Alcohol Treatment in Hampton, VA

When Amy Winehouse passed away in 2011, medical reports blamed it on the musician's addiction. Amy Winehouse hit rock bottom a while before her death when her drunkenness made a concert go poorly. She decided to quit her alcohol habit on her own, however, rather than accept drug and alcohol addiction treatments. Heavily addicted as she was, however, quitting cold turkey caused severe withdrawal symptoms. On the day of for death, her resolve slipped, and she took very high quantities of alcohol. It caused alcohol poisoning or overdosing. This isn't an unusual sort of occurrence when one takes alcohol detox into one's own hands. If you are addicted to alcohol and need to quit, it would be a wonderful decision to simply look for professional alcohol treatment in Hampton.

It doesn't amount to an admission of weakness to accept treatment; it is simply the logical thing to do, in keeping with modern scientific understanding: addiction is a physical and mental disorder that can put the body through dangerous symptoms that need medical attention.

What Is Alcoholism?

With any addiction, and with alcohol, especially, there is great physical harm done both to the body and the brain. Certainly, vital organs such as the liver, the heart, and the kidneys, suffer long-term damage. What many don't realize, however, is that there is brain damage, as well, a damage that leads to a brain disorder.

With an addiction to alcohol, the damage in question doesn't appear the way it would with accidental head injury or consumption of a poisonous substance. Instead, it happens in a subtle way -- alcohol acts on a part of the brain responsible for the creation of emotional attachment to habits. Alcohol affects this part of the brain so greatly as to create an undiscriminating love of the habit of alcohol consumption.

Once such a change happens, there is no going back -- alcoholics become permanently and emotionally attached, in a way that tends to make them impervious to logical appeals to reason. In a way, then, alcoholism causes a very specific type of brain disorder. This is psychological dependence to alcohol; it is one part of addiction.

There is another part to addiction as well called physical dependence. It comes about as a byproduct of psychological addiction. When a person consumes alcohol in excess, it affects parts of the brain in artificially creating pleasurable sensations. The brain allows such activity to go on in the short-term, but, over time, acts to protect itself. Since alcohol acts to artificially stimulate the brain's pleasure center, the brain attempts to increase tolerance to alcohol and shut down such pleasure. This doesn't work for very long, however, as substance abusers in Hampton usually only attempt to ingest ever-larger quantities of alcohol.

With external influences causing such disruption, the brain, no longer able to control the pleasure center, and goes into dormancy. The pleasure center begins to need alcohol to even function. This is physical dependence.

When both physical and psychological dependence develops, but the addiction process is complete. Quitting becomes very difficult.

What Makes Quitting Alcohol so Hard and Dangerous?

Psychological dependence on alcohol certainly makes quitting hard; it sends up repeated waves of maddening cravings. Since alcohol creates an emotional attachment to drugs, cravings do not simply feel like desire; they can be powerful enough to disrupt whatever reasoned resistance one may have to return to alcohol abuse. Even if you truly understand how important it is that you quit, cravings can erase all of it. This is one reason why quitting alcohol becomes very hard.

As with Amy Winehouse and thousands of others, if it comes down to giving up an attempt to quit, the instinct is to return with a bang, with too much alcohol. There is always the risk of alcohol poisoning.

There is also the problem of physical dependence. Whether your plan is to quit cold turkey or to gradually taper off, it results in serious chemical disruption to the brain. Unpredictable effects can follow, including physical pain and tremors, insomnia and restlessness, panic and anger. Very serious cardiac disturbances and seizures and even delirium tremens can follow. These are not symptoms to risk to experiment with. You risk injury or death.

You Actually Save by Accepting the Best Rehab Possible

What stops you from finding the best alcohol treatment in Hampton? If you're like most people, you're worried about the expense of alcohol addiction rehabs.

It doesn't make sense to worry about how much it costs, however. It would make more sense to reckon what could cost to not give rehab your best shot. Most people relapse, and waste years trying to put together another attempt. It isn't worth it.

The best alcohol rehabs offer inpatient care, with painstaking monitoring to ensure that there is never an attempt to cheat. With therapy, and considerable attention is given to ensuring freedom from discomfort, there is often little incentive to cheat. Medical detox in Hampton is followed up with therapy to ensure that you're mentally ready to stay sober.

As long as you look for medically sound, evidence-backed alcohol treatment in Hampton, there is no way to put a price on a real shot at sobriety. Call Hampton Drug Rehab Centers now for help (877) 804-1531.