The Dangers Of Cold Turkey Detox

What Is Cold Turkey?

Cold Turkey can be treated with Integrated Treatment Program.  Cold Turkey  means suddenly stopping the consumption of the addicted vice, which may include: Overeating, drinking, gambling, overspending, etc. Drinking has become a norm too many people; it has reached a point where it is normal for anyone to drink. Let us back up a little and understand how this came about. The drinking behavior is a reaction to one influence after another taken away cold turkey. One glass is enough to turn a sober person into an experienced drunkard in most cases. Easy, right?

Some individuals find it much easier and enjoyable to be an alcoholic, but that does not stop them from trying to quit by going cold turkey once they witness the effects it had on them. The term detoxification does not refer to only alcohol detoxification; there are many different kinds of detoxifications that people do every day and have in one way, or another turned them into addictions upon cold turkey. Watching is a perfect example of that.

‘Detox’ and ‘Cold Turkey’

Cold turkey refers to stopping the consumption of your vice with no substitution. That vice may include drinking, smoking, drugs, compulsive eating, gambling, and such. An old American idiom that translates to “to speak clearly and plainly” refers to the phrase. Many kinds of words that mean letting go clearly (i.e., as plainly as possible) have been derived from the concept of cold turkey.

It refers to letting the body purge itself of an addiction for some time. When a patient undergoes an effective detox, breaking free from substance dependence cold turkey can be painful and difficult. How difficult is it? How painful is it? According to the HBO’s Addiction Project website, some of the physical symptoms of a patient stopping drug or alcohol use include:

  • Seizures
  • Rapid heart rate
  • Tremors
  • Hallucinations

One of the most severe cold turkey alcohol withdrawal conditions is delirium tremens (literally shaken psychosis). Several to ten percent of all alcoholics die due to this disease if they don’t seek integrated treatment program, and it kills around 35 per cent of them if they don’t seek treatment. The effects occur when an alcohol-dependent brain that had grown dependent on alcohol for years suddenly is suddenly deprived of alcohol cold turkey.

Another Effect of Cold Turkey Alcohol Withdrawal that Web MD lists Are:

What Is Detoxification?

Detoxification – It is the process of letting the body remove drugs and any other toxic substances in it with the help of integrated treatment program. The process and period may vary depending on the amount and intensity of drug usage over time.

Can I Detox at Home?

Quitting at home can be very deadly. Cold turkey without the integrated treatment program can lead to serious issues, which will be discussed below. There are many options to choose from when you visit the health center. Inpatient and outpatient both can be very helpful to help or cushion you from the effects of cold turkey symptoms.

If you choose to have the hospital treatment, you will have doctors and nurses who can talk you through each of these effects.

Factors that Highly Influence the Period in Which One Will Take to Detoxify;

  • Type of substance the user is addicted to – different drugs have different detoxification ways depending on the strength of the substance to the patient.
  • Duration of addiction has lasted – the patient who has taken a long time in alcohol consumption is more likely to take longer to detoxify than their counterparts.
  • The severity of the addiction – the patient’s detoxification period varies with the intensity at which the addiction has meted. This means that individuals with severe alcohol dependency are likely to use intensive processes to detoxify, unlike those with less severe addiction.
  • The method used in drug abuse – smoking, injecting, and drinking- is the most common way patients use drug abuse. Those who use smoking and injecting are more zoned to take longer to detoxify because injected drugs tend to go into the body system much faster and with less hindrance than those who drink.
  • The amount of drug abuse at a time – Detoxification is a process, and the process is mainly dependent on how you intake the drugs or other substances. Patients who consume drugs intensively at the same time affect the time it takes them to cleanse their system from drugs cold turkey. The intense drug abusers take a longer time.

Physical Effects of Alcohol or Other Drug Withdrawal

  • Seizures – some patients experience loss of consciousness during cold turkey which might lead to a comma if not under the doctor’s watch.
  • Rapid heart rate – also known as Sinus tachycardia, which may be normal sometimes and related to common conditions such as caffeine, exercise, pain etc. drug withdrawal also causes rapid heart rates as the body is reacting to the unavailability of the addicted substance.
  • Hallucinations – this false feeling of having tasted, drunk something is amongst the effects of drug withdrawal. More often, patients start fantasizing about drug usage.
  • Pain in the muscles – the body uses a lot of energy during the detoxification period, mainly through meagre muscle pain.
  • Restlessness – much common since the body is reacting to the unavailability of drugs.
  • Night sweats – drug withdrawal leads to an increase in metabolic processes to help the body react to the arousal previously catered for by drugs. To keep up with the energy generated during the process, the body reacts by sweating.

