Detoxification, detox for short, is a method of removing toxins or poison which create harmful effects in the body. The type of detoxification to be employed solely depends on the kind of toxins that need to be removed from one's body. Here are the various detoxification types designed to get rid of different kinds of harmful chemicals:
Alcohol detoxification
This method is used to bring back a heavy drinker's system to normal function. This is done by putting an abrupt stop of alcohol intake to an alcohol-dependent individual. Moreover, the alcohol is then replaced with drugs that are cross-tolerant to prevent any alcohol withdrawal effect. However, it is important to stress out that this is not intended to treat alcoholism at all. Moreover, the term alcohol detoxification is an inappropriate name, so to speak, because this process does not actually perform any removal of any toxic substance except it only helps in alcohol cessation.
Drug detoxification
This is utilized to alleviate withdrawal symptoms during the cessation of drug intake. It is also used to control drug intoxication of the addicted individual. Drug detoxification is done using these three steps:
- Evaluation - primarily, the addicted patient undergoes a testing to figure out the kind of substances that are found in the bloodstream. This is necessary in order to establish the diagnosis, at the same time, to find out the behavioral issues of the patient.
- Stabilization - in this stage, the patient is given thorough explanation of the detoxification, treatment and recovery process. Oftentimes, family and other individuals close to the patient are asked to be present during the stabilization as a way of showing support.
- Guidance into Treatment - this is done by giving the patient proper guidance to the actual process of recovery. Since drug detoxification focuses mainly on the physical dependency issues, hence, it is in no way dealing with any of the physiological aspects pertaining to the addiction of drugs. This last step of detoxification is crucial because in order to fulfill the whole drug detoxification process, an agreement from the patient to undergo a drug rehabilitation program should be acquired.
Metabolic detoxification
Every living organism may have harmful substances known as xenobiotic. This is a chemical substance that shouldn't be found in an organism, yet, oftentimes can be found in it. It can be in the form of drugs or poison. In fact, antibiotics are one of the most common xenobiotic found in the body. It may be lessened or ultimately removed through a process called xenobiotic metabolism. This is a process involving the deactivation of xenobiotics and excreting these harmful substances through different routes such urine and sweat. Certain enzymes are essential in breaking down medications that have accumulated in the body.
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is an approach that claimed to remove toxins from the body through herbal and electrical treatments. Although, there is no scientific basis for this type of detoxification, it has already established several forms of therapy such as: contrast showers, body cleansing, water fasting, and many others.
Diet detoxification
Some diets have concluded that the accumulation of toxins in the body which are brought about by the intake of non-nutritious food, over-eating, and taking in of processed food should be removed through diet detoxification. Moreover, almost all detox diet invokes for increase in water intake. That is at least eight glasses of water per day.
Detoxification, particularly body cleansing and detox diets, have become prevalent nowadays. People of different walks of life have come to the point of searching for various ways to get rid of toxins in the body completely. There has been a wide array of cleansing and detox methods formulated and sold in the market. To mention one cleansing agent, there is the Zus health which is designed to remove toxins from the body too.
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