Why Quitting Alcohol Cold Turkey is the Wrong Treatment Option

Quitting alcohol is naturally going to be at the forefront of your mind if you are reading this. What you need to bear in mind is that going cold turkey may seem like the best option, but it is actually the worst thing you can do. It can cause serious health problems and the chances of you actually succeeding cold turkey are extremely low.

In this article, we are going to discuss why you should go through the proper channels for alcohol rehab in London.

What is Cold Turkey?

Cold turkey occurs when you get up one day and decide to stop drinking alcohol entirely. You believe that you have the willpower to beat this and you just stop drinking as much. Going cold turkey puts immense physical and mental strain on the body.

It is true that cold turkey can work within the environment of alcohol rehab clinics, but this is because professionals surround you. If something does go wrong, you will have immediate access to medical attention and various medications. You will have a programme tailored to your needs. Without these arrangements in place, you are taking a big risk.

It Really Can Kill You

The biggest threat of going cold turkey is a seizure, which can lead to death. The body goes into seizure because it has become so dependent on alcohol that it needs it to function. Alcohol becomes like fuel for the body. If you take it away, you are going to find yourself in a situation where your body feels as if it is unable to function any longer.

Alcoholic seizures are amongst the leading causes of death from alcohol. Amy Winehouse was one example of a person who suffered serious complications due to the decision to go cold turkey.

Everything against You

When you go cold turkey,you are only targeting the act of drinking alcohol itself. You are not addressing the underlying issues that encouraged you to start drinking in the first place. There is a reason why rehab centres spend so much time on counselling. They believe that you need to establish why you began to drink. Once you have done that, only then can you begin to stop drinking.

Furthermore, if you try to deal with an alcohol addiction by yourself you are liable to fail. You have no help. Whilst some people may say that it is a matter of starting again, it’s not as easy as that.

Each failure is only going to make it less likely that you eventually will become sober. Alcoholics who have failed to rehabilitate themselves in the past tend to fall into a cycle of depression. They become depressed so they start to drink again. If they have the memories of previous failures with them, they are only going to focus on them and not the potential for getting healthy again.

In conclusion, by all means attempt to cut down little by little, but never go completely cold turkey. Attend a rehabilitation centre and allow them to control your treatment. It is the best way to claim a healthy and sober lifestyle again.

7 Tips for Coping with Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms

Alcohol withdrawal symptoms are your biggest problem when you start to quit your addiction. Your ability to defeat them and your cravings together will determine whether you successfully quit alcohol forever or not. There are a range of tips and tricks available to help with dealing with withdrawal symptoms. Using the help of alcoholrehabs.org.uk, we are going to go through some of the best tips for coping with alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Drink Water

The best way to stop withdrawal symptoms is to drink water. Water replenishes your electrolytes, which helps to combat feelings off fatigue and dizziness. It is essential to drink water because dehydration is one of the most common problems former alcoholics face when they are in the middle of trying to quit.

Balance Your Blood Sugar

Keeping a balanced blood sugar level will help you to fight off many of the most common withdrawal symptoms. Your liver is an organ that metabolises sugar in the body. Alcohol is metabolised into sugar. You need to come up with a way of replacing this supply of sugar. Eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables is a good way to do this.

Build a Support System

Rehab clinics recommend building a strong support system of healthy and sober people who can step in and comfort you when your withdrawal symptoms begin to get on top of you. They can consist of anyone from family members to close friends. It is good to have a helpline you can also contact 24/7 should you start to have problems at unsociable hours.

Surfing the Urge

Urge surfing is where you simply ride out the urge. The theory goes that over time you will come to anticipate times where your cravings will start to overwhelm you and you will have no problems riding them out. This does not mean you should purposely seek out opportunities to urge surf. It means every so often you should ride it out through simple power of will.

Avoidance Options

Avoid the bad influences in your life. Stay away from the vicinity of any bars and cut contact with your drinking friends. The easiest way to avoid letting withdrawal symptoms get on top of you is not put yourself in situations where you inadvertently amplify them. It is not a sign of weakness;it is just being intelligent about your recovery.

