 A question that I get all the time is how long does drug withdrawal last so in this video we're going to talk about that and I'm going to give you some answers but make sure that you stay tuned to this entire video because I'm going to give you some suggestions as to how to speed up this process just a little bit so stay tuned. What is up everybody this is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution and welcome to another beautiful day during mental health awareness month and yeah in this video we're going to be talking about drug withdrawal all right I know a lot of you come here for addiction recovery stuff some of you are trying to get clean some of you are worried about how long drug withdrawal is going to last and by the way I'm going to talk about some very very important stuff so make sure that you share this video because someone out there might be afraid to get clean because they don't know how long withdrawal will last. I want to start this video by talking about what is drug withdrawal what is it and how does it happen all right so just some basic science about this thing is the human body is always trying to maintain equilibrium okay it's always trying to find balance so with all of your organs and like your nervous system and all these things like whatever you are taking into your body your body's like oh what's this okay I got to adjust a little bit so when you start using anything in excess your body has to readjust to find a new normal so this is why you can even have like caffeine withdrawal or sugar withdrawal if that's something that you're taking in constantly so when you're using drugs or alcohol even your body is trying to regain this equilibrium so it's like okay well this you know guy or girl is taking in a lot of drugs and alcohol I need to figure out how to readjust so once that your body finds that new state of equilibrium it doesn't know how to respond when it's not coming into the body anymore so once the alcohol or drugs begins to metabolize in your system the body starts to freak out so depending on what substance you use the withdrawal symptoms can be different so there are certain drugs that have only psychological symptoms of withdrawal or mainly psychological symptoms withdrawal and these are typically stimulants okay so we're talking about different forms of cocaine of meth and things like that that is going to give you psychological withdrawals primarily so we're talking about irritability depression anxiety insomnia and things like that this can even happen with prescription stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin and things like that okay now with other substances you'll have both psychological as well as physical symptoms of withdrawal these are alcohol opiates opioids benzodiazepines this is going to mess up your mental as well as your physical state so what that means is is not only are you going to have the psychological stuff like the irritability the anxiety the depression the insomnia but you're also going to have you know aches and pains you might have nausea you might have the body tremors and be shaken all over the place some people get restless leg when it comes to benzodiazepines there's a high risk of seizure as well just based on what the brain is doing to try to regain balance it can make you seize this is why I always say like get medical help if you are trying to detox like you shouldn't do it on your own because it can be dangerous and just about with any substance across the board there is a high risk of elevated heart rate and blood pressure okay this is another reason why it's always good to get some kind of medical attention I know a lot of people want to do a cold turkey and I get it I did it too but I was seeing a doctor as well and I was on a lot of blood pressure medications so even with drugs like cocaine and meth you know when the body is trying to regain equilibrium there's a lot of stress on the heart because when you're having anxiety for example your your heart is going to be freaking out all right so this is kind of why withdrawal happens you get a bunch of neurotransmitters misfiring in your head and all sorts of stuff happens especially with the nervous system okay so that's what withdrawal is that's why it happens now why you're all here the main the main part of this video the question I always get how long does drug withdrawal last all right so the problem is is that you're probably not going to like my answer and the truth is I don't have an answer for you but don't leave yet do not leave yet because I'm going to give you some suggestions at the end of this video as to how to help speed up the process but I get this question constantly constantly for those of you who don't know me I work at a drug and alcohol rehab center we do detox but I also meet a lot of people who are trying to get clean and they've been off of it for like one two three days a week and they're like how long is this gonna last and I typically try to stay away from answering that question and any ethical professional will stay pretty far away from that question and here's why when it comes to withdrawal symptoms it is completely completely dependent on the person for a wide range of reasons one of them as we just discussed is the substance that you're using depending on the substance that you're using you'll have different withdrawal symptoms the other one is how much you were using okay how much you were using and how long you were using but the biggest one of them all which makes withdrawal unique to each person is your own personal biology your genetic makeup right your history of other illnesses anything else that goes on with your physical body as well as your brain and different symptoms of mental illness withdrawal can be different for other people like for me personally if any of you watch my opiate withdrawal video like the main nightmare of withdrawal was during my first week okay after that the symptoms started to go away I still had like stomach issues for a while and things like that but for me I was very very fortunate to only have a really last like um where it was ridiculously brutal for like a week now for other people I've seen it last for weeks I've seen people also struggle with something called post acute withdrawal syndrome sometimes you might