The Joys of Alcohol Detox

We once had a gentleman that called who had made a recent trip to the emergency room, hoping to get detox'ed off of alcohol. He had had enough. It was time to finally get help and get his life back on track.

The helpful treatment providers in the emergency room told him to go home and just sweat it out, cold turkey, so to speak.

The real turkeys were the "treatment providers" in the emergency room. They failed to recognize someone in need with a disease that was ripe for treatment. They had a chance to make a difference, possibly save a life. However, addiction is a disease that is often looked on as a problem of individual weakness, not a disease at all. Don't get me started on this. It's another blog topic!

The other disservice they did was that alcohol should not be stopped cold turkey. It is dangerous to do so. A percentage of people who stop alcohol cold turkey will develop delerium tremens (DT's). DT's are fatal about a third of the time if it is not treated. Basically, your body goes into a hyper-autonomic state in which your blood pressure and heart rate skyrockets. You can begin hallucinating. The hallmark symptom is the development of seizures.

With proper medical alcohol detoxification with the appropriate medications, not only does the alcohol detox proceed safely, but you are much more comfortable as well. There is no need to suffer through a horrible detox. It is not a time for punishment. Alcohol treatment is hard enough without adding to your suffering, believe me.

Remember, addiction is not a disease that you can just "will" away. Alcohol detox is just the first step in the treatment process. There is much more work ahead!

John Neuhaus, M.D.