Medications

Alcohol rehab clinics often prescribe medications to help with the effects of withdrawal symptoms. The most common ones are disulfiram. Take note that these are only accessible via a prescription. Depending on your withdrawal symptoms, these medications may differ. Everyone needs a tailor-made plan.

Remember Why You Quit

Sometimes you need to reflect on why you decided to quit drinking in the first place. Redirect your mind to the reason why you decided alcohol was harming your ability to flourish. Not only does it act as a distraction, it acts as an anchor point for you to hold onto when you become tempted to drink again. Some patients like to keep mementos and trinkets to this reason, such as a picture of a family member.

Cold Turkey and Binge Drinking – Does This Make It A Safer Treatment Option?

We always talk about how alcoholics should not go cold turkey. When people talk about alcoholics, they often refer to those who drink on a daily basis. Alcoholics may be people who only drink at the weekends. If you are a binge drinker and you want to stop, you may assume that going cold turkey is fine for you. Often, this is because binge drinkers do not see themselves as full-fledged alcoholics.

With the help of alcoholrehabs.org.uk, we are going to tell you why cold turkey is no safer for a binge drinker than it is for someone who drinks 365 days per year.

The Withdrawal Symptoms

The chief risk of going cold turkey is the potential for serious withdrawal symptoms. This can start at constant shaking to hallucinations. On from this you have regular feelings of delirium and alcoholic seizures. Many of these withdrawal symptoms can contribute to serious health conditions, and eventually death. Again, there is the myth that they only apply to alcoholics who drink on a daily basis.

This simply is not the case. If you expose your brain to alcohol in large doses on a semi-regular basis, you are still at risk of experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Scientists have shown repeatedly that you don’t need to drink every day to suffer from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

An Increased Risk

To make things even worse, people who only drink heavily at the weekends are actually more likely to suffer from serious withdrawal symptoms. Alcohol rehab clinics regularly take in students and young adults who find it difficult to stop drinking, even if they only drink during the weekends. They have discovered that detoxing through the week and drinking at the weekends has a profound effect on the brain.

These effects actually increase the chances of experiencing serious withdrawal symptoms. In other words, you are considered a higher medical risk if you are a semi-regular binge drinker.

Cold Turkey Out – What Next?

After reading through the above information, you should now see that going cold turkey is absolutely the wrong option in an unsupervised environment. Contact an alcohol rehab centres close to you and speak to them about your situation and what they can potentially do for you.

When you enter this clinical environment, you will see that going cold turkey is quite a regular occurrence. However, the difference is you are doing it in a safe place. The first month or so is where you’re most at risk. Remember, you are trying to convince your body to let go of something that it demand and expects on a daily basis.

If something does go wrong, you’re surrounded by medical professionals capable of stepping in at any time. Someone on the outside does not have this luxury. Should they experience an alcoholic seizure, help may well arrive too late.

In conclusion, do not change your habits until you enter a certified rehab centre. You need the help of professionals. Doing so is putting yourself at an enormous risk, despite the fact you may only drink at weekends.

Why a History of Successful Quitting Does Not Make Cold Turkey a Viable Alcohol Rehab Option

There is a lot of debate surrounding the viability of going cold turkey as an effective alcohol treatment option. The consensus from those in the rehab industry is this is a terrible idea. You are potentially risking your life by attempting to quit in this manner. Unfortunately, thousands of alcoholics continue to attempt this year after year – often with disastrous consequences.

One myth is that quitting previously with only minor withdrawal symptoms means your body is able to cope with the complete removal of alcohol. In this article, we are going to discuss why this is not the case.

Where Does the Myth Come From?

The myth comes from the face alcohol rehab clinics frequently talk about the risk of seizures and delirium during the cold turkey process. If someone attempts to go cold turkey and they manage to avoid these withdrawal symptoms, they begin to get the idea that their body is strong and it is more than capable of handling this extreme form of alcohol treatment.

What Does Science Say?

What many alcoholics find shocking is the fact that there is a direct correlation between experiencing alcoholic seizures and the number of times someone has attempted a detox. In other words, the more times you attempt to quit, the more likely you are to suffer from these extreme symptoms health professionals often talk about.

