Medical detox

The first step in recovery from a chemical dependence.

Symptoms of withdrawal are deterrents in addiction recovery, which is why our medical detox program ensures your safety and comfort as you take your first steps into recovery, and leap towards a better life.

Medically-Assisted Detoxification

Medical detox is the first step in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction. Detoxification is a process of cleansing the body of toxins from addictive substances. The first step in detox is to stop using the substance in question. This can be difficult—sometimes even dangerous—without professional medical help. That’s where medical detox comes in. Medical detox involves supervising a person as they stop using a substance and providing them with medical support and care throughout the process.

This may include things like:

Managing withdrawal symptoms
Monitoring vital signs
Providing emotional support
Administering medication to help manage symptoms or reduce cravings

Same-Day Admissions Available.

If you or a loved one is ready to enter a medical detox center now, we do have availability. Give us a call to secure your spot— we only accept a finite number of clients, as to maintain a low client-to-staff ratio.

Start Your Consultation at (866) 951-5091

Who Would Need a Medical Detox?

A medically-assisted detoxification process is a medical necessity in most cases of prolonged drug or alcohol abuse.

Stopping the use of drugs or alcohol can be uncomfortable, dangerous, and even life-threatening. This is because prolonged substance abuse affects your brain, body, nervous system, and vital organs.

When you abuse drugs and alcohol, your body and brain become used to and even dependent on those substances. Drugs and alcohol change the way your brain functions both short and long-term. The most startling truth is that drug and alcohol abuse have the ability to affect the way you think and act, whether or not you’ve taken a drug or drank alcohol that day. With prolonged drug and alcohol abuse, you end up re-wiring your brain’s reward system and your body’s physiological needs. It takes a rigorous therapeutic approach to restore your brain and body back to equilibrium, but there have been countless studies that show this is possible for those who engage in treatment and are dedicated to their own success. Typically, around the 14-18 month mark of total abstinence from drugs, your brain will begin to resemble its original state of healthy activity (NIDA, 2020).

To better understand the effects of drugs and alcohol on the brain, please watch the clip below with Dr. Bobby Kasthuri, a neurologist from the University of Chicago.

These changes in the brain can affect the following:

Behavior
Decision-making
Judgment
Self-control

When you cut off the supply of alcohol or drugs, it throws your brain and body into shock. That’s because the absence of substances leaves chemical and neurological imbalances. Detoxing from a controlled substance usually requires urgent and specialized medical assistance to ensure your well-being. For this reason, quitting cold turkey—suddenly, and especially on your own—is never a good idea.

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Medical detox puts you in the care of healthcare and psychological professionals. They monitor your progress, help keep you comfortable, and give you medical help if you need it.

Substances that require a medical detox

DISCLAIMER: We do not intend to diagnose or provide medical advice through the content on our website. If you or someone you know is in need of medical advice or attention, please contact emergency services or a licensed medical doctor immediately.

Medical Detox at Footprints to Recovery

24hr medical monitoring

In addition to our doctors who oversee your medical detox protocol, we keep you safe with a full 24 hour nursing staff who will be there to monitor your progress, check your vitals, and administer medications after-hours.

Chef-prepared Meals

A private chef will prepare three meals per day for you and is able to cater to any dietary restrictions or preferences you may have. With his own knowledge of nutrition, our chef has ample experience in knowing how to help the body's healing process with whole foods.

Private living quarters

You will have your own en-suite bathroom for your privacy, which will be sanitized and cleaned by our janitorial staff on a daily basis, just like your bedroom.

Medication

We offer medication-assisted treatment through all levels of care here at Footprints. During detox, we provide medication to offset your symptoms of withdrawal, for a comfortable experience.

Licensed Professionals

Highly-educated and accomplished professionals run our medical and clinical operations. Board-certified medical doctors who specialize in addiction medicine, as well as doctoral clinicians with a range of specializations, will be on your team throughout the recovery process.

