Everything You Need To Know About Alcohol Abuse and Withdrawal – Alcohol abuse is the excessive consumption of alcohol that leads to dependency on alcohol for everyday living. The process of trying to quit alcohol causes withdrawal symptoms. These are both physical and mental problems that vary from mild to extremely intense symptoms. Alcohol is a depressant and has the effect of slowing down your brain functions.

As your body adjusts to having the depressant in the system, it fires up your system to keep your nerves in communication. Quitting alcohol makes your alcohol levels drop suddenly while your body is still in a peak state causing serious withdrawal symptoms. Mild symptoms can be seen as early as 6 hours after withdrawing from alcohol.

Symptoms of withdrawal:

The withdrawal effects can be felt from 6 to 72 hours after quitting alcohol and include:

  • Increased anxiety and shaking hands.
  • Difficulty sleeping because of insomnia and nightmares in your sleep.
  • Mild headaches and sometimes very serious headaches.
  • Nausea and vomiting.
  • Hallucinations and seizures that may increase to delirium tremens as time passes by.
  • Fever, heavy sweating, and high blood pressure.
  • Increased mood changes with depression feeling deeper and accompanying feelings of low self-worth.

Treatment for alcohol withdrawal:

Treatment begins with a diagnosis of alcohol withdrawal. This will help to begin alcohol addiction treatment as soon as possible. The doctor will inquire about your drinking history and discuss your symptoms to ascertain that it is the alcohol withdrawal and not any other condition that is causing the symptoms.

Alcohol addiction treatment plans will vary from a simple support program to medicated treatment. In the absence of concurrent serious health conditions. Some of the immediate measures that can be taken to alleviate the situation include being in a quiet place, soft lighting, lots of fluids and healthy foods, and limited contact with other people.

Other serious symptoms such as hallucinations, high blood pressure, and seizures may need immediate medical care. With the help of your doctor, you can be able to pick the best alcohol addiction treatment plan. Some medications such as benzodiazepines, anti-seizure meds and antipsychotics can also be prescribed to help with the situation.

Managing withdrawal symptoms:

While there are certainly good addiction treatment plans for managing withdrawal symptoms, the best course of action is to quit alcohol altogether. This can be achieved by learning more about triggers and speaking to a counselor about the underlying issues. That lead to abusing alcohol as a coping mechanism.  Some of the triggers that lead to alcohol abuse include:

Environmental triggers: this includes the places, people, and events that induced drinking patterns in the individual.

Exposure triggers:  these types of cues happen when you see other people drinking or just seeing the sight of alcohol anywhere.

Stress triggers: in this category, there may be several stressing factors such as negative emotions, physical stressors, sleep deprivation, and profound life changes such as divorce and work. Alcohol is used to deal with such negative emotions and situations.

Part of going through an effective alcohol treatment program is identifying how to best deal with these triggers. Through therapy sessions and educational programs, the quality of your life will improve drastically and give rise to new chapters.

Conclusion:

Quitting alcohol is a taxing process with the withdrawal process being the most difficult part of it all. Understanding what goes into the recovery process will help to prepare you psychologically and help you set up the best support system for the best alcohol addiction treatment.