Delirium Tremens: Recognising the Signs and Getting Emergency Help
Delirium tremens is the most dangerous stage of alcohol withdrawal. Learn the emergency warning signs, the DTs timeline, and what supervised treatment involves.
MBBS, DPM (Psychiatry),Abhasa Rehab and Wellness
Clinical Lead with 20 years of experience in addiction psychiatry
Dr. Naveen Kumar V
MBBS, DPM (Psychiatry),Abhasa Rehab and Wellness
Clinical Lead with 20 years of experience in addiction psychiatry
- Last Medically Reviewed: 2026-07-27
- Published: 2026-07-27
- Last Updated: 2026-07-27
- 21 min read
Key Takeaways
- Delirium tremens is a medical emergency. Call 112 or go to a hospital immediately if the signs appear.
- Rahman and Paul (StatPearls, 2023) describe DTs as typically developing around 48 to 96 hours after the last drink in people with a long history of heavy alcohol use.[1]
- Untreated, delirium tremens can be fatal in up to 37% of cases, according to Rahman and Paul in StatPearls.[1] With prompt, medically supervised treatment, the same source reports that mortality falls to less than 5%.[1]
- Most people who go through alcohol withdrawal do not develop DTs. It is the severe end of a wide spectrum, as described in the StatPearls review of withdrawal syndromes (2024).[3]
- DTs treatment needs hospital-level monitoring and medication. This is not something anyone should manage alone at home.
What Delirium Tremens Is (Definition)
QUICK ANSWER
Delirium tremens (DTs) is a severe and potentially fatal complication of alcohol withdrawal. It involves deep confusion, hallucinations, heavy tremor, and dangerous changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature. It is a medical emergency that needs immediate, supervised hospital treatment, according to Rahman and Paul in StatPearls (2023).[1]
Here’s the part families most need to understand: delirium tremens can be fatal when nobody treats it, and it becomes far less dangerous once medical care begins, as Rahman and Paul describe in StatPearls (2023).[1] That contrast is not there to alarm you. It’s there because it explains why speed matters so much.
Somewhere tonight, in a home much like yours, someone has decided to stop drinking. Maybe they ran out. Maybe a doctor warned them. Maybe they just wanted to. Two days later, the family is watching them shake, sweat, and talk to people who aren’t in the room. They think it will settle. It usually doesn’t, not on its own.
Situations like this are not rare in India. A 2019 AIIMS-NIMHANS national survey on the magnitude of substance use in India (Ambekar et al.) found that alcohol use disorders affect roughly 5% of the population aged 10 to 75 years.[8]
The World Health Organization (WHO) 2024 alcohol fact sheet places alcohol among the leading contributors to preventable illness and death worldwide.[11] Families across the country, in other words, sit somewhere on this map.
So this page does three things. It shows you how to recognise delirium tremens quickly, explains what actually triggers it, and walks through what real medical treatment looks like once help arrives.
Who This Guide Is For
Three kinds of readers tend to land on this guide, and you probably recognise yourself in one of them.
- You’re watching it happen right now. Someone you love has stopped drinking and is behaving in ways that scare you. Read the emergency block at the top of this page first, then act.
- You’ve just come through it. You or someone in your family survived a frightening withdrawal episode, and nobody explained what it was. This page names it and explains what happened.
- You’re planning ahead. Someone wants to stop drinking, and you want to know how to do that safely rather than dangerously.
What Is Delirium Tremens?
Delirium tremens is the most severe form of alcohol withdrawal. It usually begins two to four days after the last drink in someone who has been drinking heavily for a long stretch.
It brings deep confusion, hallucinations, heavy shaking, fever, and unstable heart rate and blood pressure. It requires emergency hospital care, not home management.[1]
The body explains itself here. Alcohol slows down the nervous system. When someone drinks heavily for months or years, the brain adapts by speeding itself up to compensate, a process the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), describes in its overview of alcohol’s effects on the brain.[13]
Take the alcohol away suddenly and that accelerator stays pressed down with nothing to balance it. The nervous system goes into overdrive.
In clinical terms, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association, classifies this under alcohol withdrawal, and notes a specifier for withdrawal occurring “with perceptual disturbances” when hallucinations are present.[5]
Delirium tremens sits at the severe end of that picture, where confusion and disorientation are added to the physical instability.
Plain version? The brain has been holding itself steady against alcohol for a long time. Remove the alcohol too fast, and it loses its footing.
How DTs Differs From Ordinary Alcohol Withdrawal
Most people who stop drinking do not develop delirium tremens. That’s worth saying clearly, because fear is not useful here.
