Cape Town - A rehabilitation medical specialist said if people addicted to alcohol were to go cold turkey, they may experience severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms which may not only be torturous but life-threatening too.
According to Dr Duncan Laurenson, the ban on alcohol had brought with it a number of benefits to society, but it could also have a darker side too. Laureson is a general medical practitioner and substance use disorder specialist who manages the detoxification programme at Akeso Stepping Stones and Kenilworth facilities in Cape Town said.
Alcohol sales having been banned since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown on March 27 and Laurenson said mild symptoms that people experience withdrawal symptoms include mood swings, irritability, anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia, which in some individuals may last for weeks and even months.
“Of even greater concern is that severe withdrawal in some at-risk people with a history of continuous heavy drinking, particularly the elderly, can result in high fevers, confusion (delirium), hallucinations, tremors, and coma (delirium tremens), as well as seizures, heart attack, or stroke if they are compelled to suddenly stop consuming alcohol,” Laurenson said.
“It may surprise many people to learn that in the high-risk individual, alcohol withdrawal is more dangerous than any other type of drug withdrawal,” he said.
Those who had a history of heavy drinking and who may no longer have access to alcohol should be monitored, he said.
"This is particularly important if the individual has had a long history of heavy drinking, is over the age of 50, and has also had a previous history of seizures, heart attack, or stroke, as they are at particularly high risk of suffering serious, and even potentially fatal,withdrawal symptoms.”
"Persons who regularly used alcohol could become physically and mentally dependent on it to the extent that when they were no longer able to have it, they experienced a surge of adrenaline and cravings.This, in turn, created a distressing series of withdrawal symptoms. The severity of the withdrawal could range from mild and uncomfortable to chronic and life-threatening, depending on the person’s age, physical, and psychological characteristics, duration of use and the type of drug.
“Delirium tremens symptoms, also known as the DTs, are a potentially dangerous expression of alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The DTs describe a state of confusion that produces hallucinations and delusions, which generally occur within 24 to 72 hours after stopping alcohol consumption, but they can appear more than a week after the last drink. It should be noted that the mortality rate among those with DTs is in the region of 5 to 10 percent if not treated,” Laurenson said.