Cocaine detox can be especially difficult because the amphetamine-like substance is more psychologically addicting than physically addicting. You need extensive therapeutic support from a drug treatment center when you begin searching for options for how to detox from cocaine. There are medications that can help relieve some of the side effects you may experience when you detox from cocaine. But it’s going to be the long-term support, education and understanding you get from a supportive team that will help you stay clean.
Cocaine is a stimulant that can quickly lead to the physical and psychological elements of dependence. Unlike what you experience during opiates detox, cocaine detox is considered to be a more mentally challenging than physically demanding. In some respects, this makes it even more difficult to overcome as an addiction.
Even after the drug has left your bloodstream, cravings can continue for weeks or months. Finding the best drug addiction therapy from a treatment center that knows how to detox from cocaine is essential for regaining your health and well-being. And without help, you’ll find it a strong addiction to break through.
Cocaine strips your will and motivation. It compromises your belief system because it changes the brain’s chemical processes by overstimulating the neurotransmitter secretions. These brain cells begin to deteriorate, making regulation of these neurotransmitters extremely difficult. Your brain is tricked into believing cocaine is essential for living.
Debilitating Effects That Result from Cocaine Use
While most professionals don’t consider cocaine to be physically addictive, many physical changes occur in your body during long-term use. The stress levels your body experiences are high. Many people go days with little or no sleep, causing lowered immune system response, chronic sleep disorders, strain on your heart and illnesses from viruses and bacteria. Other consequences include:
- Improper nutrition and significant weight loss, as cocaine is an appetite suppressant
- Acne and skin sores
- Risky sexual behavior with the possibility of contracting STDs
- Depression and anxiety
When withdrawal from the drug begins, symptoms can worsen to include:
- Stronger periods of depression and anxiety
- Hallucinations and delusions
- Irritability
- Extreme drug cravings
- Muscle aches and pains
- Fatigue and insomnia
- Feelings of rage and anger with an inability to experience joy or pleasure
- Difficulty concentrating
How to Detox from Cocaine
The ideal method for cocaine detox depends on the individual and the level of addiction. Those who don’t experience excessive withdrawal symptoms often find that drug detox off cocaine from home, with support from an outpatient facility such as Pain Physicians NY, to be the best process. This can be the least disruptive, as you can still maintain your work or school obligations for the most part.
More severe addictions that have continued for longer periods of time may require an initial inpatient stay before moving to outpatient addiction recovery services. Common cocaine detox methods include some combination of four different approaches. They include:
Medication therapy
- Desipramine or Diazepam are used for feelings of depression and anxiety.
- Haloperidol is used to help with any hallucinations or delusions that might be present.
- Clonidine helps reduce the physical symptoms of aches, tremors and insomnia.
- Amantadine is beneficial in treating severe cravings.
- Bromocriptine maintains your dopamine receptors.
- Tiagabine, Topiramate and Baclofen reduce cravings to help prevent a relapse.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
- CBT helps you identify areas of faulty thinking patterns that cocaine imprints, allowing you to replace these patterns with healthy coping strategies.
- CBT works to help you understand cues and triggers for drug use so you can develop ways to avoid or minimize these situations.
Contingency management
- Because cocaine stimulates dopamine and the reward center of your brain, finding substitutions can reduce the “let down” often experienced by addicts who cease drug use.
- Contingency management benefits cocaine detox by providing healthy rewards for appropriate drug-free behavior, such as gym memberships, beauty treatments or movie and dinner certificates.
Support groups
- Support groups provide community support for recovering addicts like you.
- Groups, such as Cocaine Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, also place accountability measures between you and using through sponsors and fellow recovering mentors.
- Recovering addicts often need to find a new group of associates to encourage healthy behaviors.
Cocaine Detox Give You Your Life Back
Your search for the best possible cocaine detox method should involve a support system that understands the unique issues surrounding both the physical and psychological manifestations of addiction. Look for one of the addiction treatment centers in Brooklyn that also provides extensive outpatient (IOP) services. IOP services also include relapse prevention techniques.
Seeking help as quickly as possible maximizes your hope for recovery. Pain Physicians NY provides help, guidance and support to get you or a loved one to the other side of cocaine detox with the most up-to-date tools available today. Finding help for how to detox from cocaine for yourself or your family member offers the best option for successful recovery.