Rapid detox treatment (Anesthesia Assisted Rapid Opiate Detoxification) is a process that accelerates the detox process in patients addicted to opiates such as heroin and prescription pain relievers. In rapid detox, patients are put under general anesthesia. When they awake, their withdrawal symptoms and physical cravings may be absent or partially absent.

Anyone hooked on a painkiller like Oxycontin will attest to how hard it is to quit, especially on your own. Though rapid detox has been successful for many patients, the procedure is not without its critics. We’ll look at both sides.

Common Rapid Detox Drug Candidates

Below is a list of the most common drugs treated in rapid detox:

Traditional Detox

If you’re going to quit a drug like Oxycontin, you’ll first have to wean your body off the narcotic. This is typically done through medically supervised detoxification. A detox normally takes 5 to 7 days.

The symptoms of opioid detox are very uncomfortable: abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, sweating, runny nose and a feeling like your skin is crawling. These symptoms can last from 1 to 2 weeks.

To ease these physical symptoms, patients are usually given a drug such as buprenorphine or chlonidine. Another drug, methadone, is administered to satisfy a patient’s intense drug cravings after detox.

Rapid Detox

Patients use rapid detox to avoid the worst of the withdrawal symptoms like diarrhea, tremors and nausea. In the procedure, patients are under an anesthetic for 2 to 6 hours while their body is drug-induced to withdrawal. During this time, the worst of these withdrawal symptoms pass without the patient having to experience them.

In most treatments, an opiate-blocker called Naltrexone is implanted in a patient’s abdomen. This drug lasts for several months and prevents the patient from craving drugs and relapsing.

The procedures should take place in an intensive care unit of a hospital.

The Waismann Method

One of the most popular rapid detox procedures is the Waismann Method. They describe some of their safety protocols this way:

  • Patients are screened and hospitalized at least 24 hours before the procedure takes place.
  • The pre-treatment screening includes extensive tests such as EKG, a chest x-ray, blood levels, kidney and liver function tests, heart rate assessment, lung treatment and stabilization of vitals.
  • Because the risks associated with this procedure are those related to anesthesia, having a Board-Certified Anesthesiologist will greatly benefit the outcome and reduce the risks.
  • Naltrexone should be prescribed appropriately for each patient based on many factors, such as liver function and dependency history.
  • The minimum stay after the detoxification procedure is 24 hours, with an average of 48 hours.

Testimonial

From a drugs.com forum on “detoxing with the Waismann Method”, this is what one patient had to say:

“From the beginning to the end was treated respectfully and with compassion. My only memory of the procedure itself was faintly remembering having a catheter, but I could have imagined it.. woke up being attended to by real nurses in a real hospital..I didn’t feel 100% but compared to the cycle of withdrawals I had gone through previously, I was overjoyed..I cannot say enough about them, I’ve been clean almost two years and although I can deal with the mental addiction, I really needed their help with the physical dependency…”

Controversies

Only a few rapid detox medical studies have been performed since the procedure started about 20 years ago. The most comprehensive study was conducted in 2005 with less than favorable results.

The study by The Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that the “data [does] not support the use of general anesthesia for heroin detoxification and rapid opioid antagonist induction.”

Their findings were based on 106 patients assigned to “1 of 3 inpatient withdrawal treatments over 72 hours followed by 12 weeks of outpatient naltrexone maintenance with relapse, prevention psychotherapy.”

About 80% of the rapid detox (anesthesia) patients dropped out of follow-up treatment, a higher rate than for the other methods in the study. Also, 3 of the 35 rapid detox patients suffered “potentially life-threatening adverse events.”

In addition, the American Society of Addiction Medicine says the procedure has "uncertain risks and benefits, and its use in clinical settings is not supportable ...."

A handful of rapid detox patients have died. One patient in a Canadian clinic received the treatment and then died of cardiac arrest that evening. In a New Jersey clinic, 7 patients died within 72 hours of receiving treatment.

Summary

Although there are risks associated with rapid detox, many patients have gone through the treatment with no ill effects. You should consult your doctor about the risks associated with this procedure. For a list of treatment centers near you, search Recoverycorps.org’s extensive database.