How To Quit Alcohol Consumption?

Posted on Wed, 24 Feb 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 24 Feb 2016 Answered on

Wed, 11 May 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : trying to quit alcohol cold turkey but am having side effects should I be under my doctors care when quitting? I have a doctors appointment on Thursday. Any information would be helpful. thank you

Answered by Dr. Ashok Kumar Choudhary (34 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Yes you need to be under care

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for suing Healthcaremagic.

Quiting alcohol is most risky among all substances of abuse as it cause few of the withdrawal symptoms which can be life threatening. One of among them is delirium tremens which occurs after 24-48 hours of last dose and have mortality of 5-20 %.

In addition the treatment for alcohol withdrawal is short (one week to two week) which can save you from all kind of adverse reactions while smoothing the abstinence process.

I feel it will be n your interest to see a doctor as a simple prescription of multivitamin (thiamine) and benzodiazepines can save you from all complications.

I hope this assists you.
If you have more questions feel free to write back to me.
Thanks and regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar