If you have decided that you are ready to lead a sober life, then enrolling in an alcohol detox should be your first step. You may feel tempted to suddenly stop drinking at home, but without proper medical care, you could endanger yourself. Recovering from long-term alcohol abuse is a big decision, and you’re going to need help along the way.
Curious how alcohol detox can help you? Let’s look at what makes detox such an effective program for people who have become dependent on alcohol.
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Among people who start heavy drinking, they often do not realize how dangerous alcohol withdrawal symptoms can be. Perhaps because alcohol consumption is often viewed as harmless, many individuals do not take alcohol withdrawals seriously. But this can be a dangerous mistake.
Remember, long-term drinking makes your body physically dependent on alcohol. When you decide not to drink alcohol anymore, your body is going to go through a period of adjustment. Unfortunately, this transition is seldom easy, especially if you have suffered from substance abuse for a long time.
Heavy drinkers who suddenly stop drinking are at risk of several dangerous, life-threatening side effects, which may start anywhere from six hours to 72 hours after the last drink. and last up to a week On the gentler end of the scale, you may experience high blood pressure or headaches due to alcohol withdrawals. On the other hand, you may also experience severe effects of alcohol withdrawal, like:
As you might imagine, you do not want to deal with these withdrawal symptoms alone. That is where an alcohol detox program can make all the difference.
At Baton Rouge Behavioral Hospital, we help people recover from long-term alcohol abuse with our medically supervised detox. Our team of physicians, nurses, and other health care staff keep you as comfortable as possible through all stages of alcohol withdrawals.
As you have seen above, alcohol withdrawals can cause serious problems for individuals trying to quit drinking. Often, people who detox at home will relapse solely to stop the withdrawal symptoms. But our addiction treatment center removes all need for that by helping you manage the withdrawal symptoms.
How do we do it? Our medical team monitors each patient’s comfort levels and vital signs to safeguard their health and well-being during this sensitive time. If patients begin to suffer the worst effects of alcohol withdrawal, they may be prescribed Serax (oxazepam) to help manage their symptoms. If the patient experiences other withdrawal issues, they may receive other medications to lessen these symptoms.
This is our medication assisted treatment program, which helps patients stay safe and avoid relapse during detox. Keep in mind that our physicians prescribe medications only after carefully considering the patient’s health and how that medication will affect their recovery goals.
While it’s important that you start off your recovery at an addiction treatment facility, the recovery journey does not end after alcohol detox. After completing a detoxification program, you will want to pursue a supplementary level of care, like an inpatient dual diagnosis program to treat both addiction and co-occurring mental health issues, then an intensive outpatient program as a step-down from that level of care.
Long-term alcohol abuse can damage your kidneys, your brain, and even your central nervous system. The sooner you enroll in an alcohol detox program, the better your future health will be. And we want to help you get started as soon as possible.
At Baton Rouge Behavioral Hospital, we accept most major insurance and Louisiana medicaid. If you have questions about our alcohol detox program, call our admissions specialists at Baton Rouge Behavioral Hospital: (225) 567-8698 or fill out a confidential contact form. We love to help communities in Louisiana and southern Mississippi; just reach out and we will do everything in our power to help you.
