Alcoholism Facts


Alcohol Detox Medications: Everyday Medications Used as Alcohol Detox Medications

The huge strides that have been made in science and technology to provide some of the best health care and medicines for a wide variety of problems are definitely blessings! Treatments for recovering alcoholics include alcohol detox medications besides psychological and emotional counselling combined with healthy diets and love and support.

There are plenty of medicines available now that have proved to be effective in treating long-term alcohol abuse and dependency. Some of the withdrawal symptoms include headaches, anxiety, hallucinations, nausea, high blood pressure, violent seizures, and may even lead to death in some cases. Alcohol detox medications help alleviate such situations allowing the detox center staff to help the patient make a quick and speedy recovery. Some other alcohol detox medications help recovering addicts remain sober during lifelong recovery journeys.

Let's take a look at some of the many types of alcohol detox medications choices available for treatment of withdraw symptoms.

* Antianxiety medicines prove beneficial in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal symptoms like delirium tremens (DTs). Vitamins, particularly thiamine (vitamin B1), help prevent Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome that is known to cause permanent brain damage from poor nutrition and long-term alcohol abuse.

* Alcohol detox medications for seizures help by reducing the severity of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms during detox.

Alcohol detox medications to help keep patients away from alcohol while undergoing treatment include:

* Disulfiram (Antabuse) that slows down the pleasurable effects of alcohol and makes the patient feel nauseated when they drink alcohol

* Naltrexone (ReVia) prevents the patient from drinking by not let the patient experience any pleasure while drinking alcohol.

* Acamprosate (Campral) reduces desire for alcohol. Some of these alcohol detox medications have been approved recently and patients can now be given these medications to treat them for alcohol dependence.

Note: It's advisable that any of the above mentioned alcohol detox medications should be taken ONLY under experienced medical supervision.