Alcohol detox is only one part in the treatment of alcoholism. The detoxification from alcohol can be serious and life threatening. In many cases, alcoholism treatment may begin with the individual going through a detoxification program. The individual must be detoxed and monitored to avoid any serious injury during the initial stages of withdraw. Some treatment programs have on-ground detox facilities where others may utilize a local hospital or dedicated detox facility.

When detoxing from alcohol, depending on the amount consumed and for how long, you will probably experience withdraw symptoms. Withdraw symptoms are different for everyone but most often include nausea, vomiting, cold sweats, shaking, anxiety, and in some cases convulsions and seizures.

In March of 1997, after drinking daily for years, I had been drinking approximately 2 liters of vodka a day for several months when I decided to stop on Sunday night. I was at home and wasn’t aware of the seriousness of alcohol detox. By mid Monday morning I realized something was seriously wrong and dialed 911. I ended up in the emergency room of a local hospital and went through violent detoxification process. I experienced extreme convulsions, hallucinations, cold sweats, vomiting, and was in ICU for five days.

Alcohol detox programs are not all the same. There are different philosophies and beliefs on the proper way to detox someone from alcohol. Some administer drugs to help relieve the detox process while others do not or administer different types of drugs. During my detox in 1997, I have no idea if or what kind of drugs they gave me. I do know they had me on an IV which I continued to pull out until they strapped my arms to the bed. I’ve been through detox dozens of time since then and have been given Librium on several occasions. From my experience, Librium does not relieve the symptoms of withdraw so much as prevent seizures and convulsions. Withdrawing from alcohol is still painful no matter what. With that said, coming off of any drug or alcohol is difficult. And since the effect of Librium was not getting me as “high” as the alcohol, it’s effect did little in diminishing the discomfort.

I have spent anywhere from three to seven days in an actual detox program. The time varies and seems to increase as the disease progresses. Alcoholism is a progressive disease. The last time I entered a detox program was on March 12, 2006 and I remained in detox for seven days. The facility I was in required certain vital sign levels to be maintained and that the individual had not required Librium for 24 hours prior to being allowed to leave the detox facility.

Detoxing from alcohol is only the first step in treating the disease of alcoholism. Although it can be extremely painful and even life threatening, it is obviously necessary.

From Experience!
While it is possible to detox, or “wean” oneself from alcohol (by slowing reducing consumption to zero), it is not recommended and in my experience does not work very well, if at all. As an experienced and recovered alcoholic, let me share a story.

After years of drinking, I became aware of just how much I could drink for an extended period of time without experiencing any significant withdraw symptoms. For me it was one liter of vodka a day. Once I got to over a liter, I knew I would have trouble stopping without some withdraw symptoms. The most common symptoms were waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweats (freezing yet sweating bullets!) and severe shakes. When the symptoms start setting in, the only thing you can think about is getting alcohol in your system to stop the symptoms. Many nights, while trying to hide fact I was drinking and thus didn’t not have a readily available supply of alcohol in the house, I would wake up and search for anything with alcohol in it. Cooking sherry, vanilla extract, mouth wash, anything to stop the withdraw.

One time I’d gotten to the point where I knew I needed to wean myself down slowly so I could stop without these withdraw symptoms. So I hid away in a friends basement who happened to have an enormous bar full of all types of liquor. I told myself I’d keep track of how much I was taking and slowly drink less over the span of three or four days. Five days later my girlfriend came and took me back to treatment… I’m still not sure how she found me. A true alcoholic cannot control his drinking. “I can either enjoy it, or control it” is a common phrase. Detoxing myself never worked.