Giving Up Alcohol: The Risks and After-Effects

When a person stops taking alcohol after being a habitual drinker for a much longer duration, he experiences certain health related issues commonly known as alcohol withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms may be mild as well as severe depending on the duration of alcoholism, quality of alcohol consumed and the general health of the alcoholic. The symptoms occur as the body becomes addicted to alcohol, so when alcohol is not present in the blood, the system does not function properly.

Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms

The severity of alcohol withdrawal symptoms depends upon the duration for which the person has been consuming alcohol. This situation is also called alcohol withdrawal syndrome and includes:

•     Headache
•     Fever
•     Hallucination
•     Fear
•     Gastrointestinal upset
•     Depression
•     De-realization
•     Depression
•     Confusion
•     Catatonia
•     Anxiety
•     Anorexia
•     Weakness
•     Tachycardia
•     Tremors
•     Sweating
•     Palpitations
•     Migraines
•     Irritability
•     Insomnia
•     Hyperthermia
•     Seizures
•     Euphoria
•     Agitation
•     Delirium tremens
•     Blackouts
•     Death

What happens in the Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome?

When a person has excessive alcohol for a prolonged period of time, his body becomes physically dependent on the alcohol. In such situation, without the presence of alcohol in the blood, the body system cannot function normally leading to the withdrawal syndrome. During this state the central nervous system goes in a hyper-excitable state which can be fatal at times. The person may have delirium tremens and seizures which may lead to excite-neurotoxicity.

Risk involved in the Withdrawal Syndrome

Longer the duration of alcohol addiction longer will be the duration of alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Some withdrawal symptoms can be very dangerous and may lead to seizure, strokes and even death. These symptoms are seen in those patients who have been habitual drinkers for a very long period of time. These patients are at a high risk and must get treated from a good rehabilitation center. A good rehabilitation center will have all the advanced treatments that will heal the patient from this stage of alcoholism.

Such high risk withdrawal symptoms includes

    Hallucination
    Strokes
    Heart attack
    Grand mal seizures
    Delirium tremens


Alternative Alcohol Rehab Treatment

Alcohol rehabilitation is usually a 12 step rehabilitation program but some people do not react well to this traditional method treatment. For them here are some alternative alcohol rehab treatments (refer here  http://www.rehabilitations.org/alcohol/alternative-alcohol-rehab.html).

•     Outpatient Treatment

Some alcoholics do not get healed completely when they are admitted in the hospital and they go through the traditional way of treatment. It could be because they cannot adapt to the hospital’s atmosphere and therefore cannot react properly to the treatment. For them outpatient classes are a great way to get healed. Support of family and friends in this outpatient class helps them a lot.

•     Religious Based Treatment Program

Some treatment programs are based on religious grounds. People who have immense faith in their religion can enter into such treatment programs. Such programs include a counselor and the priest of the respective religion.

•     Therapy Classes

Some people can not work in a group so that they can attain therapy or counseling classes where they will be treated on one on by the therapist. There will also be a dietician who will prescribe special diet to suit the patient's health.

Apart from all the advanced treatment, a patient must have dedication and will power to stop drinking alcohol and move towards a better and healthy life.

Alcohol Rehabilitation

Alcohol rehabs are made to create a caring environment where a person can overcome their psychological and physical addiction to alcohol. The rehabilitation process includes detoxification, counseling and sometimes also group therapy where other persons recovering from the addiction can help one another.

Usually a person tends to be uncertain of the rehab program, but those who have an idea about the rehab programs and the steps he/she will take for recovery, tend to be better in accepting the program when they enter the rehabilitation centers.

In this post you will find an overview of the different steps of the alcohol rehabilitation program. Though every person has a different program designed depending on their addiction level, the basic steps are same for almost all the programs:

Alcohol Detox

This is the very initial step of the alcohol recovery program. Detox involves slowly stopping the consumption of alcohol and giving the body time it needs to get used to the absence of alcohol, as well as cleanse it of all the harmful substances which are associated with any type of alcohol. During this rehab program a person might experience many withdrawal symptoms. Listed below are a few of them:

• Anxiety and depression
• Sudden and extreme mood swings
• Sweats or chills
• Going back to alcohol consumption
• Being always irritated
• Blackouts

This stage usually lasts approximately up to several days or even two weeks. The withdrawal symptoms listed above usually are experienced after the first few days of this process.

Counseling

This is the heart of the rehabilitation of alcohol. It includes sessions with a counselor or a therapist where a person is taught relapse prevention skills, education on alcoholism and also finds out the cause of their unwanted behavior. Counseling includes two forms:

• Individual counseling: During regular individual counseling sessions, a person has a one-to-one therapy between him and the therapist.
• Group counseling: These sessions are taken once or twice in a week. This involves the addict to meet other addicts enrolled in the program. Here they share their stories and learn to break down the walls of isolation that were built because of alcohol addiction.

Aftercare

Once a person completes his alcohol rehabilitation program, he is ready to face the world. This is not easy and the addict might face many problems like:

• Temptation: Meeting his old friends might make him return to his old behavior.
• Stress and distraction: Usual daily routine like work or school can get stressful as the person tries to catch up his/her missed time due to the condition. This can cause the person to turn to relapse behavior.
• Lack of understanding: People around the person who has gone through the alcohol rehab, may not be able to understand the processes going on in the rehab centers. Hence, they might find it difficult to communicate with the person who has gone through it.