Alcohol Home Detox Treatment for Alcohol Dependence and Alcohol Withdrawal

Alcohol Detoxification:

Alcohol Detox is a serious medical concern that is typically traced to a client's genetic predisposition, social environment, and/or emotional state. An expert clinical nurse will supervise a safe medical withdrawal. Vital signs; including Blood Pressure, Pulse, Respirations, and Temperatures are assessed as needed. The Clinical Institute Withdrawal Scale of Alcohol (CIWA) is utilized for quality assessment. Re-assessment of your alcohol home detox treatment will be performed as often as is necessary to ensure a stable and successful recovery.

Symptoms of Alcohol Detox:

Alcohol dependent individuals are at risk for negative symptoms when they cut back or stop drinking alcohol. These symptoms include; elevated pulse, elevated blood pressure, diaphoresis or sweats, anxiety, heart palpitations, agitation, and tremors. Additionally, alcohol dependent individuals may experience seizures when they cut back or stop drinking alcohol.

Medication Management of Alcohol Detox:

It is imperative the client have a physician or nurse practitioner expert in the prescribing of the following medications or classes of medications.

Medication for Alcohol Withdrawal and Alcohol Detoxification:

Medication can be prescribed that will decrease the negative symptoms of alcohol detox and decrease the chance of a life threatening event, such as seizures or delirium tremens. Historically, Benzodiazepines or Phenobarbital have been utilized to manage alcohol withdrawal. Additional medications have recently begun being used to assist with alcohol withdrawal. Only a physician or nurse practitioner can prescribe the appropriate medication for the alcohol detox. Executive Home Detox partners with competent prescribers.

Examples of benzodiazepines used for alcohol withdrawal are; Chlordiazepoxide (Librium), Diazepam (Valium), Lorazepam (Ativan), and Oxazepam (Serax). These medications must be used judiciously to effectively manage the detoxification of alcohol. It is important to have clinicians who are expert and comfortable in prescribing and monitoring these medications.

Executive Home Detox employs nurses expert in the administration and evaluation of alcohol detox medications. There are many additional medications that may be prescribed to assist with alcohol withdrawal. A clinician expert in the use of these medications should be consulted for more information.

Alcohol Detoxification Protocols:

Many treatment programs utilize accepted Alcohol Detox Protocols for the management of alcohol withdrawal. Protocols may identify what medications to give at what time and for what symptoms. Protocols also take into consideration the need to decrease the detox medication over a certain period of time. Executive Home Detox has a number of Protocols for the prescribing physician or nurse practitioner to consider when prescribing medication for alcohol detox.

Medication Management to Sustain Recovery: 
 
Medications may assist the individual to sustain their recovery. These medications include;

• Naltrexone (Oral pill: Revia) (Monthly injection: Vivitrol)

• Acamprosate (Campral)

• Disulfuram (Antabuse)

Executive Home Detox strongly encourages clients to consider the use of these non-addictive medications, individually or together, to enhance the chances of sustaining recovery and preventing relapse. We work with the client and the prescribing clinician to evaluate the potential use of these medications.

The use of other types of medications, including antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and other psychotropics may assist in sleep, relapse prevention, and sustaining recovery.

Executive Home Detox strongly encourages the client and the client’s family to consult with the client’s physician or primary care provider to discuss options related to the medical detoxification of alcohol. Options for the client will range from hospitalization to some type of supervised outpatient detox.