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Detoxification, What Occurs During This Process? - Dr. Pohl (VIDEO)

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More Videos from Dr. Mel Pohl 30 videos in this series

Dr. Pohl describes the detoxification process.

Dr. Pohl:
Detox is really about discontinuing all habit-forming, mood-altering drugs. Basically that’s stimulants, any kind of diet pills or things to wake one up, although caffeine is permissible at our center, sleeping medications that are habit-forming. So that’s the Ambien, Lunesta® kind of drugs or Valium, Xanax kind of drugs. Those are called benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-like drugs.

Opioids need to be discontinued, so that’s all the drugs in the painkiller class from Fentanyl and Methadone down to Darvon and codeine. Hydrocodone, Oxycodone are in there as well.

What doesn’t need to be discontinued and what may be helpful to continue is antidepressant medications, certain muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory medications, anti-seizure drugs that help with certain kinds of pain.

So, I mean, it’s a complicated process of assessment. We are not anti-medication at our treatment center; we are anti habit-forming medications, which are causing problems.

About Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D.:
Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D., is a Board Certified Family Practitioner. He is the Vice President of Medical Affairs and the Medical Director at the Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC), the only private, freestanding, medically managed inpatient detoxification and addiction treatment facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Visit Dr. Pohl at the Las Vegas Recovery Center

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