At Home Alcohol Detox London

Is it possible to arrange an At Home Alcohol Detox in London? Yes. Can this be done quickly? Usually. Is it suitable for all? No. Is it always more cost effective to have treatment at home? No. We are sure you have a lot of questions.

Here at Find Me a Rehab we have in house , experienced, addictions clinicians who have treated hundreds of patients (if not thousands) caught up in the madness of addiction. They have worked at most of the countries private rehabs, private hospitals, prisons , NHS commissioned services and statutory services.

If you need 24 Hour Rehab Advice, Help With Alcohol Addiction or just want Free Clinician Drug Advice: Call or email. Whichever clinician is free will answer your call or email.

At Home Alcohol Detox London

Our experienced addictions clinicians can arrange this to be done but there are caveats. If you think it is cheaper to have treatment at home: It isn’t. Not everyone is suitable and, even if you are, it is only ever a very quick fix. The majority of those who have treatment at home will relapse within a week to two weeks.

Most of the companies offering the service are doing so illegally. They are, literally, selling you £15 worth of pills for over £1800. Not a bad profit!

There is no back up if something goes wrong, just a sales person at the end of the phone. After you have finished your medication, they will call you, every fortnight, to try and sell you more pills.

Why Do People Need an Alcohol Detox?

Alcohol is a drug and works on receptors in the brain. As with all other drugs and medications, including caffeine, receptors are altered: Either to open and release naturally occurring chemicals, or to close a loop and stop chemicals, already in the brain, being absorbed back so they stay in the system.

A few partially turn things on and off, but let’s keep this simple: for now!

When you drink alcohol, you affect both GABA and Glutamate receptors. Over time, your brain becomes accustomed to it’s presence. If you drink a glass or two a day, in the evenings, or a binge on a Friday night after work this is of concern but won’t cause the same problems as if you drink, continuously over a 24/7 period for a sustained amount of time.

At Home Alcohol Detox London

If you drink, over a sustained period, throughout your waking hours your brain will develop a tolerance to the alcohol. You will need more and more to do less and less. As such, you will have to increase your intake to wade off withdrawals.

Eventually, if you don’t have any alcohol for a few hours your brain will not know how to cope with the removal of the effect the alcohol has. As such, you will go into withdrawal.

Some of the symptoms of withdrawal will reduce, by themselves, in a proportion of people but you never want to test if you are one of those. Why? Because, left untreated, alcohol withdrawal can be fatal.

Alcohol withdrawal has nothing to do with willpower, but it has everything to do with science. You can not “flush it out of your system” and neither will going to the sauna, a run, or a spa retreat sort it out in the same way it wouldn’t fix a broken leg. Addiction is a very serious illness and it needs professional help.

How Does an Alcohol Detox Work?

An alcohol detox is, scientifically, quite straightforward. You replace the alcohol on the receptors with a medication that has the same effect. This will settle the withdrawals and then the medication is reduced, over a period of time.

While, in theory, you could simply reduce the amount you drink until you are safe, our clinicians have never met anyone who has managed to do so.

While the science is quite simple, the practice can be complex. There are nationally recognised clinical guidelines that provide prescribing regimens, but everyone is different.

Your withdrawals may reduce on one day and intensify the next. This is why it is always preferable to be in a rehab centre with easy access to an addictions clinician and trained medical professionals.

At Home Alcohol Detox London

In addition to alcohol withdrawals, there is also the need for vitamin replacement therapy. When you drink alcohol to a worrying degree, the glucose in the alcohol will prevent your gastrointestinal tract from absorbing vitamin B.

In the early stages of Vitamin B deficiency, the effects can be reversed with injections and tablets. Left untreated, you run the risk of permanent brain damage. Not everyone needs injections: This needs to be assessed by a clinician.

So once I am Detoxed I am Cured?

No: People drink for many reasons. It could be stress at home, work, financial worries, health concerns, underlying trauma from the past and untreated mental illness. Unless you deal with these problems, you are very likely to relapse.

This is why treatment at home usually fails. Being around your family and friends in familiar surroundings won’t give you the psychological treatment and support to deal with relapse triggers or to resolve what led you to drink in the first place.

At Home Alcohol Detox London

One of the biggest drawbacks for home treatment is dealing with the cravings often associated with withdrawals. In addition, in the event of a medical emergency, your family will not have the knowledge or equipment to help.

Being locked in your bedroom with a bucket, a roll of toilet paper and a bottle of water won’t help. In fact it could be extremely dangerous: If not fatal. Alcohol withdrawal can lead to psychosis, delirium and seizures. Left untreated, you can be in very serious trouble: If not worse.

Who Can Have a Alcohol Detox At Home?

There are some exclusion criteria. While everyone is different (and each referral is considered individually) there are some national standards which are, usually:

• Less than 30 units a day
• No previous detox in the last six months
• No history of seizures that are not alcohol withdrawal related
• Good hepatic function (no significant liver damage)
• Be able to provide proof of current medications and medical history
• Have an adult, over the age of 18, who will stay with the person 24/7 for the first 3-5 days

What is the Process?

