[Source: Jiangmen Mental Health Association] As the saying goes: "A little drink makes you happy", but if it exceeds the standard of moderate drinking or general social drinking, it may evolve into alcoholism. When a person spends a lot of time and energy every day drinking or qu

[Source: Jiangmen Mental Health Association]

As the saying goes: "A little wine makes you happy", but if it exceeds the standard of moderate drinking or general social drinking, it may evolve into alcoholism. When a person spends a lot of time and energy every day drinking or quitting drinking, and has to drink every day to feel comfortable, or needs to consume more and more alcohol every day, he may reach the level of "alcohol dependence", and will later suffer from alcohol dependence. Can cause alcohol withdrawal syndrome .

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome refers to a neuropsychiatric syndrome caused by long-term heavy drinking and

sudden alcohol withdrawal.

In mild cases, it manifests as tremor, hyperactivity, sweating, tachycardia, anxiety and sleep disorders, in severe cases. Symptoms include hallucinations, epilepsy and delirium tremens, and severe cases may even be life-threatening. Therefore, it is particularly important to master scientific methods of alcohol withdrawal.

/ Drug treatment

🥑 Benzodiazepines

Currently recognized as the most effective and safest withdrawal drugs

are used to reduce or eliminate severe withdrawal symptoms , prevent and treat delirium and reduce epileptic seizures of occurrence and is the first-line drug for treating alcohol withdrawal.

Benzodiazepines can be divided into three categories: long-acting, medium-acting and short-acting. Which one to choose depends on various factors. Generally speaking, long-acting drugs can better control convulsions attacks. It is effective and the rebound symptoms are mild after stopping the drug. However, for elderly patients or those with severe liver damage, drugs have a weak ability to metabolize , so medium and short-acting drugs are more suitable.

However, it should be noted that after the withdrawal symptoms disappear, the withdrawer should gradually stop benzodiazepines to avoid becoming dependent on benzodiazepines.

🥑Anti-epileptic drugs

Commonly used drugs include carbamazepine and sodium valproate .

Animal experiments show that sodium valproate has a therapeutic effect on alcohol withdrawal epilepsy, and sodium valproate is better tolerated than carbamazepine. Although

can effectively control symptoms, it is not as effective as benzodiazepines due to its adverse reactions and relatively slow onset of action.

🥑 Antipsychotic drugs

are generally not used, but if the patient also has hallucinations or obvious agitation symptoms, it is more appropriate to use antipsychotic drugs. It is recommended to use new antipsychotic drugs such as quetiapine, olanzapine , etc., and use them in combination with benzodiazepines for better results.

/ Supportive treatment

🥝Maintain water and electrolyte balance

Patients who drink alcohol for a long time may suffer from excessive fluid loss, ischemia, hypoglycemia, hypokalemia, hyponatremia, hypochloremia and lowness Magnesia and other electrolyte disorders conditions can cause serious consequences. The occurrence of epilepsy and delirium may be related to magnesium deficiency. Magnesium supplementation can help patients reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms. Lack of potassium in the blood can cause cardiac dysfunction, so timely replenishment of electrolytes is very important.

🥝Nutritional support

Long-term drinking can cause malnutrition, and a high-protein diet should be given. Deficiencies of multiple vitamins are also common, especially folic acid and vitamin B1. Since the lack of vitamin B1 can lead to the occurrence of Wernicke's encephalopathy and irreversible dementia, it is very important to actively supplement vitamin B1. If there are severe clinical manifestations of vitamin deficiency , a larger dose of vitamin treatment should be given: vitamin B1 100mg, folic acid 1~5mg, vitamin B6 100mg.

Finally, it is not easy to quit drinking. The many difficulties on the road often make it difficult for alcoholics to persist. In addition to their own efforts, the understanding and care of family and friends are equally important. I hope that alcoholics can regain their life goals, reshape their life values, and stay away from alcoholism. Alcohol, physical and mental health.

References:

1. Zhan Yutao, Sun Hongqiang. Treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome [J]. Chinese Journal of Digestive Diseases and Imaging: Electronic Edition, 2014, 4(3):3.

2. Yang Xue, Sheng Lixia, Hao Wei, et al. Alcohol withdrawal syndrome: mechanism, assessment and drug treatment progress[J]. Chinese Journal of Drug Abuse Prevention and Control, 2014(3):6.

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