What is withdrawal and why is it important to seek medical help in Washington?

Withdrawal is the set of physical and mental symptoms someone experiences when they stop using a substance they’ve become dependent on. In Washington, Free by the Sea emphasizes that withdrawal can include severe symptoms and potentially dangerous complications; professional medical help ensures safety and symptom relief.

What are some ways to support someone in Washington who is going through withdrawal?

You can support them by offering encouragement and positive reinforcement; spending time with them to distract from symptoms; enrolling in addiction support training; being their emergency contact; and participating in family therapy to help create a strong support system.

What are common withdrawal symptoms someone in Washington might experience?

Common symptoms include insomnia, increased irritability, elevated anxiety, intense cravings, and body aches. These symptoms can vary in severity depending on the substance, duration of use, and individual health factors.

Why is medical detox considered important for withdrawal in Washington?

Medical detox is crucial because unassisted withdrawal can lead to dangerous health outcomes. Medical supervision provides symptom relief, ensures individual safety (monitoring for severe reactions such as seizures or cardiovascular issues), and helps with proper cleansing of the system.

What should someone in Washington avoid when helping a loved one going through withdrawal?

Avoid trying detox alone without medical oversight, ignoring severe symptoms, dismissing emotional support, or avoiding professional help. These approaches can worsen withdrawal symptoms and increase risk of relapse or medical complications. (Note: this is implied from the emphasis on what to do; specific admonitions are drawn from the general guidance.)

How can family members in Washington become more helpful during withdrawal?

Family members can get trained (support training) to understand what withdrawal is like; act as emergency contact; join family therapy; provide emotional support and encouragement; spend time engaging the person in safe activities; and avoid judgment or blame.

What role does emotional encouragement play for someone in Washington recovering from withdrawal?

Emotional encouragement is critical. Positive words and actions from loved ones can serve as strong motivation during difficult moments of withdrawal. It helps reduce feelings of isolation or despair, and strengthens commitment to the recovery process.

How long do withdrawal symptoms typically last, and how does that impact support efforts in Washington?

The duration and intensity of symptoms depend on the substance, length of use, and individual health. Some physical and mental symptoms may begin within hours, and many symptoms can persist for days or even weeks. Understanding that withdrawal is temporary helps supporters be patient and consistent in their efforts. (While the page doesn’t give exact timelines for every case, it emphasizes that symptoms are short‐term as the body adjusts.)

The only way to learn how to help someone going through withdrawals is to seek medical help. We’ll teach you supportive methods you can enact on their behalf. All of which are made effective in conjunction with professional rehab. Here, we outline all the ways you can support someone experiencing withdrawal symptoms during recovery. Here’s how to help someone going through withdrawals and how to maximize your support efforts.

What Happens to the Body During Alcohol and Drug Withdrawal?

Understanding these drug and alcohol withdrawal struggles enables you to maximize your support efforts on their behalf while exhibiting patience throughout the process. It’s vital to understand that the body undergoes severe mental and physiological changes when you stop using your addictive source. These chemical alterations induce physical and mental pains, cravings, and discomforts known as withdrawal symptoms that can make addiction seem insurmountable. As impossible as these withdrawals seem to be to overcome, they are only a short-term effect as your body’s chemical balances normalize.

How Can You Help Someone Going Through Withdrawals?

Our trained experts have family-based training practices to teach you how to help someone going through withdrawals. Correlatively, here are some of the many ways you can actively implement your active support for an individual encountering withdrawal struggles.

Encourage Them

One of the greatest motivators for anybody combating withdrawal symptoms is the words and actions of encouragement. There are few things more powerful than the encouraging words or actions of a loved one. Be sure to make yourself heard as a positive advocate on their behalf. It may be just the motivation they need to overcome their substance abuse and withdrawal hurdles.

Spend Time With Them

One of the biggest accelerants of relapse is too much time left to oneself. Therefore, investing your time in them is the best way to distract their mind from mental and physical withdrawal symptoms. Hang out with them and treat them to a meal or activity. Your invested time during these early phases of rehab can be the biggest impact on their lives and recovery. Not only will this help them through the withdrawal phase, but it will strengthen your bonds with one another.

Enroll in Addiction Support Training

Most people desire to be involved advocates in their loved one’s rehab, but don’t know where to start or what to do. That’s why Free by the Sea has personalized support training to maximize support structure efficacy for your loved one. These sessions help you take a proactive role in your friend or family member’s recovery. Connect with an addiction rehab support training specialist to learn how to help someone going through withdrawals.

Be Their Emergency Contact

Anybody experiencing alcohol or drug-related withdrawals needs emergency contacts when they are experiencing severe withdrawals. Your words, guidance, and company in these moments as their contact make all the difference in curbing these relapse desires. Speak to a trained specialist to become an emergency contact for your loved one today.

Join Them in Family Therapy

Free by the Sea understands the importance of incorporating close friends and family into therapy. That’s because when one person battles addiction, the whole family joins the battle together. Our unifying family therapy programs help everybody heal together as a family unit. Most importantly, being a part of these sessions encourages the addicted party to push through in their rehab journey.

Side Effects of Drug Withdrawal

Several drug withdrawal side effects range from mild to severe. Each of the following symptoms is variable per individual case, with equal fluctuations in symptom severity.

Insomnia

People who begin the drug cessation process will commonly begin to experience problems falling asleep or staying asleep. Hence, frequent nighttime awakenings can occur in conjunction with relapse desires. Thankfully, a variety of sleep aids are available in medication-assisted treatment to improve sleep quality and duration. Speak to our treatment assessment team to see if you qualify for one of our medication-assisted treatment programs.