Sanitized & Clean

Our medical detox facilities are cleaned by janitorial staff daily, with common areas like our kitchen and lounge sanitized multiple times per day.

How do I know if I am physically dependent on substances?

If you have been using drugs or alcohol for an extended period of time, physical dependence on that substance is typical. Physical dependence on drugs or alcohol has markedly different signs and symptoms depending on the substance you have been abusing. Commonly, physical symptoms of withdrawal will occur 6-12 hours after your last use of the substance. Withdrawal symptoms are variable and so are their intensity.

Multiple factors can impact the type and intensity of your withdrawal symptoms:

The type of drug you’ve been taking regularly
If you used multiple substances
Your level of dependence – Which can be influenced by:

How long you’ve been taking the drug
The size of the doses you regularly take
The way you take the drug (injection, inhalation, snorting, orally, or smoking it)
Biological and genetic factors, such as your metabolism and a family or personal history of drug dependence and/or addiction
Whether you also struggle with a co-occurring mental illness (dual diagnosis) or a medical condition
Abuse of several different types of drugs

The longer and more frequently you used drugs or alcohol, the more severe your symptoms of withdrawal tend to be. If you have been taking a lot of drugs for a long time, your level of dependence is probably high. Because drug tolerance increases over time, you need higher doses to get the same effects. Since your body needs the substance to function, your detox process will take longer. With treatment at our medical detox center, your symptoms of withdrawal will be treated to eliminate the physical discomfort that they can cause. We also set you up with individual and group therapy sessions immediately, so that you are able to process the mental and emotional symptoms involved in this process.

Can I quit “cold turkey”?

Quitting cold turkey is never recommended. Most substances can produce extreme symptoms of withdrawal if you were to abruptly stop taking them.

For alcohol, if you experience “morning shakes” or feel generally ill when you wake up, your body is likely dependent on alcohol. For those physically dependent on alcohol, if you were to stop drinking alcohol suddenly, you are at risk for experiencing major health conditions like a grand mal seizure and/or delirium tremens (DTs), which is a condition that encompasses severe withdrawal symptoms (i.e. dangerously high blood pressure, violent shaking, hallucinations, fever, etc.)

For benzodiazepines, there are a few factors that will impact your propensity for physical dependence. These factors include: your frequency of use, your duration of use, and chemical content of the benzodiazepines you have been using. There will be a difference in dependency and treatment protocol if you have been prescribed prescription benzodiazepines, have been taking another person’s prescription, or have been purchasing benzodiazepines illegally. These three scenarios can result in a different detoxification protocol, as many illegally obtained benzodiazepines have other chemicals (and drugs) within them for example. The impact that genuine benzodiazepines can have on the body is nearly identical to the symptoms of withdrawal experienced from alcohol— meaning, discontinuing use of benzodiazepines is life-threatening if a physical dependence has been established.

For opioids and opiates like prescription painkillers, fentanyl, and heroin, quitting cold turkey has notably low success rates in a person’s ability to maintain sobriety. The discomfort coupled with intense cravings, feeling ill and like your skin is crawling, typically results in using shortly after your detox starts. For this reason, we use medication during our medical detox process to eliminate symptoms of withdrawal, making the process immensely more comfortable for you and simultaneously increasing the likelihood of sustained recovery.

Quitting any substance that you have been taking for an extended period will have an effect on your body. This is why our medical doctors will devise a customized detox protocol for you after a blood test, assessment, and around-the-clock evaluation. We provide medications (controlled and over-the-counter) to manage your symptoms of withdrawal and consistently check your vitals throughout the entire process. With over a decade of experience, our medical detox program is safe, comfortable, and effective.

Please note that a medical detox is recommended to anyone who meets the criteria for a moderate to severe substance use disorder (SUD).

Check your insurance coverage right now.

No strings attached, no obligations, just information and a roadmap to guide you through this. Our team will coordinate your care, all you need to do is take the first step.