No one expects withdrawal or detoxification to be easy, but sometimes withdrawal symptoms drag on beyond what the person in recovery ever expected. For some people in recovery, after going through the initial, intense withdrawal symptoms that tend to last two weeks, they are bombarded by a new set of symptoms about two to six months after cessation of drug use. These symptoms are called post-acute withdrawal symptoms, or PAWS, and last for several months (or even a few years in extreme cases).   Acute withdrawal symptoms, which usually occur during detoxification at a safe addiction recovery facility, are fairly severe, and include tremors, cravings, nausea, irritability, mental confusion, insomnia, depression, and more. PAWS are more prolonged and tend to affect a person’s mental or emotional health. PAWS include depression, fatigue, cognitive impairment, anxiety, insomnia, mood swings, cravings, vulnerability to stress, and anhedonia, or the inability to feel joy, even from previously enjoyable activities. Though PAWS may persist for months or years, the symptoms usually ebb and flow, and most PAWS sufferers experience days and weeks with no PAWS at all.   PAWS occur because the body is slowly but surely repairing itself. After detox and treatment in an addiction recovery program, the body is adjusting to living without regular, chronic doses of drugs, and it goes through some growing pains before finally reaching a comfortable balance. Those growing pains can manifest as PAWS. For example, the body in recovery…