Do you or someone you care about have an addiction problem with drugs, alcohol, or a combination of both? You deserve to live a life of recovery from whatever substances are affecting your quality of life. Before you can get very far down the road of recovery, you first need a Tennessee Rehab Program. “Rehab” is drug and/or alcohol Rehab and is the first step as you travel toward full sobriety.
A medically assisted Rehab is critical for anyone who is abusing drugs or alcohol and has become dependent on them. Trying to Rehab oneself is usually an unsuccessful venture as the withdrawal symptoms often lead the user to go back to their substance to quell their symptoms. A medically assisted Rehab will provide medication and comfort to ease or eliminate the feelings associated with the difficult withdrawal process.
Merely Rehab does not address these underlying issues of addiction. Therapy is required for long-term recovery. But what type of therapy? According to Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment published by the NIDA, effective therapies include:
Personal therapy. Works on the underlying issues that may have caused or may be a contributory cause of the addiction.
Family therapy. Helps family members learn what to do and say, and what not to do or say in the interest of helping the addict. Also helps work through family dynamics that may be contributory issues in the individual’s addiction.
Medical services. For chronic illnesses, pain, and/or co-occurring disorders, medical care can help patients so that they don’t attempt to self-medicate with drugs and/or alcohol.
Educational classes. Patients learn the effects of drugs and alcohol on the brain and body. This knowledge can help keep them from relapsing.
Relapse prevention. Patients devise a plan they can implement when faced with temptation, which increases the chances of avoiding a relapse.
Life skills classes. As an individual learns how to function and keep up with normal responsibilities, he/she feels more in control and is therefore less likely to return to drugs and alcohol.
Tennessee Rehab Programs are just a first step. It is not a complete treatment, no matter what the addictive substance is from which the patient is trying to break free. To begin with, the drinking or drugging may have been brought on or exacerbated by pre-existing psychological issues due to sexual trauma, grief, violent attack, and major life changes such as divorce or loss of employment which often increases the chances of addiction or strengthens an existing addiction.
A drug or alcohol addiction treatment program can offer many benefits, including:
Psychiatric care. For co-occurring emotional problems.
Individualized treatment plans. The severity of the patient’s addiction is evaluated, as well as any co-occurring mental or physical conditions. This evaluation allows the treatment team to shape a treatment program specifically for the individual. When it comes to drug rehab, there is no “one size fits all.”
Medicine maintenance. Pharmacological interventions address problematic symptoms while the patient receives treatment.
Aftercare planning. What steps should the patient take once she/he completes initial treatment? The plan might include 12-step programs and other recovery programs, sober living homes (“halfway houses”), outpatient treatment, partial hospitalization, individual therapy, and support groups.
Individual therapy. Patients work one-on-one with a therapist to continue addressing the root causes of their addiction and to develop coping skills.
Group counseling. Patients can develop sober social skills while sharing their addiction-related issues with a group of peers who share the same problems.
Drug education classes. Patients learn how alcohol and drugs affect the mind and body in the short and long terms.
Life skills classes. These classes are designed to help the person in recovery become self-sufficient when he/she completes a treatment program by teaching them the daily skills they need.
Trying a Rehab on your own is putting yourself at significant risk. Withdrawing from alcohol and some drugs can easily be threatening enough to cause death. Depending on what substance you were abusing and how much of it you were using every day, you will, at the very least, suffer some unpleasant, downright nasty, and possibly unbearable side effects.
With that in mind, if you choose a Tennessee Rehab Program under the supervision of licensed professionals, they will monitor you, support you physically to help you avoid the worst of the withdrawal symptoms, and make the whole process both easier to endure and less dangerous for you. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) stresses the importance of using an accredited rehab center to get you safely through the process of ridding your system of the drugs and/or alcohol so you can begin your new life clean and sober.
The real rehabilitation process begins after the Tennessee Rehab Program has been completed. In most cases, the root causes of addiction can stem from both physical and psychological roots. It is necessary to get to the bottom of it in order to break free of your addiction. Therefore, the best rehab centers offer not only physical treatment but also psychotherapy.
You need to deal with the emotional issues or life problems that caused you to seek comfort in whatever substances you’ve been abusing. You need to deal with the cravings and changes in your brain that resulted from the substance abuse. You need to deal with other physical changes that resulted from your addiction. If you don’t accomplish all this, the chances are great that you will relapse and start abusing substances again.
