Drug & Alcohol Detox at Abbington House

What detox means here

Detox is the period in which your body adjusts to reducing or stopping a substance it has become used to. What that involves can vary considerably depending on the substance, how you have been using it, your physical health, other medication or substances involved, and your individual circumstances.

For some substances, medication may form part of withdrawal management. For others, there is no equivalent substitute or tapering medication, so support may focus more on monitoring how you are doing, rest, sleep, eating and helping you through the early period without returning to use.

Some forms of physical dependence need particular care when a substance is reduced or stopped. This is why we assess what you have been using before admission and plan withdrawal individually. If you are physically dependent on alcohol, benzodiazepines or another prescribed or non-prescribed substance, get medical advice before stopping suddenly.

What we do not offer is detox on its own. Detox can deal with physical withdrawal, but it does not by itself address the pattern of use, what has been keeping it going or what happens afterwards.

At Abbington House, detox is part of the wider residential stay. The immediate physical problem is managed while treatment begins looking at what kept bringing you back to alcohol or drugs in the first place.

What we help people detox from

Withdrawal is different depending on the substance involved. Some forms of dependence may need medication to manage withdrawal, while others are supported differently. Assessment looks at what you have been using, how it has been used and whether more than one substance is involved.

• Alcohol detox — how alcohol withdrawal is assessed and managed as part of a residential stay.
• Opioid detox — including heroin and prescription opioid dependence.
• Benzodiazepine detox — how withdrawal is assessed and managed where benzodiazepine dependence has developed.
• Cocaine detox — support through the early effects of stopping cocaine.
• Cannabis detox — what stopping regular or dependent cannabis use can involve.
• Ketamine detox — the early stage of treatment when ketamine use has become difficult to control.

We can also help where prescribed or non-prescribed medications have become difficult to stop, or where several substances are being used together. That is common, and the assessment looks at the whole picture rather than treating each substance in isolation.

If you are unsure what applies to you, talk it through with the team.

How detox works at Abbington House

It starts with an assessment. Before admission, we need to understand what you have been using, how much, for how long, your physical and mental health, and any medication you already take. That information helps the clinical team decide whether detox at Abbington House is appropriate and how it should be managed.

Medication is used where clinically appropriate. Some forms of withdrawal may be managed with prescribed medication or a reducing regime. Any prescribing decision is based on individual assessment rather than a fixed schedule applied to everyone.

If you arrive taking a prescribed maintenance medication such as methadone or buprenorphine, that is part of the assessment too. Being on a maintenance prescription is not a failure and we do not treat it as one.

For some people, medically assisted withdrawal from that medication may be appropriate as part of an abstinence-based residential stay. For others, continuing stabilisation with their existing community prescriber or treatment service may be the more appropriate plan for now. We will not ask someone to stop maintenance medication simply in order to fit our service.

Support is available day and night. Staff are present throughout the early stages to check how you are doing, support you practically and make sure changes or concerns are passed to the clinical team.