The StatPearls review of withdrawal syndromes (2024) describes alcohol withdrawal as a spectrum ranging from mild anxiety and tremor through to severe, life-threatening delirium, with the severe end affecting a minority of cases.[3]
Mayo Clinic similarly notes that while many people experience uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms, a smaller group develops symptoms severe enough to be life-threatening.[6]
The difference matters because the two situations need completely different responses.
| Mild to Moderate Alcohol Withdrawal | Delirium Tremens | |
|---|---|---|
|
Typical onset
|
Mild to Moderate Alcohol Withdrawal
Around 6 to 24 hours after the last drink [3]
|
Delirium Tremens
Around 48 to 96 hours after the last drink
[1]
|
|
Common symptoms
|
Mild to Moderate Alcohol Withdrawal
Anxiety, tremor, sweating, nausea, poor sleep, headache[3]
|
Delirium Tremens
Deep confusion and disorientation, hallucinations, severe tremor, fever, racing heart, unstable blood pressure[1]
|
|
Is the person oriented?
|
Mild to Moderate Alcohol Withdrawal
Usually yes. They know where they are and who you are
|
Delirium Tremens
No. Disorientation and clouded awareness are defining features[1]
|
|
Risk if untreated
|
Mild to Moderate Alcohol Withdrawal
Uncomfortable, and can still escalate without monitoring[3]
|
Delirium Tremens
Can be fatal without emergency treatment[3]
|
|
Care setting needed
|
Mild to Moderate Alcohol Withdrawal
Medical assessment, supervised detox strongly advised[7]
|
Delirium Tremens
Emergency hospital care with continuous monitoring[1]
|
DTs vs Delirium Disorder: Why These Are Different Conditions
Delirium and delirium tremens look almost identical as names, and that causes real confusion.
Delirium, on its own, is a broad medical term. It describes a sudden disturbance in awareness and thinking that can be caused by many things: infection, a hospital or ICU stay, dementia, surgery, dehydration, or the side effects of medication.
Delirium tremens is one specific cause of delirium, triggered by alcohol withdrawal in someone with long-term heavy drinking.[1]
The distinction is not academic. The treatment pathways are different. Managing delirium caused by a chest infection in an elderly patient is not the same as managing the nervous system rebound of alcohol withdrawal.
If you’re looking for information on delirium that isn’t related to alcohol withdrawal, our page on delirium disorder treatment covers that broader condition. It is a separate topic, and it is not the treatment pathway for delirium tremens.
Delirium tremens is also only one chapter of a much larger story. If alcohol has been part of your family’s life for a long time, our overview of alcohol addiction treatment puts this emergency in its wider context.
What Are the Emergency Warning Signs of Delirium Tremens?
QUICK ANSWER
The emergency signs are confusion or disorientation, hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that aren’t there), severe shaking, high fever, a racing or irregular heartbeat, heavy sweating, and seizures, appearing within a few days of stopping or reducing heavy drinking. Rahman and Paul (StatPearls, 2023) describe these as features requiring immediate medical care.[1]
Nobody expects a family member to make a clinical diagnosis. You don’t have to. You only have to notice that something has crossed a line, and then act.
Signs That Mean "Call for Help Now"
Rahman and Paul (StatPearls, 2023) describe the following as hallmark features of delirium tremens:[1]
Seeing insects or people who aren’t there, hearing voices, or feeling things crawling on the skin. (This can also appear as alcoholic hallucinosis earlier in withdrawal, without full confusion.)
Any seizure during alcohol withdrawal is an emergency, full stop.[3]
Not all of these signs need to be present at once. Confusion plus any one of the others is enough reason to move.
What To Do in the Next Ten Minutes
Practical, in order:
- Call 112, or arrange transport to the nearest hospital emergency department. If you can do both, do both.
- Stay with them. Do not leave the person alone, even briefly. Confusion makes falls, wandering, and injuries far more likely.
- Keep the room calm and lit. Low stimulation helps. Fewer people, less noise, no arguing.
- Do not try to force fluids, food, or any medication into someone who is confused or having a seizure.
- Do not give more alcohol to “steady them.” It feels logical. It is not a treatment, and it delays the care they need.
- Gather information for the medical team: when the last drink was, roughly how much they had been drinking and for how long, any prescribed medicines, any past seizures or withdrawal episodes, and any other medical conditions.
The point about previous seizures matters more than people expect. A doctor who knows there was a previous withdrawal seizure treats the situation differently from the first minute.
If you’re genuinely unsure whether what you’re seeing is an emergency, our clinical team can help you think it through. But please don’t wait for that conversation to happen first. If there’s doubt, treat it as an emergency and seek medical care straight away.
Thinking about what comes after the hospital? Our guide to a first visit to a rehabilitation centre in India walks through what that step actually involves.
What Triggers Delirium Tremens?
Delirium tremens is triggered by suddenly stopping or sharply reducing alcohol after a long period of heavy, regular drinking.
