Unfortunately, there are millions of people who become dependent upon or addicted to alcohol. This can happen slowly over time or in a matter of a few binge drinking episodes. Some people even want to continue drinking after getting drunk once or twice and realizing it eases some of their discomforts – emotionally and/or physically. With this being said, if you are dependent upon or addicted to alcohol, you may want to get sober. You may want to know first, though, how long is detox from alcohol going to take.Â
Here at Transformations Care, we have detox and treatment programs that can help you to overcome an alcohol addiction. Find out more about the detox process and how our team can help you starting today.
Symptoms That May Arise When You Detox from Alcohol
If you are going to detox from alcohol, you will likely experience a range of withdrawal symptoms, such as:
- Anxiety
- Headaches
- Insomnia
- Mood changes
- Fatigue
- Tremors
- Shakes
- Hyperthermia
- Heart palpitations
- High heart rate and/or blood pressure
- Gastrointestinal discomfort
- Abnormal breathing
- Seizures
- Hallucinations
Since some of these withdrawal symptoms that may occur are more serious, we highly recommend that everyone who is going to detox from alcohol do so in the comfort of our treatment facility. That way, you can get around-the-clock care and supervision during the detox process.
Learn More About Alcohol Abuse and Misuse
How are you supposed to know if you or someone you care about is abusing or misusing alcohol? Well, alcohol abuse, or misuse, generally refers to drinking alcohol excessively in a way that it causes social, mental and/or physical health issues. In most cases, this means that a woman would be drinking more than 1 alcoholic beverage daily (7 or more per week) or a man is drinking 2 alcoholic beverages daily (14 or more per week).
When it comes to alcohol misuse, binge drinking is common. This is usually when a woman has 4 or more alcoholic beverages in a short time frame or when a man has 5 or more alcoholic beverages in a small time frame.
It is important to note that binge drinking is one of the things that often leads people to develop an alcohol addiction or alcoholism. Alcohol addictions happen when someone isn’t able to control their alcohol use, despite the harmful effects it has on their life. They may crave alcohol, have an increased tolerance to the substance and have withdrawal symptoms when they stop or slow down their use of alcohol.
If you or someone you know is misusing or abusing alcohol, our Transformations Care team is here to help you stop this lifestyle.
Withdrawal Stages and Severity of Detox from Alcohol
You may be wondering what your body might go through when you detox from alcohol. There are various factors that can affect the withdrawal stages and severity of detoxing from alcohol. With this being said, generally the stages of withdrawal look a bit like this:
- Stage 1 – mild symptoms may include anxiety, headaches, hand tremors, insomnia, heart palpitations, and gastrointestinal issues
- Stage 2 – moderate symptoms may include those from stage 1 along with high heart rate, high blood pressure, mild hyperthermia, confusion, and abnormal breathing
- Stage 3 – severe symptoms may include those from previous noted stages along with auditory/visual hallucinations, disorientation, seizures, and attention issues
If you are worried about these stages or you want to get the most help possible while you detox from alcohol, our professional detox and treatment team is ready to assist you throughout this entire process starting today.
Learn More About the Alcohol Withdrawal Timeline
As noted above, there are various factors that may affect what symptoms someone may have when they detox from alcohol and the severity of those symptoms. However, there is a general alcohol withdrawal timeline that you may want to know more about which includes:
- Having mostly mild symptoms 6 to 12 hours after your last drink
- Experiencing some hallucinations around 24 hours after the last drink
- In 24 to 72 hours after the last drink, a peak of symptoms may occur or could be leveling off at this point (seizure risk is the highest from the 24 to 48-hour mark)
- The highest chance of delirium tremens during the 48 to 72-hour mark
Quitting alcohol isn’t easy. However, here at Transformations Care, we have a team of professionals who use evidence-based treatments to help you overcome this type of addiction. We can help you to stop drinking and engage in a recovering lifestyle from that point forward. You just have to start this process by contacting us today.
Treatment for Detoxing from Alcohol
The first stage of treatment is generally detox from alcohol. This stage can be a bit difficult as you read above. However, there are various treatment programs we can offer to help you through this process such as:
- Medication-assisted detox
- Inpatient treatment
- Outpatient treatment
- Intensive outpatient treatment
- Partial hospitalization
- Aftercare planning
- 12-step facilitation therapy
- Individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Other holistic therapies
Your treatment plan can and will be individualized to your addiction recovery needs. Reach out to our team today to get a detox and treatment plan started right away.
Which Medications Are Used During the Alcohol Detox Process
Since alcohol withdrawal symptoms can be so severe, we highly recommend that you attend a professional detox program while getting sober. Here at Transformations Care, we can help to lessen and prevent some of your withdrawal symptoms. The way that we can do this is through a range of treatments including medication-assisted treatment. Some of the medications that we might use to help you through this process include:
- Benzodiazepines (help treat or prevent the more serious withdrawal symptoms)
- Anticonvulsants
- Antipsychotics
- Beta-blockers
- Alpha-adrenergic agonists
- IV fluids
- Vitamins
- Disulfiram
- Acamprosate
- Naltrexone
Some of these medications might be prescribed while you detox from alcohol and others may be given after you are sober.
What Alcohol Detox Dangers Do You Need to Know About
Unfortunately, detoxing from alcohol isn’t as safe as detoxing from some other substances. However, you can get all the help that you need when attending a detox program here at Transformations Care. We have experience in handling the dangers and complications that can arise during the detox process.
Some of the alcohol detox dangers that you may need to know about that our team can help you to overcome include:
- Delirium tremens
- Seizures
- Fast heart rate
- Heart palpitations
- Hallucinations
- Suicidal thoughts
There are a number of factors that can increase your risk of developing these withdrawal symptoms such as being older in age, abusing alcohol heavily in recent days, having a history of delirium tremens and seizures, co-occurring disorders, electrolyte disturbances, dehydration, lesions on the brain and abnormal liver functioning.
Get Help to Detox from Alcohol Today
Do you or a loved one struggle with alcohol misuse and/or abuse? If so, we highly recommend that you get help to detox from alcohol. Here at Transformations Care, we offer medication-assisted detox and treatment services.
Contact us today to get help through the detoxing process.