There is absolutely no correlation between going cold turkey in the past and a reduced risk of experiencing major withdrawal symptoms in the future. In fact, it is often the exact opposite. You are more likely to experience them.

A Lottery

Scientists do not have a concrete answer as to why it works how it does. The current theory is that it depends entirely on the context in which the patient attempted to quit the last time. For example, they may have been in the early stages of alcohol addiction. At this point, their bodies had not become dependent on it. This meant that the risk of experiencing seizures was already low.

Moreover, sometimes it is just a lottery. Going cold turkey does not mean you are automatically going to have to deal with extreme withdrawal symptoms. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. Some alcoholics will never have these issues, whereas other alcoholics will experience them to a great degree.

The Clinical Environment

What this article should show you is that you need medical professionals surrounding you when you do go cold turkey. Most rehabilitation programmes will eventually remove alcohol from your system entirely. The difference is you’re surrounded by doctors and various prescription medications. If something does go wrong, you will have the help of an expert in a matter of minutes.

That is a safe way of going cold turkey. Someone who lives alone is most at risk because there is no guarantee they will receive help until it is too late.

In conclusion, if you are about to embark on the recovery process, do not start drinking until you start the programme. Continue to drink in the meantime and don’t attempt to make any changes to your daily routine.

Breaking the Myth – Going Cold Turkey is Only Dangerous for the First Few Days

There are always many myths surrounding the idea of going cold turkey. This form of alcohol treatment has been used in the past to help people quit the habit. However, it can only work in a clinical environment whilst someone is under constant supervision. Anything less puts the patient at a significant risk of experiencing an alcoholic seizure, which can lead to death.

One of the biggest myths surrounding the cold turkey option is if you can get through the first few days you’re going to experience no problems. Let uslook at why this could not be further from the truth.

The First Few Days

Most alcoholics will experience some form of withdrawal during the first few days of going cold turkey. This is perfectly natural. Most of these symptoms will be relatively minor in the short-term. The body is still trying to convince you that it needs alcohol, which is displayed through symptoms like shaking and sweating. It is still tinged with alcohol, though, which means the possibility of experiencing a stroke or a seizure is actually at its lowest during the initial few days.

Where the Problems Lie

After about five days, you enter dangerous territory. This is where the initial symptoms will seem minor in comparison to what you are about to experience. Your body thinks it is in desperate need of alcohol. It is starting to run out of alcohol in the bloodstream and it needs topping up from the bottle. If you have reached a point where you have become dependent on it to function, this is where your body will start to react violently.

Once you enter this period, the risk of seizures, hallucinations, problems with the cardiovascular system, and strokes actually increases radically.

This is because your body has entered a form of survival mode. It believes that it is being deprived of what it needs to carry out its regular functions. This is why going cold turkey presents such a serious risk outside of the safety of alcohol rehab centres in the short-term.

Cold Turkey Can Work…in the Right Circumstances

It would be wrong of us to give off the impression that cold turkey is impossible. For all but the most desperate alcoholics, cold turkey is an option when performed in the right way. In other words, they are taken into a safe environment where clinical professionals surround them. You will only get this as part of private alcohol rehab.

In the event something happens and you begin to experience serious withdrawal symptoms, you know someone will step in immediately to help.

The risk within rehab centres does not change at all. You are still in harm’s way when you go cold turkey. The difference is you are not going to lose your life in the attempt. You also have additional support, such as counselling, to help address the reasons at the centre of your addiction. Without all these help points in place, you are highly unlikely to successfully quit alcohol and go on to lead a healthy life of sobriety.

The Different Types of Denial in Alcoholics

Alcoholism exhibits itself in a number of ways. Not everyone that needs alcohol rehab will come across as a quivering wreck that cannot leave the house. The fact of the matter is a considerable portion of those who need help do so because they are in denial about their problems. They do not recognise their destructive behaviours or the negative effects they are having on others.

You need to know how to recognise denial in alcoholics. In this article, we will discuss these matters.

