Understanding Alcohol Intoxication and Withdrawal: Symptoms & Risks

Alcoholic intoxication is easy enough to spot. Those who become physically dependent upon alcohol may exhibit certain symptoms when they stop drinking. Basic intoxication bears monitoring, but alcohol withdrawal can be extremely dangerous without professional medical assistance.

Intoxication Symptoms

• Symptoms of basic intoxication include a lack of manual dexterity, an inability to walk, slow response to questions or other stimuli, and slurred or incomprehensible speech. The patient's mood may undergo a significant change as well, since alcohol use lowers inhibitions.

Intoxication Timetable

• Most people become intoxicated within 30 minutes to two hours of drinking alcohol. That may be mitigated by the size and gender of the person, whether food was taken and how many drinks were consumed in a given time frame.

Alcoholic Addiction

• Withdrawal symptoms usually don't take place unless the patient has developed a physical addiction to alcohol (in other words, unless the patient is an alcoholic).

Withdrawal Symptoms

• Withdrawal symptoms include nervousness, depression, insomnia, shakiness, headaches, vomiting, fever symptoms, convulsions, loss of appetite and in the worst cases, visual hallucinations.

Withdrawal Timetable

• Withdrawal symptoms usually appear within six hours to two days of the patient's last drink.