Quitting alcohol seems simple, isn’t it? You just need to stop drinking – that’s all.
However, alcohol detox from home can be more dangerous than you might believe, especially in case you try and stop cold turkey while you are incredibly alcohol dependent. The best and perhaps the safest way to quit is to progressively taper off what proportion you drink.
If you have got any alcohol withdrawal symptoms, there are various safe ways you can consider alcohol detox from home.
People who get tremors, or confusion when they quit, should consider medically supervised alcohol detox.
Talk to your doctor immediately if you develop any withdrawal symptoms when you quit drinking.
While you have already decided to quit drinking and get sober, congrats! But the journey ahead isn’t going to be easy. It comes with its own challenges. If you want to be successful, you need to get ready to know what to expect out of your alcohol detox from home.
What Are The Risks Associated With Alcohol Detox From Home?
Due to the detrimental effects on the brain and the body, quitting alcohol cold turkey can be extremely dangerous and likely life-threatening, especially for those with more serious alcohol abuse conditions.
While certain people may be capable of dealing with alcohol withdrawal symptoms without any extreme risks, the safest possible way to quit drinking remains with a medically supervised detox.
A healthcare professional’s help could help make sure that any side effects or complications are addressed promptly. You can even be prescribed specific medications to ease your physical withdrawal symptoms and make this process smoother.
While detoxing from alcohol at home could seem relatively straightforward or cheaper, it’s less likely to last for a protracted period.
Besides the risk of complications, a great majority of people who try an at-home alcohol detox often neglect the psychological withdrawal symptoms.
Without any help during and after alcohol detox from home, these people are incapable of completing this process or relapse soon afterwards.
How To Safely Accomplish Alcohol Detox From Home?
As mentioned earlier, if you are highly dependent on alcohol, it can be dangerous to stop drinking all of a sudden. Rather, you should try to minimize the amount you drink gradually over a period of a few weeks or months.
This process takes a little more preparation, but it’s relatively safer than stopping abruptly.
Following are some of the best tips you can consider and be successful at alcohol detox from home:
Maintain a drinking diary
Before you start abating your alcohol consumption, you must be aware of how much you drink in a day. Without altering your drinking habits, try maintaining a drinking diary for at least one week.
Jot down:
- Each drink you have
- When you have it
- How many alcohol units does it contain
If you are not sure about how many units are there in your drinks:
The number of units contained in a bottle should be printed on the side
If you drink from a bottle of wine, make sure you measure each drink so you know how much you are actually having
Start to taper off alcohol
When you have monitored your drinking level for about a week, you can start tapering off the amount you consume.
Start by decreasing your drinking by 1% a day.
For instance, if you usually drink 20 units of alcohol a day, try reducing it to 18 units a day.
Keep drinking at this level for four days before reducing the amount by another 10%.
If you start experiencing alcohol withdrawal symptoms, consider it a key indication you’re tapering off way too quickly. Keep drinking at your most recent safe level for a week, and then start reducing the amounts again. This time, try cutting down your drinking by 5% instead of 10% each week.
If you drink less than 10 alcohol units a day, you can stop drinking altogether.
Also Read: How Adversely Excessive Alcohol Affect Your Health
Be ready to stop drinking
When you are drinking below 10 units each day, you can stop drinking alcohol altogether but you still may require support in an emergency.
Tell the people in your family or those that live with you to call an ambulance immediately if you:
- Become unsteady in your feet
- Become confused
- Develop double vision
- Experience hallucinations (seeing/hearing things that aren’t actually there)
- Have seizures
How Long Does Alcohol Detox From Home Take?
The time detox usually takes relies upon a wide array of factors such as if you are detoxing from home or with medical supervision. Alcohol detox from home takes a bit longer as you need to be very careful to avoid any major complications.
Conversely, if you are detoxing from a rehabilitation centre, your healthcare providers and nurses will perpetually monitor the vital signs, provide adequate nourishment and address complications immediately when they occur.
Alcohol tends to stay in your system for many hours depending on the amount you drink. Once it starts leaving your system, early alcohol withdrawal symptoms occur.
The early alcohol withdrawal symptoms often start after about six hours from the last drink and amplify about a day before diminishing. These symptoms include sweating, tremors, headache, difficulty concentrating, and vomiting.
Seizures may occur within the first 24 hours, but it occurs only in about 25% of people who quit alcohol.
The late alcohol withdrawal symptoms start about 2 – 4 days after the last drink and usually include changes in blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing.
Most people get better from alcohol withdrawal symptoms within just a week, however, some people with severe dependency might experience them for numerous weeks.
Alcohol triggers serious changes in the brain and lasting symptoms such as mood changes, fatigue, and sleep problems may take multiple months to overcome.
