When a person is addicted to alcohol, drugs or other substances, often, neither the addict nor the family understands the true nature of the problem. Even to the addict, addiction can seem like nothing more than irresponsible behavior. Many families are often not clear why treatment isn't offered at a regular hospital, or why treatment should be as complicated as it usually is. Our experts in drug rehab in McAllen often see how a lack of clarity results in poor levels of commitment.
The truth is that addiction is a mental and medical condition unlike any other. This is the reason treatment is offered at special facilities. The better you understand addiction, the better you are able to get the most of these special facilities.
Addiction is brought on in the brain by prolonged exposure to high levels of drugs or alcohol. Such exposure brings about major physical change in the brain: the mind of the addict is no longer able to exercise free will in the area of drug or alcohol use, and the brain becomes chemically dependent.
Stopping drug use is not a simple matter. Our medical detox in McAllen denies a dependent brain the chemicals that it has learned physical reliance on and can bring about serious symptoms. Seizures, convulsions, erratic blood pressure and pain are common. It takes close medical treatment and supervision to ensure safe exit. Addiction comes with another problem not seen in other medical conditions — psychological dependence.
With the changes to the brain brought about by addiction, the mind no longer clearly sees the dangers of use, craving the substance of choice with intensity no non-addict is able to fathom. For this reason, cooperation in treatment can be hard to come by. Only a drug rehab center with facilities in place to help patients in their journey out of this unique state is able to help.
While every addiction is different, certain features such as cravings or the presence of withdrawal symptoms are common to every kind. The intensity of the withdrawal symptoms felt may differ from one substance to the next, and treatment needs to be designed to be sensitive to these peculiarities.
Addictions to both alcohol and heroin can be extremely serious in the intensity of the withdrawal symptoms that they cause. Withdrawing from the drug rehab for alcohol addiction in McAllen can diminish the effects of fatal symptoms like delirium tremens and seizures. Heroin withdrawal can come with extreme anxiety, depression, breathing difficulties and erratic blood pressure. Intense cravings are common to both.
For anyone not familiar with the way addictions work, it can be hard to understand how serious these symptoms can be. When put together with the low level of self-control that comes with addiction withdrawal, these can be impossible for a recovering addict to handle. At our drug rehab in McAllen, we believe that the more you read and familiarize yourself with them, the more empathy you will begin to feel for the terrible experience that withdrawal is.
Drug addiction rehab is important. It needs to be at a medical facility where specialists bring to bear the specific training and experience that they possess in the peculiar challenges faced in recovery from addiction. It's important, however, to find a rehab approach that works for you.
While escaping addiction does require the medical expertise of a licensed drug rehab treatment center, there is more than one kind of approach to take. It's possible to accept treatment on an outpatient basis, going in only once a day. It is also possible to choose the more involved approach known as inpatient treatment. Each form of treatment has its benefits and downsides.
From a treatment perspective, the inpatient approach is the far superior option. If your loved one is deeply addicted, it can take close supervision night and day to ensure that every troubling withdrawal symptom is medicated and corrected, and that there is never a chance of cheating on the abstinence requirement. The warm and friendly professional support for the depression, anxiety and despair that come with withdrawal, can be lifesaving. With the higher standards of medical care available in our inpatient rehab in McAllen, the success rates are far higher.
There are downsides to inpatient treatment. It requires that the patient be able to take a break from his life, and check in to be treated. Treatment can be 3 to 4 times as expensive as outpatient treatment, as well. For addicts who have full-time jobs, it can be difficult to get off work for such lengths of time.
Outpatient treatment offers little of the supervision and support that is important to success in a rehabilitation effort. But it costs less, and is able to work for those who have a job to go to. It may be workable for patients who are lightly addicted, highly motivated and unlikely to cheat. For everyone else, inpatient treatment offers the greatest chance of recovery.
If you are unfamiliar with drug rehab programs and their complexities, it's important that you learn about them before you make a move. A call to one of our experts in drug rehab in McAllen can be an excellent way to start. Call us today at (877) 804-1531.