Alcohol withdrawal is a common experience for addicted people who stop drinking. If you have alcoholism, experts recommend that you never attempt to quit independently. Instead, you should find a reliable alcohol detox center in your area. In detox, you will be monitored as you go through the stages of withdrawal. This is essential for making you as comfortable as possible. At the same time, it provides crucial safeguards against any withdrawal complications.
Stages of Alcohol Detox, #1: Withdrawal Begins
No one can predict exactly when you will first experience the effects of alcohol withdrawal. After your last drink, they will likely appear within no more than eight hours. In some cases, it takes as little as six hours for you to begin feeling some mild or minor symptoms. These symptoms typically include things such as:
- Feelings of unusual anxiousness
- Rapid changes in your mood
- A depressed or down emotional state
- Fatigue
- Difficulty gathering your thoughts
- Unusual grouchiness or irritability
- Heavy sweating
- Unpleasant dreams
- Nausea with or without vomiting
- Sleeplessness
In addition, you may feel jumpy, and your hands may shake or tremble.
Stages of Alcohol Detox, #2: Your Symptoms Intensify
Within half a day to two days after you quit drinking, your withdrawal symptoms will probably grow worse. Most people only experience intensified versions of their earlier symptoms. However, this is also when more severe problems may begin to emerge.
One potential problem is the appearance of hallucinations that affect your sight, hearing, or sense of touch. You may also start to experience seizures. In most cases, these kinds of symptoms don’t occur. Your chances for them are higher if you have a long-established pattern of very heavy drinking.
Stages of Alcohol Detox, #3: Peaking Symptoms and Potential Complications
Most people going through alcohol withdrawal pass through its worst effects in one to three days. Once you hit this peak point, your symptoms will probably start to ease. However, this is also the time when a major complication may arise. This complication is known as delirium tremens or the DTs. Potential symptoms of the DTs include:
- Extreme feelings of confusion
- A high fever
- A spike in both your blood pressure and your heart rate
- Excessive sweating
- Realistic, intense hallucinations
- Delusional thinking
Fortunately, just one out of every 20 people going through withdrawal will develop delirium tremens. As a rule, those affected have been very heavy drinkers for years or longer. In all cases, the DTs are viewed as an emergency. Without a prompt medical response, they can kill you.
Longer-Term Withdrawal Symptoms
There is a chance that you’ll continue to feel some of your symptoms for longer amounts of time. That’s true even if you generally feel better. The list of the most common lingering symptoms includes sleeplessness and mood swings. It also includes reduced amounts of physical energy.
To avoid developing any further issues, you must follow up detox with an active treatment program. This kind of program will help you remain alcohol-free in the short term. It will also help you develop the skills needed to maintain your sobriety.
Seek Help at New Start Recovery’s Alcohol Detox Center
At New Start Recovery, we understand the importance of an effective detox program to your eventual recovery. For this reason, we include an alcohol detox center among our many options for professional substance treatment. Every day, we help people from all walks of life complete the stages of withdrawal.
We also feature the treatment resources you need to continue your sobriety journey. To learn more about how we can help, call us today at [Direct]. You can also reach our expert staff through our online information form.