Other Physical Effects of Detoxification Include:

  •      Insomnia
  •      Nightmares
  •      Stomach cramps
  •      Agitation
  •      Runny nose
  •      Trembling/tremor
  •      Sleeping difficulty
  •      Heart attack
  •      Paranoia
  •      High body temperature
  •      Infection
  •      Nausea
  •      Vomiting
  •      Aspiration
  •      Choking
  •      Death

Prescriptions to Help Detox

The pharmacist will usually prescribe anti-anxiety medications to help you relax, so you are less likely to harm yourself or others cold turkey. According to a study published in Medical Pharmacy and Therapeutics in 2010, medications in the benzodiazepine class are the most widely used drugs for integrated treatment program alcohol detoxification.

A Highlight of Benzodiazepines:

  • Diazepam (commonly known as Valium)
  • Chlordiazepoxide (Librium)
  • Lorazepam (Ativan)
  • Oxazepam (Serax)

These drugs greatly take control of most of a patient’s withdrawal reactions, reducing the severity of body seizures, night sweating, trembling, and tremor that accompanies withdrawal cold turkey. There high success rates seen many patients recover from drug withdrawal effects.

What Are the Dangers of Cold Turkey Detoxification?

Imagine going through these symptoms whether you’re in your home or at your job, alone, with only your close family members to help you through this, and who have little or no prior knowledge of what you’re going through when you want to quit cold turkey. To make matters worse, they cannot prescribe benzodiazepines. You need to drink alcohol or do anything to put down the pain, depression, physical and mental afflictions from the cold turkey approach.


These struggles may lead to death if you are not assisted by “support staff” around you, and I’m not referring to the working staff, but rather from your physician who can help you vastly through the withdrawal process cold turkey. In most cases, people refuse to go to rehabilitation centers for medical attention due to the thought of the unknown without knowing that the cold turkey alcohol withdrawal process can be very lethal for their health when no medical personnel aid them during it.

A famous British singer is Amy Winehouse, famous for her refusal to go to a rehabilitation center cold turkey and gave rise to a hit song documenting her addiction and refusal to take the drugs. She passed away in July 2021. As reported. Most alcoholics have found themselves at this point by mainly stereotyping rehabilitation centers.
According to Dr Nora Volkow, the Head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Detox is “the beginning of the road” to recovery from cold-turkey. All about opioid addiction is overcome by counselling; nothing is accomplished cold turkey without that. As the abuser lacks the skills and tools to help him or her escape temptation, he or she is vulnerable to reverting cold turkey to the old drug-abusing habits.

Benzodiazepines and Opioids

It is not only amphetamine that can have a dangerous effect on patients after they stop using it; many medications can have a similar effect when you stop using them cold turkey. People who use medications include heroin, methadone, methamphetamine, Suboxone, fentanyl, oxycodone, morphine, codeine, and even prescription benzodiazepines, are more prone to experience serious withdrawal effects as they detox without integrated treatment program. A study conducted by Psychiatrist Today reports that alcohol, benzodiazepines, and opiates are among the most common medications which can result in death if they aren’t handled carefully and correctly cold turkey.

However, benzodiazepines are abused widely, even though they are rarely given to patients experiencing cold turkey alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The US Drug Enforcement Administration classifies benzodiazepines as Schedule IV depressants for this reason. According to WebMD, drugs are the most prescribed medications in the United States. With less or no knowledge of its side effects, use turns into drug abuse cold turkey when users are not on a prescription.

What is the Procedure for Detoxification?

For detoxification to be successful, the whole package needs to consider the following factors: patient, type of drug abuse, and intensity of abuse (cold turkey).. Detoxification is more likely to be difficult for patients who consume a large amount of alcohol, especially if they experience painful withdrawal symptoms compared to those who use the procedure cold turkey.

Below Is the Highlight on The Procedure Used to Detoxify;

  • Assessment

This is to determine the type of medication and what type of medication to use during cold turkey after the patient has been screened. This is done by screening for the amount and intensity of drugs in the bloodstream, which helps analyze the type of drugs needed in the medication. In addition to answering those questions, cold turkey procedures also look to determine the medical and mental histories of the patient.

