Detoxification is the first step in every alcohol treatment journey. There are different ways to detox, and there are facilities devoted to this part of the process. They’re called alcohol detox treatment centers, and they serve an important purpose. Here, we’ll take you through some of the specifics when it comes to medical detox in St. Louis.
First, we want to start this off with a huge disclaimer: You should get in contact with alcohol detox treatment centers and take the advice of medical professionals who are familiar with your circumstances. One blog post shouldn’t be the only resource you consult about detoxing. Plus, many people need to undergo medical detox in St. Louis, meaning they’re under the supervision of medical staff trained in these things. They’ll help mitigate your symptoms and make sure none of them are dangerous. Entering alcohol detox treatment centers is always going to be the safe choice. Our suggestions here should be in addition to seeking treatment.
As always, a great place to start is talking to your doctor. Don’t make any medical decisions without consulting them. But if you’re just interested in learning some more information about the different kinds of alcohol detox treatment centers and what your options are when it comes to medical detox in St. Louis, then read on.
Detox Basics
Before we talk about the different ways you can undergo medical detox in St. Louis, we’ll take a look at the basics of what detox even is. Let’s define our terms. Detoxification is the first stage in recovery where you have to get all of the alcohol out of your system. During detox, you’re likely to experience withdrawal symptoms. These can include mental symptoms, like increased anxiety, depression, irritability, or mood swings. There are also physical symptoms of withdrawal. Those often include fatigue, shakiness, sweating, headache, insomnia, and loss of appetite. You might additionally experience vomiting, tremors, and rapid heart rate as the remaining alcohol leaves your system.
Withdrawal symptoms can also be much more serious and even life-threatening if they’re not managed properly. The most dangerous symptoms result from a condition called delirium tremens. This is much more rare than the other withdrawal symptoms we’ve listed, and while the symptoms are very serious, they can be managed with medical detox in St. Louis. Delirium tremens is most common in those who have been engaged in heavy drinking every day for several months as well as those who have been struggling with their alcohol use for more than a decade. Watch out for fever, hallucinations, body tremors, and even seizures. Those at increased risk for delirium tremens will need to be under medical supervision as they go through the detox phase, and they’ll usually do that at some form of inpatient alcohol detox treatment center.
Inpatient Alcohol Detox Treatment Centers
The most severe alcohol addictions need to be treated in one of these alcohol detox treatment centers. Like we just stated, delirium tremens can be life-threatening, and the professionals at these facilities can be constantly monitoring your symptoms to avoid any of those most adverse effects. There are different medications they might prescribe, and they’ll do what they can to make the whole ordeal as safe and tolerable as possible.
This is a good fit for more severe addictions, like we’ve said before. It’s also a good idea for anybody who needs to get out of a bad situation at home. If you have lots of temptations and negative influences where you live, then trying to detox there is going to be much more difficult than undergoing medical detox in St. Louis. Plus, you’ll need to consider your whole treatment plan, not just the detox portion. If you think you’re going to benefit from a month or more away from your life and spending the entire time at a
Like we’ve said, you should definitely consult with your doctor and the alcohol detox treatment centers you’re considering before making a decision. Next, we’ll look at outpatient alcohol detox treatment centers and how they can be good options for other people.
Outpatient Alcohol Detox Treatment Centers
This option is there for those who would benefit from some degree of medical detox in St. Louis but don’t need to spend the night away from home. Like other forms of outpatient addiction treatment, clients visit outpatient alcohol detox treatment centers for some amount of time for monitoring and treatment during the day, and then you continue to go about your life as you normally would. The specifics will depend on the program you select.
One example of the possible time commitment, though, would be spending about two hours for an initial visit and then half an hour for every check in after that. You could be spending as little as a week on your outpatient detox program, but keep in mind that this is almost always just the first step in a very long recovery process. That’s not a bad thing; it’s just the nature of addiction.
Outpatient alcohol detox treatment centers aren’t usually a good option for those who have been abusing alcohol for a long time. They’re there for mild to moderate addictions where someone doesn’t need to be monitored around the clock as they go through withdrawal. They can be significantly less expensive than their inpatient counterparts, and that cost is a big deterrent for a lot of people. Always consult your doctor and treatment team, of course, but outpatient options could also be a good fit for someone who has a lot of support at home and can’t leave their responsibilities there.
Next, we’ll look at the third option: Neither.
