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Safe Alcohol Addiction Withdrawal & Detox

When you become an alcoholic, your body becomes dependent on the drug. This is a physical addiction, which means when your body is no longer receiving alcohol, physical symptoms occur. These physical symptoms can be serious, and occasionally even fatal. As a result, generally withdrawal and detox from alcohol should not be attempted without the supervision of a medical professional.

  1. Symptoms

    • Symptoms associated with alcohol withdrawal range form mild irritability to tremors, delirium, seizures, convulsions and even death. The more you drink, the more likely you are to experience symptoms (in general, more than five daily drinks for men and four for women is considered excessive alcohol intake). Symptoms begin approximately 12 hours after your last drink, and usually last three to seven days, peaking at five days in cases of severe addiction.

    Monitoring Detox

    • Several tests should be done during detox, and patients should be monitored by a physician to watch for certain severe symptoms. Generally, doctors are watching for rapid heartbeat or breathing, fever, unusual eye movement, tremors and/or shaking in the body and hands, liver failure, internal bleeding and severe dehydration. If these symptoms occur or are too severe, doctors may prescribe sedation, fluids or electrolytes, intravenous medication and in some cases anti-psychotic medications (to manage hallucinations).

    Drug Therapy

    • Certain drugs may be used to help treat or manage the symptoms associated with acute detox. According to University of Cincinnati Netwellness, benzodiazepines are commonly used to manage and treat many of the symptoms associated with alcohol withdrawal. Your Recovery Connection also suggests that phenytonin, beta blockers, carbamazepine, haloperidol and clonidine are useful.

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