Drug Withdrawal: Common Symptoms, Signs, and Detox Process

Drug Withdrawal: Common Symptoms, Signs, and Detox Process

Drug withdrawal is a mental response to an instant quitting of a substance you have been using. If you drink alcohol regularly, your brain will adjust to its presence and eventually become dependent on it to function normally.

If it is not medically supervised, withdrawing from a particular drug or alcohol can be severe, and in some cases, it can cause death. Therefore, it would be safe to visit a drug detox center for medical help to quit using certain substances or alcohol. Here are the common withdrawal symptoms, signs, and detox processes.

 Causes Constant Sweating

Most people will experience constant sweating at night a few hours or days after their last drink. Alcohol intake increases heartbeats causing the blood vessels in your skin to widen, which in return makes your skin feel warm and flushed, triggering the release of sweat. Although people tend to feel warm after drinking, too much sweating removes heat from your body, making you feel cold.

It is best to know the risks associated with constant sweating. For example, you are at risk of developing hypothermia during the cold season or suffering from severe dehydration during hot seasons, which causes dizziness and nausea. Although the sweating is temporary and should last only for a few days, it would help to visit a drug detox center for medical monitoring.

Can Cause Headaches

When your body gets used to a particular substance, failing to use it can cause headaches, which should resolve within a few months, although you should expect the headache to worsen before you can get better. Additionally, drugs that result in medication overuse for headache also have withdrawal symptoms such as vomiting, restlessness, nausea, and constipation.

Transitional therapy is recommended to help elevate the headache and side effects associated with drug withdrawal. The treatment includes non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or corticosteroids.

Can Cause Anxiety

Anxiety can be worse during withdrawal than normal nervousness; it is physically and mentally uncomfortable. You feel scared; sometimes you can’t catch your breath or feel like you have a heart attack; all you can do at this time is to remind yourself that you are safe and try to calm yourself.

However, if these symptoms intensify or are accompanied by other physical signs, seek medical attention immediately. It would also be wiser to visit a drug detox center before quitting the use of substances or alcohol where you can get proper medical assistance to ease the withdrawal symptoms.

Medically Supervised Detoxification

Detoxification refers to cleaning the body from traces of the substance you have been using and monitoring your condition. It breaks your body’s dependency on the substances, leaving your body and brain ready for healing. Several medications are used for detoxification to make the process easier, but each type of addiction has a different medical detox.

Therefore, it is vital to have a clinician or a doctor help you manage the detoxification process. They will administer the proper medication such as medication-assisted treatment and help you through the withdrawal process. It also helps prevent relapse and other complications that may result from withdrawal symptoms.

Final Thought

Quitting the use of drugs or alcohol is an excellent decision, but doing it the right way is wiser and safer. If you plan to abstain from your addictive substances, consider visiting a drug detox center for supervised detoxification.