Alcohol Detox to Help You Stop Drinking Alcohol
Types of Alcohol Detox to Help You Stop Drinking Alcohol
There are two kinds of alcoholics, the kind that realizes they need help and the kind that refuses to admit there is anything wrong. Both have the same problem but that problem can be addressed in different ways. There are ways to treat alcoholism but in the end, it is up to the alcoholic to stop drinking alcohol.
Many people decide to stop drinking alcohol on their own. They may take a simple test with a number of questions like, why do you drink alcohol, has anyone commented on your drinking habits, have you embarrassed yourself with your drinking socially, where do you usually drink, how often are you hung over, do you ever forget or have a blackout? They may talk to their doctor about their concerns and get medical help from him.
There are five steps to quit drinking alcohol at home. These are:
Set a goal to stop.
Get support from family friends and coworkers.
Take a break; abstain one day a week to start with.
Stay out of places where drinks are served.
Get physical and do something different when the urge drink hits.
Do not give up.
Relapses are common. It is hard to completely give up something that one enjoyed. When one happens, all the alcoholic can do is quit drinking alcohol again the next day.
The symptoms of alcoholism include liver damage which happens in three stages. The first stage is a fatty liver, followed by hepatitis and then cirrhosis. Only cirrhosis is irreversible. The damages from fatty liver and hepatitis are reversed over time by the absence of alcohol. Liver is the first organ damaged, followed by these organs in no set order: throat, pancreas, brain, circulatory system and stomach.
The ugly side of binge drinking includes skin damage where the skin dries out, cracks and peels. Long time exposure brings false flushing of the face when the capillaries dilate, bloodshot eyes, poor sleep and weight gain. Most of these will reverse over time if the person will stop binge drinking.
Chronic alcoholism can move into alcoholic dependency. These symptoms include drinking only one brand, needing to drink a lot more to reach a high, only going places where drinks will be served, withdrawal symptoms if not drinking, craving alcohol all the time and drinking to avoid or to cure hangovers. Accidents happen more frequently to or are caused by the drinker. The injuries are much more server. The person is drinking all the time.
This is the time many families plan an intervention. An intervention is confronting an alcoholic and showing how the drinking affects other people with the purpose of getting the drinker into treatment. The new theory is to let the alcoholic know this is coming; they are not nearly as angry as when they are surprised. If the intervention fails, the attempt damages the family and the relationships even more.
The steps for an alcoholism intervention are:
Contacting an intervention specialist,
Meeting with friends and relatives to plan the intervention,
Scheduling the intervention when the alcoholic sober,
Confronting an alcoholic in a loving, caring manner and
Having the party enter treatment.
The end result will depend upon the alcoholic giving up alcohol. The alcoholic detoxification can be done in an alcohol detox center or an alcohol detox at home. There are medications that will make the process easier on the patient. The drugs acamprosate (Campral) and naltrexone (ReVia) are two strong drugs used to treat alcoholism that reduce the desire for the drink and are used often.
Alcohol detox symptoms include the shakes and DTs (hallucinations) The DTs start six hours to 48 hours after the alcohol stops. These can last anywhere from a few hours to weeks. The hallucinations are usually visual and unpleasant. Sometimes the patient experiences sounds and smells while going through the alcohol detoxification process.
Most of the time, this is just an unpleasant experience. 95% of the people have mild to moderate withdrawals. 15 to 20% of these may have brief seizures or hallucinations. If these are outpatients, they are usually sent home with a four-day supply of anti-anxiety medications. In all cases, medical advice should be obtained and staffed alcohol detox centers used for chronic cases. Severe cases if untreated have a fatality rate up to 20%.
The only hope for chronic alcoholism is giving up alcohol. Alcohol detox is only part of process; it just removes the alcohol from the body. Alcohol addiction recovery is a long and continual process. There are many treatments and treatment centers available. Alcohol addition recovery includes counseling, either as an inpatient or as an outpatient.
There are many ways available today to help some giving up alcohol. They can even do an alcohol detox at home. The bottom line is that it is up to the alcoholic to quit drinking alcohol. No one else can make that decision for them or stop them from drinking.