Detox is the process of cleansing the inside of the body to get rid of harmful or toxic material that may have been building up in the body. It can be used to describe diets or herbs that may be used to remove toxins from the body as well as a treatment for alcohol or drug addiction. The detoxification of drugs from a person's body means purging the drugs from the patient's body until the drug is no longer in their system and the irritating symptoms from the drugs no longer bothers the patient. Drug detoxification may be excluded from being a part of drug rehabilitation for some illegal substances such as crystal methamphetamine, marijuana, or cocaine because it would affect the body's balance on the dependency of the drugs as it is not only a mild mental dependency but could be a severe physical dependency.

Drug Detox

Drug addiction can occur when the body feels the need to regularly take drugs and withdrawal symptoms when the body reacts to not having the addictive substance may occur. Detoxification of drugs means the reducing of these irritating symptoms under they no longer bother the patient. There is no need to detox drugs that are considered illegal substances such as crystal methamphetamine, marijuana, or cocaine because the body is very much dependant on the substance and may have to go through a period of stabilization first.

Alcohol Detox

When a person becomes dependant on alcohol to the point of addiction so that their body reacts in a negative way to not having them, it is called a withdrawal. Usually the organs in the body responsible for detoxification are the liver and kidney but in many caes of harden alcoholics, they are so damaged that they are unable to perform their functions properly. The first step to alcohol detox is to immediately discontinue the intake of alcohol. Because this may cause withdrawal in several cases, cross-tolerant drugs are have a similar effect to alcohol such as benzodiazepines, chlordiazepoxide, or Lorazepam is commonly used in reducing alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Chlordiazepoxide (Librium) is usually the best choice for dealing with normal alcohol withdrawal. Lorazepam or diazepam are obtainable in injection form for cases where medication by oral ingestion is not an option. the use of diazepam is common but if mixed with too much alcohol, it could actually be fatal so care has to be taken in administering diazepam. The use of medication to detoxify heavy drinkers is also called pharmacological detoxification. The process of detoxification itself can last anywhere from 5 to 6 weeks on average. There are also organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) that helps to give emotional support to those trying to quit drinking alcohol.

Colon Detox

The colon is an organ that has a main function, which is to get rid of and flush out toxic waste from the body. Sometimes when the toxic substances are trapped usually by the build up of drug substances, induced by stress, or infected due to parasitic reasons in the colon, chronic diseases, food intolerance, or malnutrition can occur. Colon detox is the process of clearing the colon and flushing out all the trapped toxins and there are two methods; through nutrional diet and a colon cleanse.