A four-day course of anti-anxiety medication is typical for mild to moderate withdrawal symptoms. You'll be scheduled for follow-up and rehabilitation treatment.
Patients are usually given one of the benzodiazepine anti-anxiety drugs, such as Valium (diazepam), Ativan (lorazepam), Librium (chlordiazepoxide), and Serax (oxazepam). They work on nerve cells in the brain to prevent delirium tremens and the risk of seizures, which are two serious withdrawal symptoms.
If you are severely alcohol dependent, your symptoms can progress rapidly and may quickly become life-threatening. You may require drugs that depress the central nervous system (such as sedatives) to reduce your symptoms. Often they are given in moderately large doses.