• Basic Denial

Basic denial is exactly what it appears to be. Someone is drinking himself or herself half to death but they do not believe they have a problem. These individuals fit the standard stereotype of the person suffering from an alcohol addiction. They will claim they are not drinking half as much as they actually are.

In this case, you need to show them what they are doing to themselves. Often, it takes a doctor or a family member to tell them that they are killing themselves. They need a wakeup call to break through their denial and begin to address their destructive behaviours.

• High-Functioning Addiction

On the other side of the spectrum, there are alcoholics who do not fit the standard definition. These people may drink the finest liqueurs every so often. They do not suffer the same consequences as someone who does not have a job and drinks continually every day. These alcoholics are more difficult to convince because they know they have not suffered a lot of the usual consequences that tend to affect addicts and those closest to them.

These individuals are more likely to fall into higher income brackets, as a result. Moreover, the symptoms of addiction may not appear until much later in life.

• Denial Caused by Others

The final type of denial is a denial that has been compounded by others. Alcohol rehab clinics regularly take on alcoholics who have been told for years by family and friends that their behaviour is perfectly acceptable. These people may have built up a tolerance to alcohol over the years, and therefore will never appear drunk despite a heavy drinking session.

Another common situation is where the person is surrounded by similar heavy drinkers. They themselves may exhibit alcoholic tendencies, but the people around them are also borderline alcoholics. This is where behaviour almost becomes acceptable, and it is what eventually leads to serious problems later on in life.

• What Can You Do?

Unfortunately, many alcoholics that fall into categories two and three often cannot see they have a problem until they develop health complications. They need something to really hit home before they go about seeking help.

An alcoholic that falls into category one is the easiest person to convince because they are not ignorant of their behaviours. They are constantly drunk and they know they have a problem. The issue is they deal with their problem through more drink. To get them to private alcohol rehab, all you can do is talk. All you can do is make them see the error of their ways.

Putting Up with Excuses – The Mark of the Alcoholic

Every private alcohol rehab clinic in the UK has had to deal with alcoholics who have come up with a range of excuses to explain their behaviour. Nothing tries a loved one’s patience more than an excuse from an alcoholic. The fact is this is what you are going to have to deal with if you need to convince someone you care about that they have a problem.

There are hundreds of Alcohol Rehab Clinics in the UK that can help, but to start with, you need to show someone the damage they are causing through their actions. Let uslook at the art of the excuse.

• Why the Excuses?

A common myth about alcoholism is the person has no clue what they are doing to themselves. Whilst high-functioning alcoholics do have no clue about their addictions, the vast majority do. Most people are clever enough to recognise that what they are doing is not good for them. However, they cannot stop because their minds and bodies compel them to do it.

To set their fears at ease, they make up an excuse. These excuses could range from lying about how much they have drunk to saying how the alcohol actually helps them to get through the day.

Some alcoholics are embarrassed and some just want to keep the peace. You have to react to these excuses in the right way.

• Acceptance of Excuses

Too many people accept excuses because they do not want to cause any problems within the family unit. They would rather delude themselves into believing that there are no problems and alcoholism is perfectly normal behaviour. It is a natural response that most people have to try to push past.

By accepting the excuse, you are encouraging the alcoholic to continue to tell lies. You are not confronting the problem and you are potentially harming them by allowing their addictive ways to continue unchallenged.

• Abuse and Denial

Whenever you confront someone about their addiction, the chances are they are either going to deny it or become abusive towards you. These two negative outcomes are why so many people ignore the problem. What can you do in this situation, though?

For a start, make sure you’re not enabling the addiction. Do not give them any money and refuse to drive them to the shop or a pub. Offer to give them access to alcohol rehabs clinics in the UK, but don’t allow them to continue their addiction.

Sometimes, the only way to make someone see that they have a problem is to let them hit rock bottom. That means they may lose their jobs and ruin their relationships. It is perfectly fine to let this happen because some people have to suffer the consequences of their actions before they seek help.

Remember, the key to dealing with alcoholism is you have to be cruel to be kind. You are doing the right thing by not accepting excuses. If there are others in your home, make sure they are not inadvertently becoming enablers. Help them to see that they need to be cruel to be kind.