Many people believe that they can stop abusing alcohol whenever they want. This misconception stems from the fact that alcohol is one of the few legally available substances that is addictive. As a result, they believe they do not need professional help for alcohol detox. Instead, they assume they can easily detox from alcohol on their own.
What is Alcohol Detox?
Alcohol detox occurs whenever alcohol is removed from the body after drinking it. For most people that drink responsibly, their detox is very mild. However, unless they have been out partying and drinking all night, they may feel sleepy and experience a slight headache.
On the other hand, if they were out binge drinking or drank way too much, they could experience nausea, vomiting, intense headaches, and other common hangover symptoms. Experiencing these symptoms is a result of the alcohol being detoxed from the body.
However, for someone with an alcohol use disorder, their withdrawal symptoms are much more severe. They can experience a host of flu-like symptoms, uncontrolled sweating, dry heaving, uncontrolled shaking, and body aches and pains during alcohol detox.
Why You Need Professional Help for Alcohol Detox
When you suffer from alcohol dependence or addiction, you have developed a tolerance to alcohol. Without professional help for alcohol detox, quitting on your own is incredibly challenging. As you start to experience severe withdrawal symptoms as the alcohol is detoxed from your body, the process can become so excruciating that you will want the symptoms to stop.
The only way to do this without professional help is to return to drinking. Furthermore, quitting cold turkey places you at higher health risks that can be life-threatening if you have been abusing alcohol for quite some time or frequently binge drink.
So, if you want to stop drinking for good and avoid the more severe side effects of alcohol detox, you need professional help. Professional alcohol detox is a process where qualified health professionals clinically supervise your detox. In addition, they assist you in managing your withdrawal symptoms using various methods, such as medication-assisted treatment to help you safely detox from alcohol.
Benefits of Professional Help for Alcohol Detox
There are several benefits of seeking professional help for alcohol detox, including:
Increased Safety
Since alcohol detox is supervised, the process is safer than attempting to detox on your own. You have access to medical and clinical professionals who can help reassure you and provide assistance when you experience withdrawal symptoms to make detoxing easier.
Avoid Temptations to Drink
During detox, your body has become accustomed to alcohol. As a result, you will experience strong cravings for it. By undergoing supervised detox in a secure setting, while cravings do occur, the temptation to give in and resume drinking does not happen since you don’t have access to alcohol.
Detox Stabilization
As you detox, your physical and mental symptoms will vary. Throughout detox, your treatment is adjusted to ensure you are stabilized gradually and slowly to reduce the occurrence of severe withdrawal symptoms.
Mental Health Support
Another benefit of professional alcohol detox is access to counselors and therapists who provide mental health support. You can talk about your feelings and receive guidance on how to get through detox without judgment.
Alcohol Addiction Education
Part of the detox process involves learning more about alcohol use disorders. You have the opportunity to find out more about your addiction, the impacts it has had on those around you, and what steps you should take next once detox is over.
Options for Rehab Treatment
As you near the end of alcohol detox, you will have different options available to continue rehab treatment. Rehab is an essential part of continuing your recovery and learning how to live sober. Unfortunately, forgoing rehab often results in relapse because you are still in the early days of recovery, where it is easy to fall right back into your former drinking habits.
Peer Support
You are not the only one going through detox. There will be other people who are also going through detox. As such, your peers understand exactly what you are experiencing and going through. Furthermore, peer support can provide you with additional encouragement to help you get through detox.
When to Seek Help for Alcohol Detox
Deciding when to seek help for alcohol detox can be a difficult decision. Most people with alcohol use disorders do not realize they need help. They often believe they have their drinking under control. However, once you are able to admit you need help, you will know it is time to get professional alcohol detox assistance.
Professional Help for Alcohol Detox in Nashville, TN
When you find you cannot stop drinking without experiencing negative withdrawal symptoms or have to drink constantly just to function but want help to stop drinking, you should seek professional help for alcohol detox at Detox Nashville in Tennessee.
We offer supervised alcohol detox to help minimize the negative withdrawal effects and make detox easier. After completing detox, we provide customizable alcohol rehab programs to help you maintain your newfound sobriety.
To learn more about our supervised alcohol detox and alcohol addiction treatment programs in Nashville, contact us to speak with an intake specialist today.
