Prescribed treatments for alcohol use

If you use enough alcohol most days you may feel unwell when you try to stop or use less, we call this withdrawal symptoms. You may also need more alcohol to have the same effect (tolerance) and you may have strong urges to drink alcohol (craving). This may mean you are dependent on alcohol and it is important that you do not stop or reduce your drinking abruptly as this can cause seizures or delerium tremens (DT’s). We can help you to stop drinking safely by prescribing chlordiazepoxide on a reducing dose over about one week (detox) at our community programme, or if required in the inpatient programme at Kinclaven Unit, Murray Royal Hospital.

You can refer yourself to DDARS or someone can do this for you with your permission, and we will offer you an appointment. At this appointment staff will ask about your substance use, your work, family and housing situation, your physical and mental health. We will complete questionnaires to identify if you are dependent on alcohol, to assess the severity of your dependence, and to understand the problems alcohol is causing for you.

Medical or other prescribing staff will talk through prescribing choices. If you need an alcohol detox we will arrange for you to meet with community programme staff. Your assessment may show that community detox would not be safe for you in which case you would be referred to the inpatient programme from your direct access appointment.

Alcohol can place you at more risk of overdose from some prescribed medications and other substance use so we will explain how to avoid overdose and train you to use naloxone which temporarily reverses the effects of opiates and helps keep someone alive until an ambulance arrives. Alcohol use increases the risks of complications of some other diseases and we will offer you testing for HIV, Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B and help you get you in contact with treatment services if needed. It’s a good idea to link up with the voluntary sector to support your recovery and we will ask you to meet with them.

If you are using other substances you will be asked to provide urine and oral fluid samples that let us know what substances are in your system. This is important as it helps us prescribe your detox in the safest way possible.

People using alcohol regularly can become deficient in some vitamins and we will offer you daily vitamin injections called pabrinex at the programme and your GP can prescribe oral vitamins. We will also speak to you about medications that can support you to stay off alcohol including acamprosate, naltrexone and disulfiram and arrange for you to meet with prescribing staff if you want to start these treatments. It’s a good idea to link up with self help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or SMART recovery, and the voluntary sector to help your recovery.