How severe or intense your withdrawal symptoms will be dependent on such factors as what you were abusing, how long this has been going on, and how much you were using daily. In a good rehab facility, both medical and psychiatric staff will be present to help you deal with these symptoms.
If you were addicted to an opioid, including heroin and pain medication for example, here are some of the symptoms you may experience within several hours after you last used:
Sweating
Excessive yawning
Anxiety
Agitation
Muscle aches
Increasing watering of the eyes
Runny nose
Insomnia
While none of these symptoms are life-threatening, they can cause you a great deal of discomfort. This is why it’s critical to Rehab under the appropriate supervision.
Here are some other situations you may encounter:
Violence. Although they are not the only ones who may turn violent, people who abuse synthetic cathinones, or “bath salts,” are particularly likely to hurt themselves or others. Such individuals may require sedation or even restraint to prevent them from hurting themselves or staffers who are trying to help them. Please know that restraint is used only if a patient becomes physically aggressive and attempts to harm himself/herself or staffers.
Symptoms of psychosis. Here, cocaine is the addiction most likely to bring this serious effect from withdrawal. Abuse in excessive amounts can result in paranoia and even full-blown psychosis. This may involve visual and/or auditory hallucinations and/or delusional thinking. If you have a co-occurring mental health disorder, such as schizophrenia, or a lack of sleep due to stimulant use, this can also bring about an episode of psychosis, resulting in erratic behavior. The rehab center knows how to handle this and treat it.
Injury. Users of phencyclidine, or PCP, are particularly at risk for injury. PCP can cause feelings of increased strength and invulnerability, which often leads to users putting themselves in harm’s way thanks to the drug-induced misperception that they won’t get hurt. They’re also at an increased risk for suicidal behaviors.
Medical illness. While some individuals addicted to opioid painkillers started taking them for “kicks” in the beginning, many others become hooked when they are prescribed these pills to handle chronic and debilitating pain. What starts as legitimate usage, soon evolves into an addiction where the abusers become hooked on the opioids for more than just pain management. As the patient begins to Rehab from the prescription opioid, he or she will not only experience withdrawal symptoms, but quite likely the return of his/her severe pain as well. The rehab center needs to be aware of the situation, then they can treat the pain appropriately as well as addressing the withdrawal symptoms.
Threat to self. Withdrawal from some addictive substances can bring about severe depressive symptoms that can lead to suicide or a suicide attempt. This can leave the patient severely injured even if they are still alive. The rehab center must first deal with the suicidal thoughts and tendencies. Withdrawal from some addictive substances can bring about severe depressive symptoms that can lead to suicide or a suicide attempt. This can leave the patient severely injured even if they are still alive. The rehab center must first deal with the suicidal thoughts and tendencies.
Determining which withdrawal symptoms Rehab will bring on varies from patient to patient and depends on which drugs were being abused, how long the patient had been on the drug, and how much of the drug the patient was taking daily. Withdrawal can lead to mood swings, irritability, agitation, sleep disturbances, chills, sweating, tremors or shaking, as well as flu-like symptoms, including runny nose and headache, nausea, and vomiting. The patient’s craving for the drug he/she is Rehab from will grow stronger as a response to the withdrawal symptoms and a desire to stop them.
Here’s a listing of some withdrawal symptoms specific to certain types of drugs:
Alcohol and benzodiazepines, such as Xanax and Valium. These drugs have very similar withdrawal syndromes. This is due to their similar mechanisms of action.
Anxiety
Agitation
Hallucinations
Tremors
Seizures
Opioids, such as heroin and painkillers.
Muscle aches
Bone and joint pain
Increased sensitivity to pain
Gastrointestinal distress
Stimulants, such as cocaine and meth.
Depression
Suicidal thoughts and behaviors
Marijuana (Yes, it can be addictive and lead to withdrawal symptoms upon stopping.)
Aggression
Anxiety
Depression
Physical symptoms such as fever, sweating, tremors, and stomach pain.
“Bath salts” (synthetic cathinones)
Tremors
Paranoia
Sleep disturbances.
Depression
Ketamine
Depression
Anxiety
Regardless of which drug the patient is Rehab from, an experienced medical facility is always the best and safest option. There, trained personnel can deal with withdrawal symptoms, any co-occurring mental health disorders, suicidal ideation, and any critical physical issues that might occur.
Outpatient Rehab. This is rarely recommended, in part for the reason concerning the physical withdrawal symptoms and other dangers outlined above. It might, however, be a good option in relatively less severe cases of addiction, especially if a methadone clinic is involved. Patients are required to check in regularly with the treatment team and possibly receive medication available by prescription if there is no methadone clinic involved.
