Hand tremors from alcohol can last anywhere from a couple of days to several weeks, so it’s important to seek medical attention if your tremors do not go away or get worse over time. Nutritional supplements, particularly those rich in B vitamins and magnesium, might be beneficial. However, it’s always advisable to consult with a healthcare provider before starting https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/boredom-drinking-and-how-to-stop-it/ any supplementation. Lastly, joining a support group or seeking counseling can provide emotional backing and practical advice from others who have faced similar challenges. The term “alcohol shakes” paints a vivid picture of what many people undergo during alcohol withdrawal. Imagine your hands or, in severe cases, your whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Alcoholic Brain Damage
Treatment will involve meeting in small groups to discuss how alcoholism negatively impacted one’s life and to share stories and successes with peers under the guidance of a therapist. Family group therapy will assist both the family members and the alcoholic in healing wounds and broken trust bonds. Recovery tools are taught that provide access to stress reduction, anger management, conflict resolution, and relaxation enhancement. Learning how to deal how to stop alcohol shakes with alcohol withdrawal shakes is not just an exercise in masking the withdrawal symptoms, but is instead a call to action. As important as trusted support is during detoxification and your treatment program, it is equally important after treatment. Treatment may be inpatient or outpatient, and typically includes individual and group therapy, family counseling, alcohol education, 12-step support, and support for physical or psychological needs.
Symptoms of alcohol withdrawal
Long-term heavy alcohol use sets up a tug-of-war-like effect in your body. Alcohol is on one side, slowing down central nervous system (CNS) activity. Your CNS controls your body’s automatic processes like breathing and heart rate. Your CNS is on the other side of the rope pulling back by increasing its own activity to keep things running. Over time, your CNS adjusts and sees that increased activity level as its new normal. This can lead to short and long-term complications for your physical and mental health.
When do I need professional help for alcohol shakes and tremors?
The only way to ensure the prevention of hangover shakes is to avoid alcohol use. The most effective way to prevent hangover shakes is to avoid alcohol use. The liver metabolizes alcohol at a rate of approximately one drink per hour, and any remaining alcohol continues to circulate in the bloodstream.
- These symptoms may start a few hours or a few days after your last drink of alcohol.
- To mitigate the risk of experiencing these tremors, individuals are encouraged to engage in healthy lifestyle choices and consider the moderation or complete abstinence of alcohol consumption.
- Over time and with consistent intake, your brain adapts to the depressant effects by becoming hyperactive, trying to maintain a state of equilibrium.
- The duration of hangover symptoms, such as the shakes, depends on how much alcohol a person has consumed.
- Although this type of alcoholic heart failure is seen more in older or chronic alcoholics, it could happen to alcoholics at any age.
You’ll have trouble understanding what’s happening to or around you. It’s also possible that you’ll experience hallucinations, meaning you’ll see or hear things that seem real to you, but that aren’t really there. The main underlying issue that causes DTs is alcohol use disorder.
Distinguishing Between Minor Shakes and Delirium Tremens
The fluids can come from water, other drinks, and food, but approximately 80 percent should be from water and non-caffeinated drinks. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) contains thymol, a compound believed to have antispasmodic effects that can help relax throat muscles. You can use dried thyme to make a tea that may help relieve a dry cough. Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties that may help reduce throat inflammation and irritation. It also contains compounds called gingerols that can help relax airway muscles and relieve coughing. Steep freshly grated ginger root in hot water to make ginger tea or add ginger to other herbal tea blends.
What can the recovering alcoholic do to reduce tremors?
Once this program has been completed, usually the alcohol shakes will have subsided immensely. Dependent on the patient, the dwindling of their shakes can take a bit longer, but eventually the CNS regains its stability. By answering these questions, you can usually gauge the severity of the shakes. Someone that’s been shaking for a year—in a way that’s noticeable to others—is going to have a different experience treating the shakes than someone who only just noticed a slight tremor. Support groups aren’t for everyone, but you might find it helpful to have the encouragement of people who understand what you’re going through.
Identify a family member or friend who you can call on to provide emotional support. The treatment aims to help relieve your symptoms, reduce the chance of complications and, if DTs are bad, save your life. Sedatives, usually benzodiazepines, are medications used to treat alcohol withdrawal and DTs.
