How to Stop Alcohol Withdrawal Shakes & Reduce Tremors

During your withdrawal, you will often feel like it’s not worth the pain. Your first aid kit will help you stay focused and determined to succeed. Tell your close friends and family before you begin your detox and ask them to support you during the process. Consider creating a visiting schedule so that you are never alone during the first week of detox. A supportive friend or family member can help you in many ways during withdrawal. Verywell Mind’s content is for informational and educational purposes only.

Outpatient treatment means you can stay at home during your recovery process, but you must have someone with you at all times who can keep an eye on you and monitor your behavior. Unlike regular alcohol tremors, DT is a medical emergency and can be life-threatening if it’s not treated. DT’s are less common than regular alcohol tremors, occurring in about 5 percent of patients going through withdrawal.

Quitting Subutex Cold Turkey: Risks & Alternatives

There are both natural and professional remedies that can help control your tremors. If you are planning to stop drinking, consider preparing some of these measures ahead of time to prevent tremors. Better yet, consider detoxing at a medical facility like Charlotte Detox Center where all of your symptoms can be managed at a professional level. The process of detoxing is challenging, especially if you experience the alcohol shakes. The person that drinks once a year can awake the following morning with an unpleasant tremor in their hand, and the alcoholic can shake daily. By design, alcohol affects our sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for our motor function.

You feel this way because alcohol increases the effects of a neurotransmitter known as GABA, which is responsible for creating feelings of calm and euphoria. Alcohol also decreases another neurotransmitter, glutamate, that creates excitability. And treatment teams can monitor you while you achieve abstinence and step in if you relapse. Regular alcohol intake affects numerous excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter systems in the brain . Similarly, many neurotransmitters and mechanisms probably are involved in AW.

The Ryan Haight Act, the TREATS Act, And Access To OUD Treatment

During acute alcohol withdrawal, changes also occur such as upregulation of alpha4 containing GABAA receptors and downregulation of alpha1 and alpha3 containing GABAA receptors. Neurochemical changes occurring during alcohol withdrawal can be minimized with drugs which are used for acute detoxification. With abstinence how to stop alcohol shakes from alcohol and cross-tolerant drugs these changes in neurochemistry may gradually return towards normal. Adaptations to the NMDA system also occur as a result of repeated alcohol intoxication and are involved in the hyper-excitability of the central nervous system during the alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

• During this time, your doctor can help you reduce withdrawal tremors with medications.
• When someone engages in heavy and frequent alcohol consumption, their brain chemistry changes.
• The body’s vital signs such as your heart rate or blood pressure can change dramatically or unpredictably, creating a risk of heart attack, stroke or death.
• Benzodiazepines, which are also often used to treat anxiety, may be prescribed to help with symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
• Your doctor may also ask about your drinking habits and recent alcohol consumption.
• Conversely, symptoms are changes that are subjectively perceived by the patient (e.g., irritability or craving for alcohol).