Perhaps one of the most challenging addictions in society today is alcohol. It is considered a socially acceptable “drug”, and it is readily available everywhere you turn. Often by the time people are admitted into a Pasadena alcohol treatment center the addiction has been present for years, making detoxification a challenge.
Typically people, including family members of the alcoholic, don’t realize the importance of choosing a medically supervised detox in a Pasadena alcohol treatment center. They assume that the detoxification process for alcohol is not a medical issue, which really is completely the opposite of what many long term drinkers face during detox.
Withdrawals
The first few days to weeks at a Pasadena alcohol treatment center will be spent in medically supervised detox. This is where the alcoholic goes through what is commonly known as withdrawals. It may also be known as the shakes or the DTs, which stands for delirium tremens. It can include uncontrollable shaking and tremors, visual and auditory hallucinations, confusion, increased heart rate and increased metabolic system functioning.
For a person with a history of daily alcohol use over a long period of time, or very heavy use over even a short period of time, the DTs can be significant. It is estimated that between 1 and 5 percent of these types of people can die during withdrawal, and it tends to be those with concurrent health conditions.
With a medically supervised detox in the Pasadena alcohol treatment center, a licensed medical doctor can provide prescription medications to minimize the DTs and also to assist with any concurrent health issues.
Medical Support
During those first few days at a Pasadena alcohol treatment center, most patients will have very limited appetite and may require additional nutritional and medical support. When a doctor is on site and providing oversight of the detoxification process, the patient is not only getting the medical and nutritional support required, but they are also assessed for other possible complications.
While the detox part of a Pasadena alcohol treatment center is an essential first step, it is only the first step. Without ongoing recovery treatment in an inpatient or intensive outpatient treatment program, the underlying causes of the addiction have not been treated. This typically results in the individual sustaining sobriety until a challenge, trauma or change occurs in life, and then the return to the addictive behavior, undoing all the hard work they have completed.
At ASAP, our medically supervised detox is the first part of our Pasadena alcohol treatment center program. You can transfer from one to the other, giving you the tools you need to lead a sober life in the future.
