6–12 hours
- Tremor — usually hands first
- Anxiety, irritability, restlessness
- Sweating, nausea, headache
- Trouble sleeping and elevated heart rate
Substance detox
Alcohol detox, with a team beside you.
Alcohol is one of the few substances where withdrawal itself can be life-threatening. Stopping suddenly after heavy, sustained drinking can cause seizures and delirium tremens, and both are medical emergencies. That is the single clearest reason to detox somewhere with 24/7 nursing rather than at home — not willpower, but the fact that this one is genuinely dangerous to do alone.
Knowing the signs
When it's time to get help.
You don't have to hit a crisis point to reach out. A few signs that alcohol has become something worth treating:
Needing to drink to steady yourself in the morning
Shaking, sweating, or nausea when you haven't had a drink
Needing more to get the same effect
Drinking more or longer than you meant to, repeatedly
Blackouts or gaps in memory
Failed attempts to cut down or stop
Drinking despite liver, heart, or other medical warnings
Arranging your day around when you can drink
What to expect
The alcohol withdrawal timeline.
Everyone's different, but here's the general shape of withdrawal. These are typical patterns, not a diagnosis — your plan is built by a clinician around your history.
12–24 hours
- Symptoms intensify
- Alcoholic hallucinosis can begin — seeing, hearing, or feeling things that aren't there, usually with awareness that they aren't real
- Heightened blood pressure and pulse
24–48 hours
- Highest risk window for withdrawal seizures
- Tremor, agitation, and autonomic instability at their most pronounced
- This is the stretch that makes unsupervised alcohol detox dangerous
48–72 hours
- Delirium tremens risk window — confusion, disorientation, severe agitation, fever, racing heart, dangerous blood-pressure swings
- DTs are a medical emergency and can be fatal without treatment
- Continuous monitoring matters most here
5–7 days and beyond
- Acute symptoms subside for most people
- Sleep disruption, anxiety, and low mood commonly persist for weeks
- Cravings become episodic rather than constant
This is general information, not medical advice. Your plan is built by a clinician around your history and health.
How we help
Treating alcohol at Jasper Grove.
Medically supervised detox
24/7 nursing monitors vitals, hydration, and withdrawal severity through the seizure and delirium-tremens risk windows. Symptoms are treated as they emerge rather than after they escalate.
Learn moreMedication-assisted treatment
Vivitrol is used for alcohol use disorder when it's the right fit, started and managed by our medical team, to reduce cravings after detox.
Learn moreTreatment for what's underneath
Anxiety, depression, and trauma are common alongside long-term drinking and are treated at the same time, not sequentially.
Learn moreResidential treatment
Detox flows into residential care — individual and group therapy, relapse prevention, and an aftercare plan built before discharge.
Learn moreReady to take the first step?
Admissions answers 24/7. One call starts your plan and checks your coverage.
Call (317) 527-4529 Getting care in Indianapolis
Close to home, insurance accepted.
For a lot of people across Indianapolis, alcohol is woven so tightly into daily life that a problem is easy to explain away for years. Deciding to stop is the hard part — the medical side, we handle.
Alcohol detox and residential treatment are accepted through Indiana Medicaid — Anthem, CareSource, MHS, and Humana Healthy Horizons — plus most major insurance. Call and we'll verify your specific plan and your exact cost up front.
Level of care is determined by a clinical assessment. Jasper Grove provides medical detox and residential treatment, and is accredited by The Joint Commission.
Common questions
Alcohol detox, answered.
Can alcohol withdrawal kill you?
Yes. Alcohol is one of the few substances where withdrawal itself can be fatal. Withdrawal seizures are most likely 24 to 48 hours after the last drink, and delirium tremens — marked by confusion, fever, and dangerous swings in heart rate and blood pressure — typically appears between 48 and 72 hours. Both are medical emergencies. This is why we do not recommend detoxing from heavy alcohol use at home.
How long does alcohol withdrawal last?
Symptoms usually begin 6 to 12 hours after the last drink, escalate through the first 24 to 48 hours, and pass their most dangerous window between 48 and 72 hours. Most acute symptoms subside within 5 to 7 days. Sleep problems, anxiety, and low mood often continue for several weeks afterward.
What is delirium tremens?
DTs is the most severe form of alcohol withdrawal — confusion and disorientation, severe agitation, hallucinations, fever, and unstable heart rate and blood pressure. It usually begins 48 to 72 hours after the last drink and requires immediate medical treatment. Risk is higher with a long drinking history, previous withdrawal episodes, or prior seizures.
Should I taper down instead of stopping?
Don't plan a taper on your own. Whether tapering or stopping is safer depends on how much you've been drinking, for how long, your medical history, and whether you've withdrawn before. That assessment is part of intake, and detox is planned around the answer.
I've been through alcohol withdrawal before — does that change anything?
It does, and it's important to tell us. Repeated withdrawal episodes can make each subsequent one more severe, including a higher seizure risk — a pattern clinicians call kindling. A previous withdrawal, especially one involving a seizure, raises the level of monitoring you need.
Do you use medication for alcohol detox?
Comfort and safety medications are used during detox to manage symptoms and reduce seizure risk, guided by how you're actually presenting. For after detox, Vivitrol is available for alcohol use disorder when it's the right fit, started and managed by our medical team.
What happens after alcohol detox?
Detox resolves the physical dependence; it doesn't address what drives the drinking. Residential treatment follows directly — individual and group therapy, treatment for co-occurring anxiety or depression, relapse prevention, and an aftercare plan made before you leave.
Do you accept Indiana Medicaid for alcohol treatment?
We accept Indiana Medicaid and most major insurance for detox and residential care. Call and we'll verify your specific plan and your exact cost up front.
What we treat
We help people detox from more than one thing.
Dealing with more than one substance is common — and we treat the whole picture. Explore the others we help with:
Take the next step
Detox that's safer with a team beside you.
Don't try to get through it alone. Admissions answers 24/7 — call and we'll help you start alcohol detox safely, and verify your coverage first.