What to Expect at an Alcohol Detox Center
Are you beginning to get worried about how much you (or a loved one) drink? Maybe it seems like every time something bad happens, you’ve been drinking. Or you’ve noticed that alcohol makes you look red in the face or bloated, or you feel shaky when you’ve gone too long without a drink. An alcohol detox center near San Clemente could be the place for you to start your journey away from drinking and to a healthier, happier life.
The Long-Term Effects of Alcohol Abuse
Your brain responds to the influence of alcohol by making changes to certain neurochemicals. That’s why you might feel pleasantly buzzed early in your drinking career after a drink or two. As you continue to drink, your brain builds up a tolerance to the drug and you need more. If you keep drinking, eventually you’ll build up a dependence on the drug because your brain is so used to having it that things go haywire when you stop, even briefly.
Alcoholism, or alcohol use disorder, is a progressive disease. That means you don’t go from having a drink or two to immediately being unable to function without it. But it also means that the disorder will worsen as you continue drinking. Ultimately alcoholism leads to a shortened lifespan if you don’t stop. But there are plenty of unpleasant consequences along the way, both for your mental and physical health.
Over the long term, alcohol causes arrhythmia or irregular heartbeats (which can be fatal.) It causes high blood pressure, which has several effects including increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Drinking weakens the heart muscle so it can’t pump blood to all areas of your body. Alcoholism is also linked to various cancers, including breast, bowel, rectum, liver, head, and neck.
Your liver and pancreas are also likely to be affected if you don’t stop drinking. Cirrhosis of the liver builds up scar tissues so the organ doesn’t function well, and fatty liver can lead to hepatitis and jaundice. Too much liquor also damages your kidneys and can lead to kidney failure.
In addition to strokes caused by blood clots blocking blood to the brain, long-term drinkers may end up with Wernicke’s encephalopathy (sometimes called “wet brain”), which creates a lack of muscular coordination, mental confusion, and nerve paralysis that often affects eye movements. Many who have this condition also experience Korsakoff’s psychosis where you have serious memory problems, forgetfulness, and other problems with thinking.
Your mental health is also at risk if you drink for a long time. Alcohol makes anxiety and depression worse (even though many people use it to try to alleviate these issues) and is linked to suicide and other ways to self-harm, as well as psychosis, where you lose your grip on reality.
The first step in stopping these dangerous and unpleasant consequences is to stop drinking. Depending on your history with alcohol, you may need to get help for this first step.
Alcohol Detox Center Near San Clemente: When Is Alcohol Detox Necessary?
Detoxification is the process of ridding the body and the brain of alcohol. If you haven’t been drinking very long and don’t drink very much, you might not need a supervised detox. You could do it at home, with a visit or two to the doctor or urgent care as necessary.
However, if that’s not you, you might need supervised alcohol detox in San Clemente to keep you safe when you stop. The withdrawal symptoms you experience after your last drink result from your brain adapting to the lack of alcohol. They can be severe or even life-threatening for people with long drinking careers. You may need to gradually taper off instead of quitting cold turkey to be safe.
If any of these apply to you, a supervised medical detox is likely the best way to be comfortable as you withdraw:
- You’re underweight and dehydrated because you rarely eat or drink anything that isn’t alcohol.
- You’ve tried to quit before and weren’t successful.
- If you go too long without a drink, you feel shaky, nauseous, or feverish, or you have seizures or hallucinations.
- Most of your life is taken up by figuring out how to get alcohol and then drinking it.
- You have other medical issues such as pregnancy or mental health concerns.
- You don’t have any friends left that don’t drink and you’re estranged from your family (or they help you drink).
How Do I Pay for Alcohol Detox?
Most major health insurance companies are required to cover substance abuse treatment. If the medical staff determines that you have a medical need for treatment, most if not all will be paid for through insurance. If you still need some financial assistance, many detox facilities allow you to pay in installments. You can also try scholarships or grants and loans, including peer-to-peer lending.
The Timeline of Alcohol Detox: How Long Will It Take?
The exact timeline of your alcohol detox treatment depends on how long and how much you’ve been drinking and other factors such as age, weight, and genetics. If you haven’t been drinking much or for long, the symptoms could be gone in as few as two to three days.
You’ll generally start feeling some mild symptoms within two to six hours of your last drink. These can include mood swings, irritability, anxiety, depression, shakiness, and problems sleeping. Peak withdrawal, which can include more intense and uncomfortable symptoms, may last a few days to a week for those who’ve been drinking longer.
What If I Relapse After Alcohol Detox?
It’s disheartening to go attend an alcohol detox center near San Clemente and then drink again, but relapse is a part of the story for many drinkers who eventually go on to long-term recovery. Relapse doesn’t mean you failed but need to do something differently.
Detox is only the first step in your healing journey. You also need to do the work of sobriety, which includes understanding why you started to drink too much in the first place. It’s important to learn life skills like stress and anger management so that you don’t have to drink over obstacles when life throws an obstacle in your way.
Alcohol Detox Center Near San Clemente: Rehab Options After Detox
The full continuum of care after detox starts with inpatient rehab and then outpatient rehab near San Clemente. Some former drinkers go on to stay in a sober living facility to receive more support before transitioning out of rehab.
Inpatient rehab is at a residential facility where you’re supervised and each day is structured for therapy, learning, and fun in the evenings. Partial hospitalization outpatient programs take up most of the days during the week. Although you’re no longer living in rehab, you still receive a lot of therapy and classes. Intensive outpatient and outpatient programs usually occur in the evenings and on weekends so you can go to work or school while you’re still in care.
San Clemente Residents Can Get the Best Alcohol Detox by Calling Muse Treatment
At Muse, we want you to succeed in recovery. Our three-part program which focuses on therapy, neural recovery (for your brain), and 12-step programming, helps you build a strong foundation for your sobriety. Our detox will keep you safe and comfortable so you don’t have to drink again to ease your pain.
If you’re ready to begin treatment to live the joyful life you want and deserve, don’t wait any longer. Call us at (800) 426-1818 to get started today.
