Prescription Drug Detox in Los Angeles
Dependence on a prescription medication rarely announces itself. It starts with a bottle from a pharmacy, taken as directed, for a real problem: pain after surgery, anxiety, insomnia, attention. Somewhere along the way the medication stops being a treatment and becomes something the body cannot do without. Many of the people we see never took anything that was not prescribed to them, at least at first.
Revive Detox provides physician-supervised prescription drug detox in a six-bed residence at 101 N. La Peer Dr. in Beverly Grove, between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. We detox people from prescription painkillers, stimulants, sleep medications and sedatives, along with muscle relaxants, alone or in combination. Care is supervised by our Medical Director, with a nurse practitioner, licensed nurses and clinical staff involved throughout each stay, alongside trained recovery support staff.
In network with Aetna, Optum, UnitedHealthcare, UBH and Health Net. Most PPO plans accepted. We verify your benefits before you commit to anything.
Why Prescription Drug Detox Needs a Medical Setting
“Prescription drugs” is not one thing. The medications people become dependent on fall into a few groups, and each withdraws differently:
- Opioid painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco), morphine, codeine and tramadol. Withdrawal is intensely uncomfortable, and the pain the drug was prescribed for is usually still there underneath.
- Sedatives and anti-anxiety medications, mainly benzodiazepines such as Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan and Valium. Withdrawal can cause seizures and must be tapered, never stopped suddenly.
- Sleep medications such as Ambien (zolpidem), Lunesta and Sonata. They act on the same system as benzodiazepines, and stopping after long use brings rebound insomnia and anxiety and, in some cases, seizures.
- Stimulants such as Adderall, Ritalin, Vyvanse and Concerta. Stimulant withdrawal generally does not carry the same seizure risk as abrupt withdrawal from benzodiazepines and certain sedative medications, but exhaustion, depression, sleep disturbance and other psychiatric symptoms can be severe and require close assessment and support.
- Muscle relaxants and other medications, including carisoprodol (Soma), methocarbamol and gabapentin. Their withdrawal risks and management differ, so each medication is assessed individually, particularly when multiple medications or substances are involved.
The reason a medical setting matters is the combination. Someone on a painkiller and a sleep medication, or a stimulant during the day and a sedative at night, is withdrawing from two drugs whose effects and timelines overlap. When multiple medications are involved, withdrawal management must account for the risks, interactions and timelines of each medication and be individualized by the medical team.
Prescription Drug Withdrawal Symptoms
Symptoms depend on the medication. In general:
- Opioid painkillers: anxiety, sweating, aches, nausea, diarrhea, insomnia, cravings, and the return of the original pain
- Benzodiazepines and sleep medications: rebound anxiety and insomnia, tremor, sweating, sensitivity to light and sound, seizures if stopped abruptly
- Stimulants: exhaustion, long or disturbed sleep, increased appetite, low mood, slowed thinking, cravings
A seizure, severe confusion, chest pain or thoughts of harming yourself are emergency symptoms. Call 911.
How Prescription Drug Detox Works at Revive
- Assessment on arrival. Every medication you take, prescribed or not, at what dose and for how long, and what each was started for. Bring the bottles. Your medical history, the conditions the medications were treating, and anything else in the picture, including alcohol. Vital signs give the medical team a baseline. This is where the sequencing decision gets made: which withdrawal is managed first, and how.
- A plan for each medication. Opioid painkillers may be managed with a medication-assisted treatment approach plus comfort medication. Benzodiazepines and certain sedative-hypnotic medications may require a medically supervised taper based on the specific medication, duration of use, dose and clinical assessment. Stimulants are stopped with support for sleep, mood and nutrition. Nothing about this is a fixed protocol, because no two combinations are the same.
- The condition underneath. The medication was treating something: pain, anxiety, insomnia, attention. That does not disappear during detox, and pretending it does is why home attempts fail. Our medical and clinical teams address the underlying condition directly and develop an individualized plan for managing it during and after detox.
- Monitoring around the clock. Symptoms and vital signs are checked regularly, day and night. Six beds means a change in one person is noticed.
- A house, not a ward. Rest in a quiet residence. Meals for a body that has not been eating or sleeping well. When you feel able, the living room where our meditation, music, PEMF and red light sessions happen. Nothing is required of you until you are ready.
- What comes next. Before you leave we agree on the next step: residential treatment here in the same house, or a program closer to home, along with a plan for the pain, anxiety or sleep problem that started this. Addressing the condition that led to the prescription is an important part of reducing the risk of returning to problematic medication use after detox.
Questions about admission or coverage? Call (844) 467-3848. Someone answers around the clock, and the call is confidential.
People Who Do Not Think of Themselves as Needing Detox
Prescription drug dependence is the one that hides in plain sight. The people we see are often working, often doing well by every outside measure, and have often been managing a prescription for years while everyone around them assumed it was fine. That includes people in healthcare, law and business, and a great many parents. Many have never used an illegal drug in their lives and find the word “detox” hard to say out loud.
Revive is a six-bed residence on a quiet residential street, not a clinical building with a sign out front. There is no shared waiting room, and no one at Revive who is not there for the same reason you are. Discretion is built into the setting, not added on.
Counterfeit Pills
A growing share of “prescription” pills bought outside a pharmacy are counterfeit, pressed to look like oxycodone, Percocet, Xanax or Adderall and containing fentanyl or methamphetamine instead. If you have been buying pills rather than filling a prescription, tell us at assessment. It changes the withdrawal plan, and it changes the safety conversation before discharge. Naloxone (Narcan) reverses opioid overdose and is available in California without a prescription.
What Revive Is
- Joint Commission accredited
- Licensed by the California Department of Health Care Services, license #190836AP
- Established 2014
- Six beds, physician-supervised, trauma-informed
- 101 N. La Peer Dr., Beverly Grove, Los Angeles
We provide individualized, supervised withdrawal management based on the medications and substances involved, with a medical team that knows you by name and a clear plan for what comes next.