Increased Irritability

When your body is deprived of its dependent source, you’ll likely become quick to anger. This increased irritability will cause the sufferer to snap back at loved ones even at minor infractions. Thankfully, there are ways to manage these irritability levels with professional training techniques, through anger management methods. Our personalized training methods can help you keep full control of your faculties, regardless of your circumstances or elevated anger levels.

Elevated Anxiety Levels

Experiencing increased anxiety is a normal occurrence as your body and mind begin to stabilize proper chemical and neuronal levels. These elevated stress levels can open the gateway to acquiring several stress and anxiety disorders without the proper treatment. That’s why it’s crucial to never attempt drug rehab alone, as it can lead to irreparable mental and physical damage.

Intense Drug Cravings

One of the most irresistible side effects of drug withdrawals is the cravings to relapse. This is your mind and body’s way of telling you it is deprived of its drug “needs”. However, this supposed need is not a need at all, but merely a mind trick to lure you into relapse. These short-term cravings mean the detox process is working and your body is successfully expelling the drug’s addictive compounds. Once these cravings are overcome, your energy levels are magnified, your cravings are minimized, and in some cases, completely neutralized.

Body Aches

This is one of the symptoms that is radically variable per individual in both location and severity. These body aches and pains are your body’s physical reaction to the absence of your addictive source. They can occur anywhere throughout the body and onset as soon as a few hours after your previous use. However, maximization of this symptom can persist for days or weeks, depending on addiction severity.

Why is Medical Detox Important for Withdrawals?

It’s crucial to stress the importance of never attempting to detox alone for several safety reasons. Here are just a few of the many safety and efficacy reasons professional detox programs are necessary.

Maximum Symptom Alleviation

The only way to get symptom relief is through medical detox. Getting assessed by a professional enables doctors to personalize prescription medications that are specific to your symptoms and substance dependency. Without which, symptoms would be at their peak, likely leading to relapse.

Individual Safety Factors

Medical detox is a necessity for the simple reason that attempting detox alone is dangerous. Serious bodily and mental harm can arise due to personalized body reactions to the absence of the dependent source. These reactions can consist of circulatory or generalized shock, neurotransmitter deprivation, and other harms. All of which can send the body into seizures or cardiac arrest without the proper medical and medication maintenance.

Proper and Thorough Cleansing Processes

Medically administered detox is equipped with cutting-edge tools that ensure adequate and thorough cleansing of the addictive toxin. These tools enable us to monitor progress, symptom severity, and other factors that tell us the detox process is complete. Once this phase is complete, you can advance to the next stages of rehab seamlessly.

Top Notch Medical Support

Aside from family, nothing is more beneficial for recovery and withdrawals than having top-of-the-line medical support. Our unrivaled treatment team supplies exactly that and so much more with our solid support system tactics and encouraging approach. You’ll know you’re in the best hands possible the moment you connect with Free by the Sea’s reception team.

How to Manage Withdrawals

There are some actions you can take to aid detox recovery and minimize withdrawal symptoms. Bear in mind that all of the following withdrawal management methods should be applied in conjunction with professional treatment.

Stay Hydrated

Adequate water intake is a key factor for any detox patient. Water is the fuel that helps stabilize your body’s chemical and oxygen levels. The more you stay hydrated, the better equipped you are at fending off severe withdrawal symptoms. The better hydrated you are through detox, the more it can also help accelerate the detox cleansing process en route to an easier remainder of your rehab.

Exercise

Physical activity is a great way to boost hormonal levels and stabilize chemical and hormonal imbalances naturally. That’s why it’s important to seek out personalized treatment plans. Our trained specialists can set you up with a personalized activity plan suited to your body’s chemical needs and restore deficiencies destabilized by addiction.

Mental and Physical Preoccupation

This simply means stay mentally and physically active, not necessarily through exercise means, but with an enjoyable hobby. Too much time left to yourself opens the opportunity for your mind to dwell on substances, exacerbating cravings and withdrawals. Keeping a consistent hobby proactively replaces these former thoughts and habits with an activity you enjoy.

Withdrawal and Relapse Prevention Techniques

Therapeutic professionals have the best relapse prevention and withdrawal management techniques to help you get through this difficult withdrawal phase. These methods are not just for you. These teachings are to enlighten the whole family on how to help someone going through withdrawals.

Detox Safely at Free by the Sea in Ocean Park, Washington

There’s no safer detox and no rehab more effective than the first-class programs at Free by the Sea. We are your home for first-rate care at affordable prices and maximum insurance flexibility based on your rehab insurance coverage. Don’t let another moment pass without reaching out to us and getting the best treatment you deserve.

Dr. Richard Crabbe

Dr. Richard Crabbe joined our team in 2019 as our psychiatrist and medical director. He attended the University of Ghana Medical School where he became a Medical Doctor in 1977. From 1978 through 1984, he was a medical officer in the Ghana Navy and provided a variety of services from general medicine to surgeries. He received his Certificate in General Psychology from the American Board of Psychology and Neurology in 2002.

Insurances We Accept

Free by the Sea recognizes the importance of having insurance to receive addiction treatment. Let us work with you to provide you or a loved one with premier addiction treatment services. We accept several private insurance plans. Verify your rehab coverage with us today to ensure you receive the support that you need! Find out if you are covered today!