Alcohol Withdrawal

Alcohol withdrawal can be one of the most dangerous, if not life threatening withdrawals to experience.  Most alcoholics, before attending a drug rehab, will go through a medical detox.  This of course depends on their severity of use and dependence to alcohol.

When severely dependent alcoholics stop drinking on their own, they will initially experience physical discomfort.  The withdrawal symptoms will cause them to crave more alcohol.  This is why it is important to enter an alcohol treatment center right away, prior to the severe withdrawal symptoms taking place.  The initial withdrawal symptoms are:

• Shakes
• Sweats
• Nausea
• Headache
• Anxiety
• Rapid heart rate
• Increased blood pressure

These initial symptoms will occur within a few hours when the individual stops drinking.  After 6 to 48 hours, more severe symptoms will occur such as, hallucinations (audio, visual, smell) these hallucinations have been known to last from a few hours to a week.  After three to five days without alcohol the following life threatening symptoms will occur:

• Convulsions
• Seizures
• Delirium Tremors (DT’s)

These symptoms must be handled by medical professionals, or the person could possibly die.  Most drug rehab centers are not capable of handling delirium tremors; this is why proper medical detox should be done before the symptoms of DT’s set in, which include the following:

• Confusion
• Disorientation
• Hallucinations
• Hyperactivity
• Major cardiovascular disturbances

No medical treatments can stop DT’s from occurring, and the possibility of grand-mal seizure will increase, as well with heart attack and stroke.  All of these can prove to be fatal.