Withdrawal Symptoms
Have you decided to finally get rid of that addiction? If so than you might be interested by this article which was just published on the Healthy Living section of the Huffingtonpost blog:
Let’s face it: Any way you look at it, detoxing is not an easy thing to do. Whether you’re coming off cigarettes, sugar, alcohol or crack, who wants to do go through the intense cravings, the sweaty nights of lying awake, chills or the flu-like symptoms that can make you want to crawl up in a hole and die? I have experienced all of the above, and believe me I never want to go through that pain again.
In the early ’90s when I got clean and sober, after having used for years, it took a while for the fog to lift. However, when it finally did, I had a profound realization that was crystal clear: I wanted to help other addicts and alcoholics get clean as well. After taking a series of required courses I got a job as a counselor in a local detox center at Brotman Hospital.
While working there over the course of five years, I met many clients whose lives had been downsized to a pill, a crack pipe or a bottle of Jack Daniels. Others who laid in the fetal position in their beds, swearing they would never drink again. There were our frequent flyers and some we’d never see again.
We averaged about one death a month and those were just the ones we knew about. Others would simply go MIA, and when an addict goes missing, it’s usually not a good thing.
During that time one of the most common questions I was asked was, “What can I expect from my withdrawal?”
Here’s what the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) says about it:
