Addiction can destroy your health. In fact, many people are not ready to get sober until they’ve experienced some serious consequences that impact their daily comfort. Over the past few months, you might have noticed that your health is starting to decline. You might be getting sick easier, or you may just be sick and tired of daily hangovers. The withdrawal symptoms that you experience when you try to quit drugs or alcohol can also leave you worrying about your health. When you are wondering if an alcohol and drug detox will make your body healthy again, you can feel good knowing that dealing with your addiction now can help you regain your health.
You do need to remember that quitting drugs or alcohol can only give you long lasting health benefits if you stay off of them. If you’ve struggled with quitting in the past, then you need to have support during this time. Drug and alcohol detox is designed to help you deal with the worst of your withdrawal symptoms so that you can begin to fix your overall health.
How Alcohol and Drugs Damage Your Body
Drugs and alcohol both contain chemicals that damage your body over time. In some cases, this damage takes years before it is noticeable. For instance, an addiction to alcohol might not reveal the physical damage until you try to quit and experience hallucinations or seizures. Alcohol is also known to cause liver disorders that can include cirrhosis.
Drugs can also damage your liver. Both drugs and alcohol can also lead to issues with your cardiovascular system since they do things such as change your heart rate and elevate your blood pressure. Depending upon how you use drugs, you may also be at risk for lung problems. Simply being drunk or high all the time might also cause you to neglect other aspects of your health. You might be malnourished or in need of exercise. While you might feel like you will never be the same again, it helps to know that most people do improve once they give up their habits.
Why You May Feel Worse Before You Feel Better
Impatience and frustration are two stumbling blocks that can interfere with your sobriety. You need to understand that the beginning of detox represents a fresh start and not a finish line. Your body may still be processing the chemicals that you have ingested when you first entered detox, which means that you will not typically feel an instant sense of renewed health.
Instead, your body must slowly eliminate the toxins from your system. This is usually when people begin to feel withdrawal symptoms such as nausea, sweating and insomnia. While it may seem like you are getting worse, this is actually a good sign that you are finally feeling the first glimpses of sobriety. At a detox center, you can take advantage of having support through this process. Depending upon the severity of your symptoms, you might temporarily need to use medication to feel better. Some people only need to gentle reassurance from the staff that everything is normal. Although this brief period can feel like forever, you will gradually notice that you begin to feel better.
Ways Going to Detox Helps Rebuild Your Health
Detox is the first step toward rebuilding your health. While you are in detox, you learn valuable strategies that help you stay off of drugs and alcohol. You should receive your first counseling sessions while you are in detox so that you can begin to work on learning how to manage any mental health conditions that also contribute to your physical symptoms.
Once you make it through the hardest days of detox, you will be ready to start working on getting healthy again. A comprehensive treatment plan consists of nutritional support that helps you give your body the fuel that it needs to heal. You may also begin to engage in new forms of recreation that help you stay busy and strengthen your muscles at the same time. Without the influence of drugs and alcohol on your body, you should notice that your body begins to get healthier at a rapid rate. Take advantage of your time, but be patient with yourself as well. You can expect your body to continue to heal over the next several months until you finally feel like the person that you always knew you could be in sobriety.
You can improve your health by ending your use of drugs and alcohol. However, you need help to do it right and maintain your sobriety. Give us a call today at 844-639-8371 to talk about your health concerns and find a detox program that helps you heal.