Forgoing Alcohol Detox Treatment Centers
Some people are able to safely detox at home without supervision from alcohol detox treatment centers, whether inpatient or outpatient. Again, this is not something we would advise without consulting with your doctor first. A medical professional who’s familiar with your health history will be able to give you proper advice about the best way to detox, so don’t just assume you’ll be fine without any kind of medical detox in St. Louis.
Some people with mild addictions can (and do) safely detox without visiting alcohol detox treatment centers, but that doesn’t mean that they receive no support at all. Recovery is a long road. In order to reach lasting sobriety, most people need some kind of ongoing treatment after their detox phase. We’ll talk about all of those options in a later section, but for now, it’s just important to note that even if you don’t have a medical detox in St. Louis and are able to complete that phase on your own, you’ll likely still need some form of medical support for the next phase of your recovery.
Improving your Detox Experience
No matter what types of alcohol detox treatment centers you seek help from, there are certain steps you can take to improve your experience with the program. Of course, we’re always going to advocate for you to be fully invested in your treatment and for you to completely buy into what they’re having you do. You also need to take care of the other aspects of your health while you’re in alcohol treatment.
A critical element of your overall health is your sleep, so try to prioritize a good night’s rest during your time in programs at alcohol detox treatment centers. Adequate sleep can help you be less irritable as well as make you more able to control your impulses. Those are both big pieces of a successful detox and recovery.
Something else you can do to improve your detox experience is eat well. Your diet is a huge factor in your overall health, so you should definitely pay attention to what you’re eating during your medical detox in St. Louis. Your medical team might have some suggestions, and it never hurts to ask for more specific recommendations based on your specific case. But what’s almost always a good idea is prioritizing vegetables, fruits, and whole grains while avoiding processed foods when you can. There’s also some evidence that omega-3 fatty acids can help with withdrawal symptoms, so adding fish and fish oil to your diet might be a good idea. Consult with your doctor before making any big changes, but adding a supplement could enhance your recovery.
So, none of these tips are all that earth-shattering, but they’re still important to keep in mind. Looking after your whole health can help you get to where you want to be, and that includes sleep and diet as well as your recovery journey. Next, we’ll look at the steps people take once they’ve completed the detox phase of recovery.
What comes after detox?
After you successfully complete a program at one of these types of alcohol detox treatment centers, you’ve still got a long way to go before achieving lasting sobriety. Don’t get us wrong, this is a huge achievement, but at the same time, you need to stay motivated and know that your work is far from over. Good alcohol detox treatment centers will strive to create an ongoing treatment plan for you. This can include many different types of treatments — if you underwent an inpatient detox program, then you’ll likely finish out a month or more of inpatient addiction treatment, but if you didn’t spend the night at alcohol detox treatment centers, then you’re likely going to continue outpatient treatment.
Some people fare well with just doing support groups after their initial detox treatment. Those are spaces where other people who are dealing with addiction can come together and share their experiences. Teaming up with people who are farther along in their recovery can be a huge help to those who are freshly leaving an inpatient program. However, always listen to the advice of the medical professionals familiar with your specific circumstances. Many, if not most, people need to go through more than just medical detox in St. Louis. And if they deemed it necessary for you to complete an inpatient detox program, then you probably will be in the facility for at least 28 days to participate in a regular inpatient program. That’ll take you much farther than just detoxing.
The recovery process has a recognizable shape, but it’s by no means uniform. The team helping with your medical detox in St. Louis should be tailoring their approach to your specific needs, and that includes what they recommend for your treatment after the detox phase.
Go over your options for medical detox in St. Louis.
So, you’ve reached the end of this post. You’re now more familiar with the different ways that medical detox in St. Louis function. First, we walked you through what detox even is: The first phase in the alcohol recovery process. We also went over the different withdrawal symptoms that you might experience in this stage of treatment and how those different symptoms can be addressed at alcohol detox treatment centers. Then, we separated those facilities into their two main groups: Inpatient and outpatient. You now know that those with more severe addictions should enter inpatient medical detox in St. Louis, and that outpatient can be a good option for more mild cases.
The rest of the topics covered here were a bit of a grab bag. We talked about how to optimize your detox experience, those who choose to go it alone, and your different treatment options beyond the detox phase. With all of this information in mind, you should be well on your way to starting some discussions about where to seek treatment for yourself or for a loved one.
If you’re looking for some alcohol detox treatment centers to figure out where to start your recovery journey, we here at Harris House would love to help. We offer medical detox in St. Louis. You can read more about our different services here, and if you have any further questions, we’d love to help point you in the right direction. You can contact us here if you need to reach out.
