An addiction to pain pills and alcohol concurrently presents with some significant problems, and as with any addiction, the earlier it's dealt with the better the prognosis and the easier the detox.
People may develop an addiction to alcohol with opiate type pain pills as they use alcohol to increase the analgesic or pain killing effect of the pills or more commonly, they use alcohol to increase the intoxicating effects of the pills.
Alcohol can increase the effects of pills substantially, and unfortunately, though concurrent use increases the pleasure of the high, it also intensifies the entrenchment of the addiction, and makes for a far more difficult period of detox.
The health risks of an addiction to alcohol and pills
The health risks of a combined addiction to alcohol and pills also exceed that of an addiction to either substance alone. Acutely, alcohol and pills can combine together to increase the respiratory slowing effects of the opiate type pill, and in overdose reactions, respiration stoppage and death is a scary possibility.
Pills also increase the risks of acute and chronic liver damage from drinking. Vicodin, the most commonly abused pain killer with its acetaminophen content is particularly problematic, and addicts abusing vicodin alone are at risk for liver damage, and when alcohol is also abused, the potential for damage increases greatly.
With the risks of overdose and death and long term health deficits, as well as all of the social and familial problems that a concurrent addiction can create, it's important to tackle any addiction to pills and alcohol without delay
How to detox off of alcohol and pills
The detox off of pills alone can be very arduous, and is much like heroin in duration and intensity. The detox off of alcohol, although not as uncomfortable, is actually more dangerous, and the symptoms of detox can be so severe as to be lethal. The combination when taken together presents with a detox of particular challenge, and risks to health.
Clinical research has shown that the detox off of alcohol and the influence of the hyperactive neurotransmitter GABA during this alcohol detox, actually has the effect of intensifying and prolonging the pains of opiate detox.
Because the dual detox can be dangerous, and is almost certainly very uncomfortable, most people are unable to detox on their own, and need medical supervision for safety, and for success.
Additionally because of the extreme discomfort of a concurrent detox, and the severe cravings typical of the days of withdrawal, very few people can maintain a resolve to stay off of drugs that they know will take all the pains away. A sequestered detox away from access to drugs and alcohol offers a far better likelihood of success.
It's going to be tough, and you should get some help
Although the detox off of alcohol and pills together is likely to be a very challenging few days, once concurrently addicted there is no advantage to delaying the inevitable, and especially as with every further day of abuse the addiction entrenches and the future pains and dangers of detox grow worse.
You very likely need professional and supervised detox for a safe and effective withdrawal, and detox is of course only the first step to sobriety, and most people will benefit enormously from a following period of drug treatment therapies.
It's going to be tough, but you can do it.
How To Detox Alcohol
One of the most essential aspects of the alcohol treatment in Pennsylvania is the presence of the detoxification phase in it. Detoxification implies the removal of toxin from the body. In this case, the attempt is to remove all traces from the body of the person. Alcohol gets very easily assimilated into the body because it is a liquid and is easily carried in the user's bloodstream. However, that does not mean it gets digested easily too. A lot of the alcohol remains in the person's body, especially in the liver and the kidneys. The alcohol present here is in an incompletely metabolized form. If allowed to remain there. The person will suffer from several problems due to the accumulation of the substance, including the fatal cirrhosis of the liver, which can happen even if the person somehow stops drinking alcohol. Hence, it is very important to implement detox, and the program of alcohol treatment in Pennsylvania understands that.
However, detox is a very difficult treatment to implement. The task is definitely huge; there is an attempt to remove all alcohol from the person's body. This is not possible without making the person abstain from the substance. This, in fact, becomes the first phase of the detox treatment.
Though there are programs for alcohol treatment in Pennsylvania where the detox is provided in an outpatient format, we will confine our discussion to the inpatient alcohol detox here. Here is a brief overview of how the program is conducted.
The program starts by making the person isolated in a treatment center. This is done mainly to keep the patient away from familiar circumstances and even from people they know because these memories can make it difficult for them to come out of their craving for the substance. The idea is to place the person in a completely new and healthy lifestyle of which alcohol isn't a part.
The person is made to completely abstain from alcohol. For a couple of days, this might be all right for the person but slowly, the withdrawal will set in. Withdrawal is the body's way of letting the person know that it needs alcohol to be put into the system. This can take a severe toll on the person's body and mind; in fact so much so that the person might violently want to use alcohol again. It is very important to bring the person out of this situation, because if there is a failure at this point, the person will likely stumble into the addiction again.
The medical treatment providers of the detox will make sure that the person is brought out of this dependency. They will administer a series of prescription drugs to the patient that can bring them out of their condition. One of the most prominent drugs administered in the alcohol treatment in Pennsylvania is Antabuse. As long as the person is kept up on this treatment, his or her craving for alcohol will be mitigated. In fact, if the person takes Antabuse long enough, there will be a complete dislike for the substance created in the mind of the person.
Another important drug is Campral. The main use of Campral is to normalize the patient's body and mind so that no adverse effects are produced due to the sudden abstinence from alcohol. Most detox centers in Pennsylvania use a combined therapy of Antabuse and Campral and sometimes include other drugs such as Naltrexone and Topamax to bring effective treatment solutions to the person.
One of the most vital reasons for the detox in alcohol treatment in Pennsylvania is the fact that as long as the alcohol is not removed from the body of the person, he or she will not be able to come out of the dependency. Alcohol has a tendency to create a craving for itself when it is present in the body. That is the reason one of the main aspects of alcohol treatment is to flush it out from the system completely. In addition, the treatment is important because if alcohol is allowed to remain in the body, it can create severe health complications. In some cases, it has been observed that the health complications already existing in a person's body have been treated or at least reached a sustainable level of existence by making them undergo the detox treatment.
Hence, when you are looking for an option for alcohol treatment in Pennsylvania, you will surely have to consider detox. You will find your substance abuse counselor strongly recommending the procedure too. It is best you look around and select the best center that fits the patient's needs.
Both Christin Shire & Todd Lange are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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