One of the main characteristics of the alcoholic or addict is his or her seeking instant happiness in a fix, pill, or drink. They seem unwilling to earn their happiness through moral behavior, cultivating a happy family, working hard or being devoted to a cause.
They demand happiness -- now -- and addicts don't care how they have to get there. Today these same addicts are being seduced into “instant recovery” once they find their drug use is destroying their lives.
Dangerous Program?
This "instant recovery," called Rapid Opiate Detoxification (ROD), is spreading to many countries promising addicts a magical solution to drug and alcohol addiction. Although there are legitimate uses for ROD, its very seductiveness and promises of instant "cure" for addiction are misleading and even dangerous.ROD sounds like paradise to an addict and to the doctor who treats addicts. But there is trouble in paradise. Over the last four years, seven patients from the U.S. Detox Intensive Treatment Unit in New Jersey under the care of Dr. Lance L. Gooberman, died within days of the procedure. As a result, New Jersey regulators took Gooberman to court[/link] to have his medical license removed.
Gooberman said the patients that died had undetected heart problems or took cocaine, triggering a heart attack. But some doctors who perform rapid detoxification say the procedure severely stresses addicts' already ravaged bodies.
Just what is ROD and why is it so dangerous? The Waismann Method, developed by an Israeli physician Andre Waismann in 1994 is pretty typical of ROD methods. While under sedation, the patient undergoes an accelerated procedure that blocks the brain's opiate receptors from any opiates. Additional medications are administered to accelerate the physical reactions to the rapid withdrawal while the patient is unconscious.
To Good to be True?
After approximately 4 to 6 hours or 12 to 48 depending on the exact drugs and method used, the patient awakens and supposedly is no longer physically dependent on opiates and has no conscious awareness of experiencing any withdrawal.Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, it probably is. Most of the research with optimistic results about ROD are sponsored by the institutions that stand to make money from the procedure.
For instance, one study from Mount Sinai Medical Center, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami Beach, concluded that this treatment (one they make money on) is "One hundred percent successful detoxification." That is like saying that one hundred percent of the people we give shots to, get shots. It's meaningless, really.
They also claim that 55% reported relapse free status at the six month follow up. But this is relapse only from opiates, not alcohol and other drugs.
Risks are High
A different study showing the less optimistic side of rapid detoxification, appeared in the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence in 1998. Cucchia et al reported that "withdrawal symptoms were still present 24 hours after detoxification and 80 percent of the patients relapsed during a 6-month follow-up."This is similar to another study from Medizinische Klinik in Muchen, West Germany by Hirtl and Zilker who found the procedure too dangerous to complete, that "No detoxification was finished within 48 hours," and concluded that "there is no obvious benefit from this method, whereas the risks are high."
Traditional forms of detoxification include methadone, sedative detoxification, or "cold turkey" where an addict just drops drugs and toughs it out. Not being able to get through prolonged and painful withdrawals with intense cravings for the drug of choice is often cited as the reason for dismal success rates in addiction treatment. So professionals look for alternatives and the addict looks for Aladdin's Lamp.
"The rapid opiate detoxification procedure physically detoxifies the patient from opiates in a few hours – offering them the chance to begin the recovery process immediately," Dr. Gooberman defends his practice. For follow-up, the patient is put on nalrextone or another opiate antagonist to block the opiate receptors so the addict can't get high and they are encouraged to seek counseling.