  • Stabilization

The next step is to help the patient undergo medical and psychological therapy to help protect the patient from harm through a cold turkey withdrawal. Moreover, doctors can prescribe various prescription medications that take the edge off withdrawal symptoms if patients stop using alcohol or drugs cold turkey.

  • Pre-Treatment Preparation

The final stretch of detox preparation is to walk through a patient all the side effects and what to expect during the cold turkey withdrawal period. Inpatient is much preferred since there is a well-regulated environment for detoxification.

How Can I Detox the Right Way?

There is a need to detox the right way, that is, in a professional setting. Without expatriates’ supervision, patients may face the likelihood of collapsing, injuring themselves or dying due to the body reacting to cold turkey withdrawal of the substance that caused it to work “perfectly”.

With professional help, on the other hand, the medical team and integrated treatment program staff are on hand to make sure that even if detoxification is at its worst condition, the patient is always safe. No one can skip the detox, and there is no immediate access to dangerous substances like alcohol, heroin, or cocaine since cold turkey rules. The body would not be forced to shut down completely, and doctors would be on hand to administer Suboxone, benzodiazepines, or any other medications needed to ease the pain. In such cases, family members may resort to administering medicine to help settle things down to reduce their sense of guilt for letting a patient go cold turkey. In a formal setting, this is inappropriate.

It continues under close supervision and monitoring to the point in which patients are pure and uncontaminated (cold turkey), whereby they are able to completely forget all about the drugs and substance abuse in their old lives. Once it is done, the physiotherapy team will help him correct his behavior and thoughts and guide him to live again without drugs. These patients are mainly taught that they do not need alcohol or other substances to function cold turkey, which is a positive concept.

Risks

Trying to quit on your own can be dangerous because the nervous system has become accustomed to high-dependency drugs such as cold turkey. When these drugs are removed from the body too quickly, they can cause various serious and potentially fatal medical conditions, such as seizures and heart issues. Also, drugs that do not have a strong physical dependence, such as opioids, amphetamines, and nicotine, can cause severe and debilitating withdrawal symptoms, making going cold turkey both unpleasant and mentally taxing.

What are the Extreme Side Effects of Drug Detox?

The First Stages of Detoxification Can Be Very Tough for Some Patients, Which Sees Most of Them Backsliding to Their Former Actions.

  • Violence – Some drugs such as heroin and cocaine may have the side effects of violence, whereby patients may hurt themselves or those around them. Incase this arises, they should be isolated and be given a careful watch until it slows down.
  • Symptoms of psychosis – this is whereby patients may start to have hallucinations, delusions, talking incoherently and agitation. In most cases, patients are not aware of their behavior.
  • Medical illness – sometimes, integrated treatment program may be done without a careful watch on the patient’s medical history. In this case, medical personnel may prescribe medicines that may worsen the situation or make them feel drug misuse.
  • A threat to self. Cold turkey withdrawal from some types of drugs might make the patients a treat to themselves. It is advisable to keep the patients at closer watch to ensure that they do not hurt themselves or those around them.

The Beginning of A New Journey

Nora Volkow of the National Institute of Drug Abuse said that detoxification “is just the start of the road.” Patients who attempt detox on their own may be too caught up trying to get clean, only to realize that they will not get a better cold turkey. The cold-turkey procedure is designed to address an immediate need: overcoming the sense of inevitability that generally accompanies alcoholism or drug misuse. Despite that fact, which is well known that substance abuse is rooted in deep, personal reasons, defining and reducing those “deep reasons” is often neglected. Therapy can help you get past your addiction rather than cold turkey, which is why you may want to opt for psychotherapy.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a staggering 500,000 cases of alcohol withdrawal in the US occur every year, leading to the necessity of integrated treatment program. People who try to kick the drinking habit at home are attempting to make the right decision and don’t do it cold turkey. However, it would be dangerous and short-sighted for individuals to attempt it alone by going it alone.

Instead, feel free to call us 615-490-9376. Our team will be able to help you come up with a integrated treatment program plan that does not require you to take any unnecessary risks as we guide you through a lifestyle devoid of substance as well as emotional abuse. Please don’t hesitate to call us, and we’ll let you know how you can be taken care of on matters Cold Turkey and its Integrated Treatment Programs.

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