The first thing to do is to speak with one of our in-house addictions clinicians. This is a wholly free service. They will be able to advise as to whether you are suitable or if you need residential treatment. If you are suitable, they can arrange this for you.

The clinician will need to speak with the person supporting you and see a medical summary from your GP (this is something you can ask your GP receptionist for: You don’t need to say what it is for and they simply print one out). They will also need to go through your current medication list and your previous medical history.

A detailed history your current and previous alcohol use and treatment will also be included in your assessment.

If you are suitable, a date and time will be arranged. A nurse/trained support worker will come to your home on the first day. They will need to breathalyse you as you can only start medication when your blood alcohol levels falls to a certain level.

If you took the medication, before that point, you would put yourself at risk of overdose. Remember: The medication and alcohol work in the same way on the same receptors. They will monitor you, several times, a day for the first few days then maintain telephone contact with you for the rest of the process.

Here at Find Me a Rehab we have in house , experienced, addictions clinicians who have treated hundreds of patients (if not thousands) caught up in the madness of addiction. They have worked at most of the countries private rehabs, private hospitals, prisons , NHS commissioned services and statutory services.

If you need 24 Hour Rehab Advice, Help With Alcohol Addiction or just want Free Clinician Drug Advice: Call or email. Whichever clinician is free will answer your call or email.

Can This Be Done as An Emergency?

No. It is never safe to attempt a home detox if you have already stopped drinking. Home treatment is an elective/planned service. If you went to an NHS accident and emergency department they would simply tell you to go home and start drinking again.

They are not commissioned for alcohol detox and would never admit you unless they absolutely had to. Their duty of care is only to what is reasonable in the circumstances and once you are safe to go home: They will discharge you.

This means that, in severe cases, they would only give you some medication until you are safe to leave: This could be 1-2 hours. Trying to circumvent processes simply wont work. They aren’t funded for this so they are not going to do it. Your GP also can’t help as they are not commissioned for Home Alcohol Detox.

Local statutory services (funded through council tax) will sometimes provide this service , but they have very slim budgets and you will have to engage with them, for many months, before they will consider this.

Why is Residential Rehab Preferable?

First of all it is probably going to cost a lot less. Secondly, it is much safer and , thirdly: Most home detox companies are trading illegally so you know you will be in safe hands.

In a rehab centre, you have the services of an addictions clinician, nurses, therapy and support staff. Chefs prepare the food and housekeepers take care of your room. The therapy groups and individual therapy sessions will address the reasons why you are drinking and help you prepare for the challenges of being at home : post treatment.

All centres provide a minimum of a years post treatment support , usually in the form of a weekly support group, as well as telephone support.

Why are Most Home Detox Companies Illegal?

A little complicated to explain! In short: In order to provide medical services a provider needs to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Your GP, local hospital and ambulance service will all be registered.

Where an addictions doctor is registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) as having addictions experience/qualifications and they work in a service that has CQC registration they can work “after hours”, without additional CQC registration. However, only a doctor can do this: Not a nurse/pharmacist/paramedic prescriber.

At Home Alcohol Detox London

If a doctor chooses to do this they must see the whole process through: From beginning to end. This means they must assess you, take payment, provide care, etc. The second someone else becomes involved: The service is illegal.

Most home detox companies are providing illegal treatment. They are wholly web based and it is impossible for trading standards and the CQC to deal with them. For exorbitant fees, they will, literally, just send anyone pills in the post. There is no governance, oversight or proper care. If anything goes wrong: It is down to you.

These companies will tell you it is legal: It isn’t. While it is open for a company to apply for registration for a home detox company as a standalone venture: No one has. There are some nurse prescribers who work with private GP’s: This is perfectly lawful as the GP lead the care as they are doing so through their GP practice CQC certificate.

The best way to determine if a service is legal is whether they insist on taking your money before you are assessed. Also, ask them for their CQC registration number. Always check through the CQC website.

How Can Find Me a Rehab Help?

Our experienced addictions clinicians will provide a totally free initial assessment and referral service. They will signpost you to an appropriate (and safe) service: Be that at home or a residential treatment service. As they have worked in most of the UK’s private rehab services, home treatment provisions and private hospitals (as well as statutory services) they will know what to do.

All advice is completely confidential, impartial and free. Whoever is free will take your call or email.

At Home Alcohol Detox London

Here at Find Me a Rehab we have in house , experienced, addictions clinicians who have treated hundreds of patients (if not thousands) caught up in the madness of addiction. They have worked at most of the countries private rehabs, private hospitals, prisons , NHS commissioned services and statutory services.

If you need 24 Hour Rehab Advice, Help With Alcohol Addiction or just want Free Clinician Drug Advice: Call or email. Whichever clinician is free will answer your call or email.

Recent Posts