hear this as pause okay so you got to think about all the stuff we've been screwing up in our brain and in our body and the body needs some time to heal and catch up so with pause sometimes like you'll start start feeling fine for a little while and then boom symptoms of withdrawal come back now they're not as bad okay like a lot of the physical stuff is gone but a lot of people experience you know the anxiety depression the insomnia there are some symptoms some people experience like stomach cramping they'll experience nausea they might get restless leg they might get cold sweats but it is not nearly as bad as when you first come off of it all right so unfortunately I wish I can give you like a magic number and this is something I realized with a bunch of us addicts like we want to know when we want to know when we want to know when and I'll make other videos about like what I'm really talking about when it comes to like when is my family going to trust me again when are people going to forgive me for what I did like and the thing is about recovery is that we can't always have an answer for that it's impossible to but the reason why I screws with our head is because when we drank or used drugs we knew I'm going to use this it's going to kick in like that and boom but the reality is life doesn't work like that so we have to be patient the good news is now we're going to get into the good news the good news is I've never met anybody who experienced withdrawal for the rest of their life it never lasts forever it doesn't last forever so while I know that you want answers to this just know this it's not going to last forever okay so use that information as a motivation to stay clean until it goes away all right but now I'm going to give you a few suggestions as to how to make your your withdrawal a little bit easier and maybe speed up the process first one is medications okay medications you're going to have to see a doctor for this so depending on what you're coming off of the most familiar ones that you probably have heard of is like Suboxone and that's for opiates okay so what this does it helps trick the brain into thinking that you're still using and then you gradually taper off this can greatly help with withdrawal I always recommend a shorter taper rather than a longer one because if you're on Suboxone for months and months and months you're going to go through the withdrawal the same way all right same thing with something like methadone all these should be tapered very very quickly and I don't mean like a day I'm talking like maybe like one to four weeks depending on who you are um I've heard of some doctors recommending like like two years like that is baffling to me you should never do that because you're just going to go right back in that cycle and a lot of people end up relapsing on harder drugs like heroin because of it but there are also medications for alcohol withdrawal and basically what happens when you're seeing a doctor for it you get these other medications that not only help with the withdrawal symptoms to make those minimize but they'll also help with other symptoms of like anxiety depression insomnia and things like that like I was on a sleep medication when I first got clean because I couldn't sleep you know what I mean so you should always seek medical help like what I teach my clients is this it is 2018 like we are given a gift that so many people didn't have even 30 40 years ago you know what I'm saying like take advantage of this stuff don't make it harder than it needs to be I also say this to my clients like nobody gives you like a gold medal for doing this cold turkey and without help like we don't have like an annual like addiction recovery like award ceremony and we're like and now for the the best person who did this cold turkey like none of that stuff like who are you trying to impress just go get help from a doctor all right nobody thinks you're cool I'm sorry for the tough love okay now aside from that nutrition nutrition is a big one too so you gotta understand you've done a lot of damage to your body to your nervous system your brain and things like that like eating healthy is going to help if you keep eating junk food you're going to prolong the withdrawal process okay remember like natural foods like stuff that comes from the earth that's not process whole foods these are going to help heal your body and they're also going to heal your mind if any of you saw my video I did the other day um on the book review unblank your brain that doctor Dr. Faith Harper please go check her out on Instagram and her website and stuff because she is like a specialist when it comes to natural remedies and these will greatly help you with withdrawal if not just go google some stuff okay and lastly I'm gonna say movement exercise being physical this is going to help as well okay so when I say this like go for a walk every day get into a very very light fitness class do things like yoga this is going to help regenerate muscle tissue and it will also help to heal your jacked up nervous system yoga is amazing for this okay or do some light aerobics go swimming do whatever you gotta do all right so these are three different ways to help speed up the withdrawal process because I know you're impatient I know you're impatient so when you just want to lay in bed and just in your aches and pains don't get out get moving see a doctor eat right and I guarantee it will get better but like I said to just know that withdrawal never lasts forever all right so anyways please please please do me a favor in honor of national mental health awareness month like please share this video share this video so people know that going through withdrawal is just a very very small piece of time in order to live this amazing life in recovery okay so please share this on social media all right but anyways that's all the information I got for you today so if you like this video please give it a thumbs up and if you are new here I'm always making videos not only about addiction and recovery but also about mental health make sure you click that little round subscribe button if you want to see some more videos on my channel you can click or tap on one of those thumbnails okay thanks so much for watching withdrawal doesn't last forever and I'll see you next time