Alcohol Detox
Beth on 12 Nov 2009
We can thank Hippocrates, the Greek father of modern medicine, for recording an eye witness description of alcohol withdrawal. If the patient, he wrote for future students, is “in the prime of life and if from drinking he has trembling hands,” that patient has probably addicted to alcohol, has not had alcohol recently and is therefore exhibiting withdrawal symptoms. The signs and symptoms of acute alcohol withdrawal generally start 6 to 24 hours after the last drink.
Believe it or not, alcohol withdrawal can begin even if you have significant blood alcohol concentrations. In other words, you can be technically drunk and your body starts to feel withdrawal. The signs and symptoms may include the following: insomnia and/or nightmares, restlessness, irritability, anxiety, and agitation. In addition as the body metabolizes the alcohol you may experience nausea, vomiting, hand tremors, elevated heart rate, and increased blood pressure. As if that wasn’t enough, the poor brain is going through some trauma of its own. Additional symptoms include: poor concentration, impaired memory, increased sensitivity to sound, light, and tactile sensations, and possibly, hallucinations and paranoid delusions.
Something else to be aware of is what is known as “the kindling effect.” Originally coined to describe how epileptic seizures seem to get worse (more often, longer episodes) with each seizure, the term has been co-opted for use in other areas. Since alcohol has a huge impact on the brain and in fact seizures can be one of the worst parts of alcohol withdrawal, it is easy to see how medical folks could make the leap from epilepsy to alcohol withdrawal. Over time the term has expanded to describe the phenomenon of diminishing returns with alcohol detox. In other words, when you try to kick the bottle, every time you fail, it gets harder. Alcohol addiction, in particular, has a high rate of binge behavior so drinking and drying out is the worst behavior to exhibit as the kindling effect brings full force to hamper the recovery process.
The physical addiction to alcohol is devastating. The brain, when deprived of its former levels of alcohol goes into this hyper state and that’s what causes the anxiety and tremors.
It’s the physical symptoms that can trigger the almost obsessive thoughts about drinking. So again, the kindling effect come full circle: the body is without its chemical and so the physical discomfort begins. This in turn triggers the desire to introduce alcohol back into the body and so on. To make matters worse, the brain can be conditioned in a Pavlovian way so that even being at the same clinic for another attempt at detox can trigger the kindling effect even before true symptoms can manifest.
Some people want to try to detox from alcohol on their own. It can be done, but there are some really basic things to consider. First and foremost – is this a first attempt? If so, remember the kindling effect; you want this to be a successful because next time it will be harder. Some basic care helps keep the worst of the withdrawals at bay. Fluids and electrolytes need to be constantly available. Diarrhea, vomiting, and sweats may affect the patient, so fluids are essential. For some people using Xanax or Valium is not uncommon. These drugs actually decrease the likelihood of seizures during withdrawals. Of course they also help with anxiety and tremors. These things will help. But nothing is going to beat getting true medical help for alcohol detox. You want to get sober once and for all and the best way to do that is at a clinic.
Brain image credit: Wellcome Library, London