The main ways to prevent alcohol withdrawal are to avoid alcohol altogether or to get professional help as soon as possible if you think you’re developing alcohol use disorder. An AUD is suspected when the individual’s health and safety are put at risk because of drinking, or they experience other alcohol-related problems. Binge drinking can be a symptom of AUD, but not all binge drinkers are dependent on alcohol.

Early Withdrawal (6-24 hours)

While anyone withdrawing from alcohol dependence faces some seizure risk, certain factors increase vulnerability significantly. With chronic alcohol use, the brain compensates for these changes by reducing natural GABA production and increasing glutamate sensitivity. When alcohol is suddenly removed, the brain is left in a hyperexcitable state with too little calming activity and too much stimulation. This imbalance can trigger seizures as electrical activity in the brain becomes chaotic and uncontrolled. The main underlying issue that causes DTs is alcohol use disorder. The long-term goal after treating DTs is to treat alcohol use disorder.

Why is this medication prescribed?

• Receiving treatment for it can help reduce the odds of developing DTs in the future.
• While benzodiazepines work well, they require careful medical supervision after a physical exam to avoid dependence or misuse.
• This medicine may be used for other purposes; ask your health care provider or pharmacist if you have questions.
• It will stay in this state even once you stop alcohol consumption, which can lead to initial symptoms like insomnia, anxiety, tremors, and even seizures.

Tell your doctor and pharmacist what other prescription and nonprescription medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medication and will monitor you carefully. Gender can also influence how people suffering from alcohol use disorder cope with their condition. Research finds that female alcohol dependence is increased and often begun by mental health struggles like loneliness and rejection. If you’re concerned that someone you love is struggling with alcohol withdrawal, don’t wait. The National Rehab Hotline connects people with trusted treatment resources and professional support across the country.

• For some substances, such as opioids, the withdrawal symptoms are so severe that they create significant motivation to continue using them.
• The effects of AWS can appear within hours of stopping drinking, or several days later.
• Alcoholics often have a nutritional deficiency from heavy drinking, which affects nutrient absorption and depletes water-soluble vitamins and minerals in the body.
• Long-term heavy alcohol use sets up a tug-of-war-like effect in your body.
• More than half a million Brits (602,391) show signs of alcohol addiction, but only 18% of them receive treatment.

Support Groups

• Engaging in hobbies and activities that bring joy and fulfillment can also play a significant role in preventing relapse by providing healthy alternatives to alcohol use.
• This is why a medically supervised detox is the safest way to recover.
• Seizures typically last from a few seconds to several minutes.
• Medical detox provides medications, monitoring, and intervention capabilities that can prevent seizures or respond to them quickly if they occur.
• Programs like the Massachusetts Center for Addiction provide comprehensive care—blending evidence-based treatments with a holistic, person-centered approach.
• Common withdrawal symptoms from alcohol include difficulty sleeping, sweating and heart palpitations.

This unpredictability underscores the importance of medical supervision throughout the withdrawal process, not just during the first day or two. One of the priorities in treating this condition is to lower nervous system activity. A healthcare provider will treat this using drugs that reduce how active your CNS is. Alcohol withdrawal is the body’s natural response to going without alcohol after you stop drinking.

Supportive care

• This is a type of medication or substance that slows down your brain and nervous system.
• These symptoms typically begin in early withdrawal, often starting 6-12 hours after the last drink.
• Have someone with you during the first several days of withdrawal.
• Severe and complicated alcohol withdrawal requires treatment in a hospital — sometimes in the ICU.
• Alcohol consumption can lead to nutritional deficiencies, and correcting these deficiencies can help alleviate some withdrawal symptoms.
• This can create an unhealthy drive to seek more pleasure from the substance or activity and less from healthier activities.

Heavy or prolonged alcohol use can have a negative effect on many parts of your body, including the heart, liver, and nervous system. Your doctor may also perform blood tests to check for any alcohol-related damage to these areas. With early treatment and prevention, the chance of death from delirium tremens is rare. Of those who develop seizures, about 3 percent may have a more serious type of seizure called status epilepticus.

Timing awareness is critical for Alcohol Withdrawal staying safe during alcohol withdrawal. In most cases, seizures occur within the first 48 hours after the last drink, with the highest risk period being 24 to 48 hours into withdrawal. People struggling with alcohol use disorder often neglect proper hydration, choosing alcohol over water and other healthy beverages. The resulting dehydration affects brain function and increases vulnerability to seizures during withdrawal.

As the 2022 review above explains, there are many symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. Many symptoms may arise during the course of alcohol withdrawal, including high blood pressure, insomnia, and tremors. Treatment can lessen these symptoms and help prevent harmful outcomes. A safe detox helps people withdraw from alcohol without serious health problems.

If you or someone you love is considering detoxing from alcohol in Arizona, Changes Healing Center can provide a safe and comfortable setting without the dangers of a cold turkey approach. Going through alcohol detox may seem scary at first — but it will help you get back to normal. Then, you can begin to pick up the pieces and get your life back on track. When you drink, your liver releases an enzyme to help your body get rid of the alcohol. Alcohol that isn’t broken down and secreted is absorbed into other parts of the body, such as the brain. Binge drinking, which involves consuming large quantities of alcohol in a short period, significantly increases the risk.

Alcohol Abuse Recovery

Signs of DT’s include extreme hyperactivity of the autonomic nervous system,1 along with hallucinations. Women experiencing DT’s appear to exhibit autonomic symptoms less frequently than men. Co-occurring medical problems may obscure the diagnosis and treatment of DT’s or worsen the outcome. Such medical problems include altered blood chemistry, certain infections, and Wernicke’s syndrome (see the following section for a discussion on Wernicke’s syndrome) (Saitz 1995). The risk of death is reduced, however, in patients receiving adequate medication and medical support.