The hardest drugs to detox from depend on your perspective.
If by "difficult" you're referring to the severity of dangerous medical symptoms that occur during withdrawal, then the obvious answer is alcohol and benzodiazepine.
Both of these drugs could kill you during detox.
But if you're referring to the severity of emotional, mental and spiritual symptoms that affect a person during drug detox, then most addicts will agree that opiates are the most difficult; especially opiates like Methadone that are designed to help wean an addict from other opiates like heroin.
The Most Difficult Drugs to Withdraw/Detox From: Medical Reasons The following substances prove especially challenging for many addicts to withdraw from considering the serious medical risks of doing so: Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines and Alcohol.
The withdrawal process has been known to cause life-threatening complications in some people.
This includes pulmonary and cardiovascular distress, respiratory depression, grand mal seizures, delirium tremens, hallucinations, coma and death.
Fortunately, death is rare but nevertheless the fact that it is possible creates a deterrent to treatment for some addicts.
In most cases the risks of withdrawing from these substances can be mitigated by attending detox in a professional medical setting where healthcare practitioners and addiction experts can observe the detox process and respond immediately in case of any complications.
The Most Difficult Drugs to Withdraw/Detox From: Emotional Reasons Thousands of years before the birth of Christ, the first annals of history were recorded by the ancient Sumerians.
Translations of stone etchings show that these early peoples farmed and used opium extensively.
In fact, their word for the plant can be translated to "Joy;" an apt description considering the widespread abuse of opium for the next several thousand years.
By nearly all accounts, the euphoric high obtained by using opium is the highest feeling of joy most addicts have ever felt.
But herein lays the problem.
When a person uses an opiate like heroin or Oxycontin to get high, they rapidly build up a tolerance not only to the drug, but also to euphoria.
This means that it becomes more and more difficult to obtain the same euphoric effect with the same amount of opiates, so in nearly all cases users continually increase their dosages - some to the point of overdose and death.
But in general the central nervous system becomes more and more desensitized to stimulus that would normally cause feeling of joy or euphoria.
In fact, the opposite often occurs, resulting in a state known as Dysphoria; the opposite of euphoria.
Dysphoria is a severe problem for people who are detoxing/withdrawing from opiates because after the stop using the drug they often find it difficult or impossible to find joy or happiness in anything.
This causes severe bouts of depression, anxiety, feelings of worthlessness and unexplained misery, terrible sadness and overwhelming inadequacy and loneliness; even in the presence of others.
These emotional and spiritual symptoms drive many people in the early stages of recovery to return to drug use in order to self-medicate their general state of dysphoria.
Opiates Used to Treat Addiction to Other Opiates Many addicts report and anecdotal evidence suggests that withdrawing and detoxing from opiates that are used to treat addiction to other opiates is a severe and extremely challenging process.
The reasons for this are not understood, but it's possible that because most opiate treatment drugs like methadone block the release of dopamine, addicts do not obtain a euphoric effect, even though they are spared the normal symptoms of withdrawal (essentially because methadone maintenance merely prolongs the addictive process.
) Support forums on group sharing often results in addicts advising each other NOT to go on an opiate maintenance program and to tough out the initial stages of a more "pure" withdrawal instead.
Therefore, it could be argued that detoxing from opiate maintenance drugs is the most difficult type of detox to undergo.
The Kindling Effect Regardless of the substance, the Kindling Effect can make detox and withdrawal an absolute nightmare; especially if the addict in question has relapsed repeatedly in their lifetime.
The concept of Kindling is that with each progressive relapse and subsequent withdrawal, the brain and central nervous system become more highly sensitized (or highly desensitized) to drug abuse and the feelings it creates.
As a result withdrawal symptoms are much more severe and potentially dangerous for these individuals than for others.
Ultimately, the most challenging detox is the one you're about to go through.
Taking that first step is extraordinarily difficult regardless of what drug you use and how long and hard you've been using it.
But the reality of the situation is that left unabated the consequences of continued active addiction are in every instance more severe and potentially life-changing that the actual process of withdrawal and detox, which usually takes 10 days or less for most people.
If you or someone you love is fighting addiction, the most valuable weapon you can give them is action.
Do it now; get help, get a free consultation, and take the first step before it's too late to move forward at all.