NOVUS MEDICAL DETOX CENTERS, LLC
A SAFER ALTERNATIVE TO RAPID DETOX
By Steve Hayes
Director of Novus Medical Detox Center
THE DECISION TO STOP USING ADDICTIVE DRUGS
There comes a time in most addicted people’s lives where they have decided that they must stop using drugs like:
- Heroin
- Methadone
- OxyContin
- Oxycodone
- Vicodin
- Hydrocodone
- Morphine
Most of our patients tell us that they have tried to stop prior to coming to Novus Medical Detox Center for treatment, but the pain was too great and they resumed taking the substance.
Like most of us, they are looking for a way to minimize the pain and the time needed to complete their medical treatment for their dependence or addiction.
RAPID DETOX—WHAT IS IT?
Rapid Detox is a term that refers to one of several procedures that promises to make withdrawal pain-free.
The promise made by facilities that offer this service is simple:
- Come to our facility.
- You will be placed under full anesthesia.
- You will feel no pain or discomfort.
- When you wake up you will be detoxed from the drug.
RAPID DETOX—THE REALITY
A study was done on this procedure entitled “Anesthesia-Assisted vs. Buprenorphine- or Clonidine-Assisted Heroin Detoxification and Naltrexone Induction: A Randomized Trial”, a report produced by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and published in 2005 by the Journal of American Medicine.
In an editorial accompanying the JAMA report, Dr. Patrick O’Connor wrote:
- Anesthesia-assisted detoxification should have no significant role in the treatment of opioid dependence. When detoxification is provided to patients, other approaches using clonidine, methadone, or buprenorphine are likely to be at least as effective as anesthesia-assisted detoxification and also are safer and far less costly.
Dr. Eric Collins of Columbia University Medical Center, a co-author of the study said,
- Anyone who tells you it's painless can only honestly be referring to the period the person is under anesthesia.
RAPID DETOX STUDY FINDINGS
- Three treatment groups were created.
- One group received ultra-rapid detox.
- The ultra-rapid detox group were anesthetized for about four hours.
- During this time, a powerful drug was injected into the person’s bloodstream that forced the patients into withdrawal.
- After they came out of the anesthesia, the patients had to be given additional drugs for withdrawal symptoms like:
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Painful aches in muscles and joints
- Eighty percent of the rapid detox patients dropped out of follow-up treatment.
- Nearly 10% of the patients suffered life-threatening events despite taking very careful safety measures.
The study showed that rapid detox:
- Can be life-threatening;
- Is not pain-free
- Patients' withdrawals were as severe as those of addicts undergoing other detox approaches
- Has no advantage over other methods
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ADDICTION MEDICINE
In 2005, the American Society of Addiction Medicine reversed its five-year policy supporting rapid drug detox, saying the procedure has "uncertain risks and benefits, and its use in clinical settings is not supportable."
ANESTHESIA—THE RISKS
All rapid detox procedures involve the use of a general (meaning whole body) anesthesia to fully and completely knock the person out so that they will not be conscious of the trauma their body is enduring. One of the best ways to understand the risks of anesthesia is to look at an anesthesia waiver required by a hospital. This is an excerpt of one published on the internet by University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas.
DISCLOSURE AND CONSENT FOR ANESTHESIA CARE
TO THE PATIENT: You have the right as a patient to be informed about your condition and the recommended anesthetic to be used so that you may make the decision whether to undergo the procedure after knowing the risks and hazards involved. This disclosure is not meant to scare or alarm you; it is simply an effort to make you better informed so you may give or withhold your consent to the procedure.
I (we) understand that the anesthesia planned for my surgery is _________________________________________________.
I (we) realize the anesthesia may have to be changed possibly without explanation to me (us). I (we) understand that certain complications may result from the use of any anesthetic including respiratory problems, drug reaction, paralysis, brain damage or even death. Other risks and hazards which may result from the use of general anesthetics range from minor discomfort to injury to vocal cords, teeth or eyes. I (we) understand that the risks and hazards resulting from spinal or epidural anesthetics include headache and chronic pain.
Below are definitions and explanations about each type of anesthesia that I (we) have reviewed prior to signing this consent.
- General Anesthesia: Causes a patient to be unconscious during surgery. The medication is either inhaled through a breathing mask or tube placed into the trachea (wind pipe) and/or given through a thin plastic tube inserted into a vein.
- Additional risk of this type of anesthesia includes permanent organ damage, including the brain, heart or other major organs and memory dysfunction/memory loss. Awareness (being awake) during your surgery is a rare complication.
Do you or one of your family members need help?
Call Novus Medical Detox Center Now!
A SAFER ALTERNATIVE TO RAPID DETOX
Novus Medical Detox Center offers a safer and more comfortable alternative treatment.
- Novus patients are conscious and alert—many patients can even continue handling business and family matters remotely.
- No anesthesia.
- Novus uses medications as needed, and patients have the added benefit of nutritious meals and natural supplements to help build up their body so they can recover quickly.
- After completing their Novus detox, most patients will feel better than they have felt in a long time.
- The average stay at Novus is between 5-7 days, often far less than the time required to recover from the effects of the "rapid detox."
- When you leave Novus, you will not be on new medications to handle discomforts created by your detox.
CONCLUSION
There is an old saying that if something sounds too good to be true, it is. Rapid detox sounds like a great solution, but the problems and risks outweigh the detox and treatment offered at Novus Medical Detox Center. For a safer and more comfortable drug detox
CALL Novus Medical Detox Center NOW at
Our counselors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We can help you arrange a safer, more comfortable medically-supervised opiate / opioid detox as the first step toward ending opiate / opioid addiction, dependency and abuse.