Outpatient Rehab is most often sought in one of these cases:
Cost of inpatient Rehab is beyond the patient’s means.
Patient has work or family responsibilities such that they must remain available to go to work or to stay home and care for one or more family members.
Inpatient Rehab (Residential Rehab). This is the most frequent recommendation as it is the best option to avoid relapse on the part of the patient and ensures that medical care is present to help the patient should he/she have a medical emergency as a result of the withdrawal.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has approved certain medications for use in treating opioid addiction—heroin or prescription painkillers. These medications, buprenorphine and methadone, can help to alleviate the symptoms of withdrawal from opioids. They are administered to stabilize the patient, then gradually tapered off so that the patient does not suffer withdrawal symptoms from ceasing the medication.
Since heroin is relatively short acting, withdrawal symptoms will appear within hours after the last dose, but also disappear quickly—perhaps within a few days. On the other hand, opioid painkillers have a longer activation life. Withdrawal from them may not produce withdrawal symptoms until a few days after the last dose and may last for weeks.
Quitting drinking after heavy abuse of alcohol can lead to both potentially life-threatening as well as non-fatal withdrawal symptoms. The latter symptoms include:
Sweating
Shivering
Anxiety
Slow movements and thoughts
Nausea or vomiting
Insomnia
Delirium tremens is a medical emergency that can arise when the drinker has consumed alcohol heavily and for a prolonged period of time. Although it occurs in fewer than 10 percent of those withdrawing from alcohol, it can result in death if it goes untreated. Some symptoms of this condition include:
Hallucinations
Seizures
Confusion or disorientation (delirium)
Agitation
Changes in mental function
Deep sleep that lasts for one or more days
If someone you care about is Rehab at home on their own from a serious alcohol addiction (not recommended), get medical help immediately if any of these symptoms are exhibited and see that they receive medically supervised Rehab immediately. The drugs of choice to help someone withdraw from severe alcohol addiction are benzodiazepines (also used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and seizures).
There are some drugs that, while they present few significant physical withdrawal symptoms, can cause intense psychological withdrawal symptoms. For example, Rehab from stimulant drugs like meth or cocaine can result in serious depression and suicidal thoughts. Patients Rehab from one of these drugs are strongly urged to get clean on an inpatient basis. This is primarily so they can be monitored and helped if there is depression or suicidal thoughts. Secondly, they are not able to relapse and get high again. Finally, they cannot cancel a therapy session, other appointments, or simply fail to show.
Patients in medical Tennessee Rehab Programs stop taking all substances, including alcohol, even if they were not abusing alcohol. The medical staff will address the patient’s specific withdrawal symptoms, one by one, to ease discomfort. A patient who has a tough time sleeping might be prescribed a non-addictive sleep medication. A patient experiencing bone aches or muscle pains could be given a pain reliever. Medical personnel are on hand to ensure that the patient has what he or she needs to get through Rehab with as little discomfort as possible.
Patients Rehab from alcohol are often given benzodiazepines either on a regular schedule or on an as-needed basis as they aren’t dangerous to take. Benzodiazepines can treat or prevent seizures and delirium. While they shouldn’t be taken long-term, they’re a good and safe choice in helping a patient Rehab from alcohol.
Treating a Rehab patient who has abused opioid drugs, such as heroin and prescription painkillers, may involve taking medications for a longer term. Options include methadone or the drug combination buprenorphine and naloxone (Suboxone). This helps alleviate withdrawal symptoms. Eventually, the prescriber will lower the dosage for the patient until he or she is drug-free.
Prospective rehab patients sometimes ask if it’s possible to go through drug Rehab at home. While it is possible, it’s not recommended for the following reasons:
An individual who becomes physically dependent on drugs or alcohol undergoes certain changes in his/her body. The body expects the individual to maintain a certain supply of the substance in the bloodstream. If the individual abruptly stops supplying the substance, withdrawal symptoms set in. Certain factors affect how dangerous these symptoms may get. These factors include:
• What type of drug the person is abusing.
• How much the person was taking.
• How long he/she has been abusing the substance.
• What other drugs (including legitimate prescription meds) he/she is taking.
• What co-occurring medical problems he/she has (including problems he/she may not even be aware of).
Depending on all of these factors, Rehab can be medically dangerous or even deadly.
Drug & Alcohol Treatment advisors are standing by at 1-888-992-7955 to help callers with their circumstances. Call now and get the help you need!
