Safely Detoxifying from Alcohol: What You Need to Know
Alcohol addiction impacts millions of Americans. It can dramatically shorten a person’s lifespan and results in an extraordinary number of deaths each year. Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to many serious health conditions and hospitals across the country must frequently deal with high patient volumes to address often life-threatening medical problems.
Like many other drugs, alcohol builds up to toxic levels when regularly consumed in large quantities. Detoxification, or medical detox, addresses this issue directly by helping the body break down substances. It can require varying degrees of medical care depending on several factors. Alcohol withdrawal can result in serious complications and quitting cold turkey can be extremely dangerous.
Tapering, a form of medical detox usually done under medical supervision, can follow a structured process to reduce consumption. Rapid detox is another type of detoxification that applies various forms of medical intervention.
Choosing medical detox and a detoxification method requires taking several considerations into account. The process can result in multiple physical side effects, some of which are severe, including delirium tremens, or DTs. Some users are more at risk for DTs, which are characterized by some of the most severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms, such as delusions and seizures.
Long story short, alcohol detoxification can have many potential risks. Learn more from Yellowstone Recovery about why professional help and monitoring is so important, what the CAGE questions are for assessing whether someone needs help, and how different medical detox methods work.