Rahman and Paul (StatPearls, 2023) identify added risk from a previous episode of DTs or withdrawal seizures, older age, poor nutrition, and co-occurring illness or infection at the time of withdrawal.[1]
Let’s take those one at a time.
This is the foundation. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism explains that alcohol use disorder develops through sustained patterns of drinking that change how the brain functions, and the longer that pattern runs, the more the nervous system adapts around it.[12]
Rahman and Paul note prior withdrawal complications as a significant predictor of future episodes.[1] If it happened once, the next attempt at stopping needs medical cover. Not maybe. Needs.
The classic pattern in Indian homes is a sudden decision on a Monday morning, often after a family argument or a health scare, with nobody medically involved. The intention is good. The method carries real risk.
Infection, injury, liver problems, or an untreated medical condition raises the risk, according to the StatPearls review.[1] The body is already under strain.
Long-term heavy drinking often displaces food and depletes vitamins, which the WHO withdrawal management guidelines flag as an important consideration in assessing and supporting people through withdrawal.[4]
Risk rises with age, partly because other health conditions tend to be present too.[1]
Here’s the encouraging part. Almost every one of these becomes manageable when withdrawal happens under medical supervision instead of alone in a bedroom.
Stopping alcohol safely is a genuinely different experience from stopping alcohol dangerously. Our medically supervised detoxification programme exists for exactly this reason.
What Are the Symptoms of Delirium Tremens, and How Long Do DTs Last?
Symptoms escalate in stages. Early withdrawal signs appear roughly 6 to 24 hours after the last drink, moderate symptoms build over 24 to 72 hours, and full delirium tremens typically emerges around 48 to 96 hours, according to StatPearls sources on withdrawal syndromes and delirium tremens.[1][3] The acute phase then settles over several days with treatment.
Below is the staged picture. Timings are typical ranges, not guarantees. Real people don’t always follow the textbook, which is precisely why monitoring matters.
The StatPearls review of withdrawal syndromes (2024) describes this earliest phase as dominated by autonomic arousal: anxiety, tremor in the hands, sweating, nausea, a headache, a fast pulse, and difficulty sleeping.[3]
At this point, the person is fully oriented. They know where they are. They can hold a conversation, even if they feel awful. Many families see this stage and conclude that the worst is over.
Families rarely get to keep that calm for long. This window is where medical help changes the whole trajectory.
Symptoms intensify. Tremor becomes more visible, sweating increases, and blood pressure and heart rate climb further.[3]
Two important things can appear in this window. The first is hallucinations without confusion, sometimes called alcoholic hallucinosis, where the person sees or hears things that aren’t there but still knows who and where they are.[1]
The second is withdrawal seizures, which the StatPearls withdrawal syndromes review describes as typically occurring in the first day or two after the last drink.[3]
A seizure at this stage is a serious warning sign, not a passing event.
Full delirium tremens is the stage that gives the condition its name. Rahman and Paul (StatPearls, 2023) describe it as combining profound confusion and disorientation with severe autonomic instability: high fever, a dangerously fast heart rate, and blood pressure that swings unpredictably.[1]
Schuckit, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine (2014) on the recognition and management of withdrawal delirium, emphasises that this state requires prompt recognition and intensive supportive care because of the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic complications.[2]
The person may be agitated, terrified, and completely unable to understand what’s happening to them. They aren’t being difficult. Their brain is genuinely not able to process the room they’re in.
So How Long Do DTs Last?
Medically reviewed sources describe delirium tremens as an acute episode that builds over the first two to four days after the last drink and then settles over the following days once treatment begins.[1][2]
The exact course varies from person to person, and depends heavily on how quickly treatment starts and what other health problems are present.
What we can say with more confidence is the direction of travel: earlier treatment means a shorter, safer course. Delay works the other way.
If you’re trying to work out whether what you’ve been seeing fits this pattern, a confidential assessment can help you get clarity without committing to anything.
Is Delirium Tremens Fatal?
Delirium tremens can be fatal. Rahman and Paul (StatPearls, 2023) report that it causes death in up to 37% of untreated cases, usually because of cardiovascular collapse, dangerously high body temperature, or complications of prolonged seizures.[1] With prompt, medically supervised treatment, mortality falls to less than 5%.[1]
A mortality figure like this deserves to be sat with for a moment, not rushed past.
Now the other half of the truth. The higher figure describes untreated delirium tremens.[1] Rahman and Paul note that with early recognition and treatment in a monitored setting with appropriate supportive care, deaths become uncommon.[1]
Schuckit makes the same essential point in the New England Journal of Medicine: recognition and prompt management are what change the outcome.[2]
So the danger here isn’t fixed. It moves, and what moves it is time. The difference between a family who calls for help on day one and a family who waits to see if it settles is, in many cases, the entire difference.
