“Can I quit drinking alcohol cold turkey?” The answer to that question is “You shouldn’t.” If you are considering stopping drinking suddenly, there are several things you need to consider – most importantly, your health and successful detoxification. If you are asking yourself, “Can I quit drinking alcohol cold turkey?” you have already decided to change your life. But to genuinely change, you need to get help at an addiction treatment center like Summit Detox in Florida.
An alcohol detox center like Summit Detox can provide a wide range of services such as comfortable facilities and amenities, therapy, holistic treatment, medication, and a full, licensed staff that is on-call 24/7. This means reducing your chance of relapse. But it also means ensuring that you quit in the healthiest way possible, under supervision. If you have been asking yourself, “Can I quit drinking alcohol cold turkey?” consider reaching out to Summit Detox.
What Happens When I Quit Drinking?
Let’s start at the beginning. Few people walk away from a long-term addiction without experiencing at least a few withdrawal symptoms. Why does your body experience these withdrawal symptoms when you quit drinking?
As your addiction develops, your body becomes more dependent upon alcohol. Dependency is both psychological and physical. The longer you drink, the more you increase your alcohol intake because your brain forms a tolerance to the effects of alcohol. Your body becomes accustomed to regular dosage.
When you suddenly stop drinking, your body must adjust to the absence of alcohol. In effect, you are jarring every system and organ in your body, including your brain. It reacts by triggering a wide range of withdrawal symptoms. Side effects can also occur because your body is not beginning to heal. All this happens within hours of your last drink and may last for several days. Cravings may continue for several weeks.
So if you have been asking yourself, “Can I quit drinking alcohol cold turkey?” you must understand that there are withdrawal effects. And these withdrawal effects are not only potential impediments to your sobriety because they can lead to relapse. They are also potentially physically dangerous.
Alcohol Withdrawal: What to Expect
But what about the specific effects? If you quit drinking cold turkey, you can expect to experience severe withdrawal symptoms. The most common withdrawal symptoms include:
- Delirium tremens
- Anxiety or agitation
- Depression
- Hallucination or delusions
- Shaking or tremors
- High fevers
- Seizures
In addition, you may experience hyperthermia, high blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia, or even, in worst-case scenarios, a heart attack. This is why at a quality detox center like Summit Detox, medical specialists are on hand to respond quickly when you have a medical emergency. Can I quit drinking alcohol cold turkey? For the above reasons, professional detox alongside medical detox programs are critical during the early stages of recovery.
Can I Quit Drinking Alcohol Cold Turkey? Learn More at Summit Detox
If you’re asking yourself, “Can I quit drinking alcohol cold turkey?” we can help. Summit Detox offers comprehensive care for alcohol dependence. Recovery starts with safe, medically-supervised detox. But after the alcohol has left your system, we provide inpatient treatment, and continued counseling and therapy in our extensive outpatient program. Finally, our aftercare program is designed to ease your transition back into your normal life, alcohol-free. You deserve better than a life addicted to alcohol. Contact Summit Detox at (888) 995-5265 today. We are here to help you get started on your road to recovery.
