If you’re having difficulty sticking to your goal or just want some extra guidance, consider reaching out for professional support. Feeling at your best physically can boost resilience and emotional strength, equipping you to weather challenges that trigger the desire to drink. Letting others know about your choice to stop drinking may help motivate you to stick with your decision. What’s most important is looking at your drinking habits and finding a way to cut back that works for you. From monthlong sobriety challenges to the Sober Curious movement, more and more people are taking a closer look at the role alcohol plays in their lives.

  1. Inpatient treatment is when you are treated at a hospital or another professional setting that specifically handles alcohol withdrawal.
  2. To do this, your health care provider may suggest the following tests.
  3. Before you begin the alcohol detox, shift to a healthy diet rich in lean proteins like chicken, eggs, fish and non-fatty meats.
  4. If your tremors are caused by liver disease or brain damage, your treatment plan is less straightforward.
  5. For informational purposes only, a link to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments web page is provided here.

It helps to keep busy with activities you find enjoyable and that promote health and well-being. Not everyone who experiences post-drinking tremors will develop DT. However, untreated DT can be dangerous, so a person at risk for DT should see a doctor if they get hangover shakes. Hangover design for recovery shakes can be a warning of more severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms to come. A person can reduce their chance of hangover shakes by drinking less alcohol. It may also help to maintain hydration and stable blood sugar by consuming nonalcoholic drinks and food containing carbohydrates.

It may also mess with your sleep, and poor sleep hygiene can lead to further health concerns, like obesity and diabetes. Knowing all the negative effects alcohol has on your physical and mental health can make it easier to understand why you’re better off without it. If you’re in Georgia and seeking help for alcohol withdrawal, it’s essential to choose a program that adopts a whole-person approach. Treatment shouldn’t only address physical symptoms but also cater to emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs. Attempting to navigate withdrawal symptoms without medical oversight can be risky. Detoxification in a medically supervised setting ensures that any complications are promptly addressed.

Symptoms of Alcohol Tremors

Get in the habit of eating every three hours to avoid hunger that could lead to alcohol cravings, which will become more intense once the alcohol shakes set in. Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy. Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health. In particular, she’s committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues. By avoiding alcohol, you’re taking a big step toward improving physical health.

What are Alcohol Shakes (Tremors)?

If you opt for outpatient treatment, you’ll likely be given sedative drugs to take at home to ease withdrawal symptoms and have to get routine blood tests to make sure you’re staying on track. You may also need to get tested for other medical problems that could be connected to your alcohol abuse. Moving forward, you may also need to go to patient and family counseling to discuss your alcoholism. Alcohol tremors are involuntary shaking/trembling of one or more parts of the body. Alcohol tremors are a response to alcohol withdrawal or alcohol use disorder/alcoholism. Alcohol shakes are typically present in the hands, but they may also appear in the arms or legs.

Some people mistakenly believe that detoxification is all they need to complete in order to live a life in sobriety. For many, addiction begins in the first place by using alcohol as a means to self-medicate depression, trauma, anxiety, or some other live difficulty. Unless the underlying issues that fueled the alcohol abuse in the first place are processed and healed, no one, no matter how much they desire sobriety, will succeed in long-term recovery. The process of examining underlying emotional pain or trauma, or managing a co-occurring mental health disorder, is what alcohol addiction treatment is all about. Alcohol impacts the function of the brain and body in a number of ways. Some people may have alcohol shakes, which occur when a person who is dependent on alcohol struggles with withdrawal.

Alcohol Shakes: What They Are & How to Get Rid of Them

This stabilization becomes an overstimulation for the brain in its current form, which then produces what we know to be tremors. The timeframe can also vary from person to person, depending on how much alcohol is consumed and your body composition. If you drink frequently, you might experience 1 year sobriety gift 60+ gift ideas for 2023 more frequent shakes afterward. You might notice tremors and shakes mostly in your hands or fingers. Others report experiencing hangover shakes in their arms, eyes, head, and even their voice. Tremors are not always a sign of alcoholism, as there are many causes of tremors.

Asking for a Friend: Are ‘Hangover Shakes’ Normal?

A serious form (like brain damage) will be permanent and irreversible. And treatment teams can monitor you while you achieve abstinence and step in if you relapse. Your doctor may also ask about your drinking habits and recent alcohol consumption. Your doctor needs this information to create a clear picture and treatment plan. Alcohol withdrawal may cause shakes when the effects of alcohol on the nervous system wear off, and the brain becomes overwhelmed by activity in the nervous system. This may lead to the brain sending incorrect messages to the nerves in the hand, making the hands and fingers shake.

Chronic alcohol consumption has a profound impact on the body’s ability to absorb and utilize essential nutrients. Alcohol interferes with the digestive process, inhibiting the breakdown of nutrients and their absorption in the intestines. Over time, this malabsorption can lead to deficiencies in vital vitamins and minerals, such as thiamine (vitamin B1), folic acid, magnesium, and zinc. Thiamine deficiency, in particular, is of great concern for chronic alcohol consumers.

Simple exercises, especially those that focus on fine motor skills and coordination like yoga or tai chi, can help in strengthening muscles and improving control over tremors. Deep-breathing exercises and meditation can also be tips for reducing alcohol consumption beneficial, as they promote relaxation and help in reducing anxiety, which can often exacerbate tremors. Furthermore, alcohol increases the excretion of certain nutrients through the kidneys, further exacerbating deficiencies.

It may start out slow and get more noticeable over a short period of time. When a person becomes dependent on alcohol, their body and brain tend to rely on its presence to function normally. That can be a significant change for the brain, and as such, the brain reacts in various ways. In some situations, alcohol shakes occur because the area of your brain that controls muscle movement is trying to work through the need for alcohol that it does not have. Shaking that occurs when you go without a drink for several hours can mean you have a physical dependence on alcohol and are suffering from withdrawal.

Addicted individuals often express feelings of anxiety, fear, and stress. These negative emotions can intensify withdrawal symptoms like tremors. Goals can help you stay on track, but sometimes one big goal feels too out of reach.

The therapy is calibrated for your specific tremor and is part of an essential tremor treatment plan to help you manage symptoms. People who experience tremors and other symptoms of alcoholism should contact a doctor. Several support groups provide help for people with drinking issues. These groups can support individuals during recovery from alcohol abuse. Consuming a large quantity of alcohol causes inflammation of the nervous system.

Not all of the side effects are guaranteed, and some may be more severe than others. If you experience any of them, however, you should also seek medical attention right away. And by all means, avoid the sugar snacks that you’ll crave once you start detoxing. Turner notes the importance of bringing along a trusted support person when attending events that involve alcohol. It’s often easier to turn down a drink when you don’t have to do it alone.