Alcohol Detox and Related Statistics
It’s estimated that 4% of the U.S. population (roughly 12 million people) are suffering from Alcoholism and another 4% are alcohol abusers. The health consequences from alcohol related disorders are alarming and the general population is not aware of these health issues, specifically the dangers of Alcohol Detox. What’s more concerning is that only 10% of alcoholics seek any type of treatment and another 90% die prematurely without any alcohol detox treatment.
When an alcoholic stops drinking alcohol, withdrawal sets in. While detox is necessary to rid the body of toxic contaminents, it can be very difficult and painful and should only be induced by the supervision of qualified medical professionals.
Alcohol Detox Withdrawal and Physiological Changes
- After prolonged heavy use when patients stop using Alcohol, they go through physiological changes causing withdrawal symptoms.
- After 4 to 8 hours of their last use, patients will experience shakes, sweats, chills and heart rate and blood pressure will be increased causing severe anxiety, leading the urge for alcohol use.
- Between 12 to 48 hours of the last drink, patients may experience a mild seizure (usually multiple mild seizures over a short period of time).
- 3 to 5 days after their last use of alcohol, patients may experience Delirium Tremens, which are are severe nervous system changes. Patients are not oriented to time and place and may hallucinate (see and hear things). The mortality rate without treatment can be very high.
- Because detox can be fatal, it’s imperative that the treatment center provides a safe, comfortable, medically supervised alcohol detox.
- Many people want to tough it out but without medical management, brain cell death could be irreversible, so a properly supervised medical alcohol detox is highly recommended.
Neurobiology of Alcohol Use and Detox
During alcohol use, brain activity of GABA receptors (inhibitory neurotransmitters) are enhanced and NMDA receptors (excitatory neurotransmitters) are blocked by alcohol. This results in an anti-anxiety effect. Larger amounts of alcohol consumption can cause blackouts and memory impairment.
- An opposite reaction occurs during alcohol cessation, resulting in low activity of GABA and high activity of NMDA, causing high anxiety, shakes, sweats, increased heart rate, high blood pressure, seizures and delirium tremens.
- There are other neuroreceptors involved such as opiate, serotonin and other neurochemicals in the brain.
- High NMDA activity is most likely the cause of brain cell death.
- Inspire Malibu uses scientific and evidence based knowledge to appropriately detox patients from alcohol. For more information call
Health Consequences of Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol abuse can effect all organ systems from head to toe.
Memory loss, dementia, hearing voices, paranoia, severe depression, sleep disturbances
alcoholic liver disease (fatty liver), cirrhosis, cancer
high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, heart failureSafe and Comfortable Alcohol Detox
While the scariest part of getting sober is usually the beginning stages of detox, at Inspire Malibu we take pride in providing our patients with the safest and most comfortable alcohol detox program available today.
Our alcohol detox treatment programs are closely monitored by medical doctors who are always available to adjust medications used during detox, if necessary. Dr. Mohammad, our medical director, was the first doctor in California to use Suboxone as the latest scientific method for comfortable opiate detox.
We use the latest Science and Evidence Based Treatments in our alcohol detox programs as well.
Still have questions? Call us to find out what makes our alcohol detox program unique to the industry at 877-843-7438.
