Alcohol withdrawal treatment is a serious thing.

The symptoms can range from mild anxiety all the way through delirium tremens and death, with all manner of things in between. This is a major problem and needs to be treated a such.

Alcohol withdrawal symptoms appear when a person who has been drinking an amount of alcohol every day for a long period of time suddenly quits drinking at all for whatever reason. The symptoms generally start within five to ten hours after stopping, but can happen many days later. They may begin as mild symptoms and then sudden become catastrophically worse after forty-eight to seventy-two hours.

Mild symptoms of alcohol withdrawal can include, but are not limited to, nervousness or anxiety, depression, unclear thoughts and confusion, fatigue, being irritable, being shaky, nightmares, and mood swings. As they get worse they can include clammy skin, enlarged pupils, a headache, trouble sleeping, loss of a normal appetite, nausea, heart palpitations, and a mild tremor in various body parts. If they progress to the severe symptoms of delirium tremens the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal may include severe agitation and aggression, severe confusion, hallucinations, a significant fever, and seizures, and if not treated, death.

Basically the treatment for alcohol withdrawal it to treat the symptoms as they manifest and keep the person alive long enough for his or her body to rid itself to the alcohol dependence. The healthcare provider may perform a physical exam during which he or she will be looking for several things like abnormal eye movements, abnormal heart rhythms, dehydration, fever, rapid breathing, rapid pulse, shaky hands or other body parts, all of which may indicate alcohol withdrawal. He or she may then perform blood and/or urine tests which probably will include a toxicology screen to see what the drug being withdrawn from is.

The goals of alcohol withdrawal treatment is to reduce the withdrawal symptoms, prevent other complications from arising, and to establish a treatment or therapy program to help the sufferer stop drinking for life. The treatments may take place as an inpatient at a hospital if the symptoms are moderate to severe in nature. Things such as monitoring blood pressure, body temperature, and the levels of chemicals in the blood are most liable to be ordered. IV fluids may be necessary to keep the fluids in the blood stable or to rehydrate the body. Sedation using benzodiazapines may be needed until the withdrawal is complete. The patient will have to be closely monitored for the onset of delirium tremens and its associated hallucinations and seizures.

For the mild to moderate symptoms an outpatient regimen may be prescribed. The patient will need to have a companion who can watch for an escalation of symptoms and call for help if needed as well as to be sure that the patient keeps hydrated. Also the companion will need to be sure the patient goes to his or her physician for daily checkups until the immediate instability is over.