If you’ve been using drugs or alcohol to excess and express a desire to stop and take ownership over your life while repairing damage done, then quitting cold turkey may seem appealing. Quitting cold turkey may seem easy at first: simply put down the bottle or walk away from the drugs. While your goal is commendable, there are significant dangers to stopping drugs or alcohol suddenly. Before you attempt to quit cold turkey, reach out to the medical professionals at Avedis Detox online or call 833.514.0579 today to discuss how our drug and alcohol detox center can help you begin a safe journey toward a life of sobriety.
Why Is Quitting Addiction Cold Turkey Bad?
Quitting cold turkey may seem like a quick and easy way to detox and halt the damage your dependency has done to your family life, friendships, and your professional life. Remaining at home and free from the judgment of others is appealing for any number of reasons. Unfortunately, quitting cold turkey could bring about extreme withdrawal symptoms. Doing this alone, without around-the-clock care of skilled and compassionate medical professionals, like the team at Avedis Detox, places you at a greater risk of relapsing. Some of the withdrawal symptoms you may experience shortly after quitting addiction cold turkey include:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Muscle pain
- Excessive sweating
- Irregular heart rate
- Higher or lower blood pressure
- Pain sensitivity
- Restlessness
- Mood changes
- Insomnia
Your specific withdrawal symptoms may range from mild to severe, all depending on the drugs you were using and the severity of your addiction. When a person has a substance use disorder, drugs and/or alcohol have become an integral part of how their body functions every day. Their body and mind perceive the substance as necessary in order to function as “normally”. Therefore, as all of the traces of those drugs are removed after quitting cold turkey, your body and your mind both will have to struggle to adjust to this new life, this new normal, this healthier life that does not involve or need the drugs.
This is the natural first step in any recovery from drug use but going it alone, without supervision, can be dangerous. The cravings may be too strong to resist, or the physical toll of quitting cold turkey negatively impacts your body and mind in the long term.
Additional Dangers of Quitting Cold Turkey
In addition to the common detox withdrawal symptoms, quitting cold turkey and stopping drugs abruptly and without medical care can also include dangerous side effects, including:
- Dramatic blood pressure changes
- Tachycardia
- Tremors
- Seizures
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- Coma
There is already a high relapse rate for people who are trying to kick their drug addiction. Self-detoxing by quitting cold turkey without the supervision, therapy, assistance, or support of a skilled and trained team only intensifies the risk of a harmful relapse. Withdrawal symptoms while quitting cold turkey can be so intense that your mind and body will attempt to convince you that it is better to use drugs again to make the pain go away, just this once or only for a little while. Unfortunately, the withdrawal symptoms will not get any easier if you continue to indulge in substance abuse, but they can be managed by medically-supervised care. In addition, a relapse can be extremely dangerous, life-threatening even. There is no need to go at this alone. You want to quit the drugs and get clean; we admire that, and we can help you do it safely and enjoy a lifelong recovery.
Learn More at Avedis Detox
It is great news that you want to break the cycle of dependency in your life but quitting addiction cold turkey is not the best way forward. Contact the team at Avedis Detox using our secure online form or call us confidentially at 833.514.0579 today to find sobriety safely.
