Alcohol Detox Dangers
A full 61% of Americans drinks alcohol. Of that 61%, a third of those people drink alcohol excessively on a routine basis. Death statistics from alcohol are staggering. Alcohol kills in the short run (DTs, acute alcohol poisoning), in the long run (liver failure), and indirectly (motor vehicle accidents, falls). Quitting is the smart choice for problem drinkers, but quitting without medical help can do more harm than good.
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Dependence
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When a person drinks alcohol, some mechanisms occur in the brain which encourage the participant to continue drinking.
Scientists from the University of California have identified the dimer (molecule) involved which is part of the nerve cells of the brain. Principally, this molecule links two neurotransmitters (chemicals involved in nerve conduction), namely, dopamine and adenosine. The way in which the dimer combines these chemicals causes a person to crave more alcohol.
The area of the brain most affected by these processes is the nucleus accumbens, where there are the most receptors for the synergistic dopamine/adenosine effect. Dependence stems from psychological responses to this mechanism, genetic predisposition, and physical changes in the brain itself which propel the need for alcohol.
Detox Symptoms
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To quit drinking alcohol after heavy daily consumption can be dangerous and even fatal if attempted alone. The sudden cessation of alcohol causes physical reactions. The first symptoms are usually shakiness and tremors, headache, sweating, and nausea with vomiting. These symptoms may progress to hallucinations, convulsions, heart failure, and, potentially, death. An acute syndrome known at the DTs (delirium tremens) can develop, which is a potentially fatal condition that requires hospitalization.
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Delirium Tremens
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DTs occur in 5% of acute alcohol poisoning. If untreated, the mortality rate from DTs is 35%. With early treatment and intervention, the mortality rate is 5 to 15%. Symptoms begin anywhere from six hours to seven days after the last alcohol intake, and include severe shaking and convulsions; elevated heart rate; visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations (feeling things crawling on the skin); paranoia; fever; elevated blood pressure; and a complete detachment from reality. Two fatal complications of the DTs are the associated heart arhythmias and seizures.
Treatment
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If emergency symptoms like the DTs develop, treatment involves hospitalization and complete medical management. Typical treatments include intravenous fluids, heart medications, sedation, anticonvulsants, and close monitoring of vital signs. Even alcoholics who have not been symptomatic for such extreme withdrawal reactions need medical monitoring in the earliest phases of quitting.
Medical management is followed by therapeutic management and long-term treatment. For those who recognize dependence is destroying their health and their lives, multiple program choices are available. The benefits of organized programs are peer support, gaining strategies for sober living, and especially in acute care settings, an alcohol-free environment.
Recidivism
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Of those Americans who are dependent upon alcohol, only an estimated 15% seek treatment. Many people fail at their first few attempts at sobriety and have to restart a program, while some choose a different program. It is a matter of diligence and finding the right program with the correct support. Since there are very few long term studies on alcoholics who have completed a treatment program, no reliable success rates are published.
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