Rapid detox is said to eliminate addiction to opiates, including heroin, morphine and methadone. Rapid detox is also successful for addictions to pain killers such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin and Lortabs.
Advocates of rapid detox defend the programs’ effectiveness, although controversy continues due to the fact that little research has been done comparing rapid detox to traditional detox methods.
Skeptics of rapid detox point out the high cost of the procedure, about 10,000 dollars. Rapid detox is not covered by most insurance companies.
Rapid detox begins when the patient checks into the rehabilitation center. There are approximately a dozen of these hospitals around the country at the present time. Psychological and urine tests are performed to identify what drugs the patient has in their system. Then the patient is given general anesthesia for about three hours and given Naltrexone, which is non-addictive. Naltrexone blocks the opiates from attaching to receptors in the brain. Other drugs that are less risky than Naltrexone are also available. Naltrexone, a derivative of naloxone is an orally active and long acting potent pure narcotic antagonist. Clinical pharmacology studies demonstrated that oral naltrexone at 50, 100 and 150mg effectively blocks the physiological and subjective effects of heroin, hydromorphone or morphine for 24, 48 and 72 hours respectively.
Naltrexone has been known to cause side-effects including delirium and confusion in some people. And there is always some risk when a person is put under general anesthesia.
The patient is given a sedative intravenously to help them sleep. Most patients can go home the next day, but some hospitals keep the patient an extra day. After the detox is complete, the patient continues to take Naltrexone for up to two years. Doctors recommend that patients become involved in a 12 step program or other types of therapy to help them remain drug free and to prevent relapse.
On an average, 75% of patients who use rapid detox stay clean for at least 6 months, and 50-60% stay clean for a year or more.
Rapid detox is not without withdrawal symptoms. Patients claimed to have felt nauseous and had headaches, but the withdrawal symptoms were not as bad as traditional detox. With traditional methods, patients endure 10 days to two weeks of abdominal pain, tremors, vomiting and severe muscle aches.
Detoxification is only the first step in treating substance abuse. The likelihood of relapse is common so the patient must follow up with additional therapies to ensure a complete and full recovery. Addiction to opiates is a problem that won’t go away without the desire to recover, but fortunately, rapid detox can be an alternative to traditional rehabilitation.
By R. S. Wagner