Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

How Treatment Centers Help You Overcome Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome Safely

Once a person’s body becomes accustomed to large amounts of alcohol on a daily basis, the brain and body cannot function normally without alcohol in the system. This condition can develop in matter of weeks in cases of frequent binge drinking or when consuming large quantities on a daily basis.

Under these conditions, cutting back or abstaining from alcohol can bring on alcohol withdrawal effects within six to 12 hours time. Alcohol withdrawal syndrome develops in cases where a person stops drinking altogether.

According to the University of Iowa, alcohol addiction develops out of a pattern of uncontrolled drinking that causes considerable damage to a drinker’s physical and psychological health. Considering the level of physical dependency at work, alcohol withdrawal syndrome can bring on serious aftereffects, especially in cases where a person has other health problems.

For these reasons, most people require professional treatment help to overcome alcohol withdrawal syndrome safely. Alcohol treatment centers specialize in offering the types of physical supports needed to ease a person through the distressing symptoms that arise from alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome

Treatment centers can monitor your symptoms throughout alcohol withdrawal.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism, alcohol exerts an inhibitory or depressant-like effect on the central nervous system. Stopping alcohol use after long periods of excess consumptions causes a rebound effect to take place in the brain. This rebound creates a state of hyper-excitability, known as alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

In effect, brain chemical processes overcompensate for the lack of alcohol in the system, which gives rise to the physical symptoms associated with alcohol withdrawal.

Symptoms most likely to develop include:

Nausea
Vomiting
Tremors
Profuse sweating
Increase in body temperature

Treatment for Alcohol Withdrawal

Alcohol withdrawal symptoms can appear in anywhere from 13 to 71 percent of people entering detox treatment with seizure episodes affecting an estimated 15 percent of people during the detox stage.

Depending on the level of the addiction, alcohol withdrawal syndromes are considered minor or major in severity. Standard medication treatments used include benzodiazepine drugs, which produce sedative-type effects. Benzodiazepine drugs commonly used include Librium and Ativan. Sedative drugs directly counteract the brain’s rebound effect during the early stages of detox.

Treatment for Major Withdrawal

Years of alcoholism will inevitably produce severe symptoms as the alcohol withdrawal syndrome unfolds. Major withdrawal, also known as delirium tremens begins around three to five days after a person stops drinking.

People affected by major withdrawal will display the following symptoms:

Elevated blood pressure
Mental confusion
Visual and auditory hallucinations
Extreme agitated behavior

At this level of alcohol consumption, most people develop medical conditions as a result of long-term alcohol abuse. Nutritional deficiencies are also present.

Considering the severity of symptoms associated with major withdrawal, treatment typically requires benzodiazepines administered in injection form. Anti-psychotic medications are also given to provide relief from psychotic-type symptom, such as hallucinations and extreme agitation.

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome can place a person in considerable distress and be life threatening in cases of major withdrawal. Alcohol treatment centers offer the safest route when long-term alcohol disorders are at work.

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Surviving Meth Addiction

Methamphetamine is a dangerous drug that comes with significant risk of addiction which is very difficult to treat. The symptoms of withdrawal can become so severe that many users find themselves back in the habit of using just to avoid the discomfort, sleepless nights and debilitating urges that come with not using. Psychologically, methamphetamine can….

Paris gets a taste of teen binge drinking

It Tells You something about the novelty of a French debate about “le binge drinking” that an equivalent French term has yet to enter into common usage and that whenever the media broach it, they feel obliged first to explain to people what exactly it is. They’ve been doing a lot of explaining lately. According….

Is Compulsive Shopping A Mental Disorder?

There is little doubt that compulsive shopping can cause severe impairment and distress, two key criteria for formal recognition as a mental disorder. But the rest remains up for grabs: Is compulsive shopping a biologically driven disease of the brain, a learned habit run amok, an addiction in its own right or a symptom of….

Symptoms of Substance abuse in teenagers

Substance abuse is spreading rapidly around the world and the number of teens who do substance abuse is increasing at an alarming rate. Teenagers are widely using chemical substances for altering their “mood and physical state”. The use of chemical substances beyond the prescribed limit is bound to make the body of the user dependent….

For Young Adults Addicted To Opioids, New Training Approach Launched By NIDA Blending Conference

A multi-faceted treatment program for young adults addicted to opioid drugs was unveiled at the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) Blending Conference in Albuquerque, N.M. This eighth meeting in the series briought together researchers and clinicians so their latest findings could be immediately applied to the needs of patients and their families dealing with….