Detox in hospital

[Wereongunoil]

I'm no contact with my sister but I've just found out she's in hospital withdrawing from alcohol. From what I can gather she's in an NHS hospital.

Could someone tell me how bad she'd have been to be doing detox like this please and how long she's likely to be there.

I feel very naive.

Detox can take anything from five days to several weeks. Depends on many things, including how she has ended up in hospital.

She must be dependent on alcohol, so drinking every day, and enough that she’s going to get sick if she stops cold turkey. She may have medical complications which have led to her being hospitalised, or may be in for a planned detox if she has been working with community alcohol services.

A very short detox might be done in 4 days, but more likely 5-7 days, or more if there are medical issues too.

If she is in hospital for something else (pneumonia for example, or a UTI), and that isn’t really related to her drinking, she may be having the detox only to prevent her getting the DTs in hospital. If she tells them she intends to keep drinking then she may be discharged as soon as the acute problem is treated, even if the detox isn’t completed. There isn’t much point to doing a long detox if the person intends to drink as soon as they leave the ward.

Usually takes 5-7 days. Very very unusual to keep them in longer than this because of the severe shortage of NHS beds they will be wanting to get them home asap. As soon as they are considered medically stable and safe they will be discharged, often with very little follow up sadly. Yes I'm afraid she must have been pretty bad, as for the same reason they only admit people if they are medically very unwell and at risk of worsening ie having seizures for example.

Thank you all. I've spent the day with my mum and she was admitted due to a suicide attempt.

The only fluid she was drinking was gin for around 3 weeks. She also has bipolar which makes things more challenging for her