Home Detox: Benefits, Limitations and When to Avoid it

What is the cost of home detox? Wrong question!

The question should be: Is home treatment the right option?

Home detox from addiction is possible. Well for some, anyway. Many people also wonder about the cost of home detox and what factors may influence it.

It is not available to all and has a narrow window of use, mainly for alcohol addiction.

For those at the lower end of the alcohol dependency spectrum, treatment at home is possible.

It is possible to have treatment at home for mild- moderate cocaine use.

In total, there are very few instances where home treatment is a viable option.

Alcohol Home Detox

There are national clinical guidelines on who can have an alcohol home detox.

The exclusion criteria are there for safety. When you have a detox is not just a matter of taking a few pills, it is a significant intervention that has to be planned in advance with suitably qualified and experienced clinical staff.

Normally, the following exclusion criteria apply:

• Consuming over 30 units a day
• Previous alcohol detox within the last 6 months
• History of alcohol withdrawal related seizures
• Adverse blood tests
• Addiction to other substances
• Certain prescribed medications
• Severe mental illness
• Recent history of self harm
• Lack of support in the home

There is very little room to manoeuvre.

Benefits of Home Addiction Treatment

If you are having treatment at home you won’t need to travel or be with strangers.

There are no groups to go to, no having to explain your dietary and religious needs to the chef. No one will be monitoring you while you sleep (safety feature in the first few days of rehab) and no one will be checking your possessions for alcohol and drugs.

For those who work from home (or can temporarily while they are having treatment) they can continue to do their job while having treatment.

Having treatment at home means not having to explain an absence.

You can arrange therapy sessions to fit in around you.

Cost of home detox: Limitations of Home Addiction Treatment

Home addiction detox treatment rarely works.

It is a quick fix similar to putting a plaster on a hole in a bucket.

Sure, the detox may be successful but what it won’t do is help you deal with cravings.

After a detox, it can take your brain months to readjust.

Those who have been in rehab before often think they can treat themselves at home with some medication. Nothing could be further than the truth.

Would you try and remove your own appendix with some antiseptic and a penknife?

Cost of home detox: Most Home Detox Companies Are Illegal

Sadly, the majority of home detox companies offer their services illegally.

There are no companies, in the UK, that have registration with the local government regulator (for England this is the Care Quality Commission) for home detox.

This doesn’t mean you can not have treatment at home, legally, but it is a little complex!

When a doctor who works in an addiction service that has registration (and that doctor is on the specialist register held by the General Medical Council) that doctor can provide home treatment. They do not need separate registration.

The second someone else becomes involved in the process, separate registration is needed. Thus doctor must provide every aspect of the process.

Why do companies provide illegal treatment?

Profit.

These companies will charge you over £1,800 for £20 worth of pills.

You will be lucky if you get a 20 minute call with someone who is prescribing: illegally.

While the person you speak to may be licenced to prescribe medication in their workplace, they are not allowed to provide this service.

No one will come to your home.

You won’t be breathalysed before you commence your medication so you could be putting yourself at risk (too much alcohol in your blood and the medication could render you unconscious, at best.)

If anything goes wrong, you are, literally: on your own.

The person who answers the phone is a salesperson working from a laptop in their kitchen (or from a beach in Thailand). They have sales targets to meet.

They will demand full payment before your illegal assessment and prescription.

In the rare event that they decline treatment, good luck waiting for a refund!

Cost of home detox: When to Avoid it

Home detox has very poor outcomes.

If you don’t relapse by the end of the first week, you will be lucky.

Treatment at home simply doesn’t provide all the aspects necessary to recover.

Without the therapy to deal with why you are drinking, relapse prevention work and aftercare, you will not succeed.

It is a nice idea to be able to stay at home, in familiar surroundings, pop a few pills and cure your addiction. The reality is far, far, different.

Residential Rehab Can Cost Less than Home Treatment

It is a common myth that home treatment costs less than residential treatment.

While most centres will not admit someone for less than 2 weeks, some will provide short term admissions for 7-10 days: if appropriate.

It can cost less than pills in the post.

Cost of home detox: Get Free Advice From An Experienced Addictions Clinician

You can get free, independent and confidential advice from an addictions clinician.

We do not charge for advice or treatment referrals.

Our service is registered with the Information Commissioners Office.

We only signpost to legally registered services.

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