to take a dose only for a while. This alternative implies that the patient is constantly intoxicated, which leads to another addiction - alcoholism.
