Alcohol Abuse Advice

Understanding Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms

Various symptoms arise from quitting alcohol intake. The cases could be mild, moderate or severe. The body’s reactions to sudden or slow alcohol withdrawal are more or less similar for all the ages. The question lies on how long these symptoms last in older people who due to their age have a weaker immune system.

The fact that their bodies had got used to alcohol makes it twice as hard to regulate themselves to the lessening alcohol contents. It is also quite hard for old people to tolerate any changes that happen to their systems. A change in alcohol toxicity in the blood is not an exception. This makes the withdrawal symptoms to last longer in older people as compared to the younger ones. Adjusting to their normal body states therefore takes longer.

It is generally important to get to know the different types of alcohol withdrawal symptoms as well as the length of time that each will be experienced. The mild and moderate symptoms may possibly be felt within 6 hours to 4 days since the last consumption of alcohol. Some of the symptoms that the patient experiences are; sweating profusely on the hands and face, sleeping disorders like insomnia, depression, anxiety, nausea, lack of appetite and an increase in the heart rate.

The severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms are more distressing and the patient has to seek medical assistance. They consist of excessive irritability, increased levels of depression, seizures, fever, delirium tremens, muscle tremors, visual hallucinations and anxiety in great extremes. People undergoing this phase have complexities in thinking clearly. These symptoms last for approximately 46 to 96 hours.

It is important to take note that the given alcohol withdrawal symptoms are not restricted to those who withdraw after being alcohol dependent, they also occur to those who abuse alcohol intake and then decide to quit abruptly. This group of people will face similar negative withdrawal symptoms if not graver ones.