Reading a mortality figure about someone you love is a hard thing to do. If your chest tightened just now, that’s a normal reaction, not weakness.
Fear tends to arrive before information does. Family support resources exist for exactly this moment, when you’re frightened and trying to think clearly at the same time.
What Happens During Medically Supervised DTs Treatment?
Delirium tremens is treated in a hospital or medically supervised setting with continuous monitoring of vital signs, medication to calm the over-active nervous system, correction of fluid and vitamin deficits, and close watch for complications. Rahman and Paul (StatPearls, 2023) describe this monitored, medication-supported approach as the standard of care.[1]
Delirium tremens is never treated by waiting it out at home, and it is never treated by drinking again to take the edge off.
Here is the clinical sequence, strongest-evidence first.
The first job is safety. Vital signs are checked and monitored continuously: heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, breathing, and hydration.
The World Health Organization (WHO) clinical guidelines for withdrawal management describe structured assessment of withdrawal severity, hydration status, nutritional state, and other medical problems as the foundation of safe withdrawal care.[4]
The team also asks the questions you were gathering answers for earlier: drinking history, time of last drink, previous withdrawal episodes, other medicines, other conditions. This shapes everything that follows.
The evidence is strongest for medication-assisted management. Benzodiazepines are the established first-line medication class for managing alcohol withdrawal delirium in a supervised medical setting, as described by Rahman and Paul in StatPearls[1] and by Schuckit in the New England Journal of Medicine.[2]
They work by calming the same nervous system pathways that alcohol had been suppressing, giving the brain a controlled way down instead of a fall.
A word that matters: this is a description of what happens in hospital, under supervision, with continuous monitoring. It is not a treatment anyone should attempt to arrange for themselves. Dosing, choice of medicine, and timing are clinical decisions made at the bedside, adjusted hour by hour against the person’s actual response. No article can substitute for that, and this one isn’t trying to.
Supportive care runs alongside: fluids, correction of electrolyte imbalances, and vitamin supplementation, all of which the WHO withdrawal management guidelines identify as standard components of withdrawal care.[4]
The acute window is monitored closely because several things can go wrong at once. Rahman and Paul highlight seizures, dangerously high body temperature, cardiovascular instability, and metabolic disturbance as the complications that require ongoing observation during delirium tremens.[1]
“The complications we watch for hardest are the ones a family can’t see from outside the room – the heart rate, the temperature, the fluid balance,” explains Dr. Naveen Kumar. “That’s exactly why this cannot be managed at home, however calm things look in between.”
Here’s the honest reason DTs cannot be managed at home: not because home lacks willpower or love, but because home lacks a cardiac monitor and a nurse checking every fifteen minutes.
Once the acute crisis stabilises, the work isn’t finished. It’s just changed shape.
Cleveland Clinic describes medical detoxification as a supervised process of clearing a substance from the body while managing withdrawal safely, and as a first step rather than a complete treatment.[7] The underlying alcohol use disorder is still there after the delirium resolves.
Care usually moves into a structured programme from here: continued medical review, psychological support, and planning for what happens next.
At Abhasa Rehab and Wellness, that transition is led by qualified psychiatrists with round-the-clock medical supervision, which is the specific reassurance that matters when someone has just come through a life-threatening withdrawal. Our medically supervised detoxification programme is built around that continuity.
What Recovery Looks Like After DTs Stabilises
DTs is a short, acute crisis. Recovery from alcohol dependence is a longer, quieter process, and a genuinely hopeful one.
The NIAAA’s resource on alcohol use disorder from risk to diagnosis to recovery describes AUD as a treatable condition, with people improving through a range of evidence-based approaches rather than a single fixed pathway.[10]
The NIAAA’s overview of evidence-based treatments points to behavioural therapies and medications as effective components of care.[9] A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis by McPheeters and colleagues in JAMA found that certain medications for alcohol use disorder are supported by moderate-quality evidence for reducing drinking in adults.[14]
None of that is a promise of an easy road. It is, though, a reasonable basis for hope. People do come through this.
Ready to talk about what comes next? Start with a confidential conversation about what a safe pathway could look like.
Frequently Asked Questions About Delirium Tremens
Medically reviewed sources describe delirium tremens as building over roughly two to four days after the last drink and then settling over the following days once treatment starts.[1][2] The exact duration varies with the person’s health, drinking history, and how quickly treatment begins.
Delirium tremens is triggered by stopping or sharply reducing alcohol after a long period of heavy, regular drinking. Rahman and Paul (StatPearls, 2023) list previous DTs or withdrawal seizures, older age, poor nutrition, and co-occurring illness as factors that raise the risk.[1]
Most people experience uncomfortable but manageable withdrawal: anxiety, tremor, sweating, nausea, and poor sleep in the first day, as described in the StatPearls withdrawal syndromes review.[3] A minority progress to severe complications, including seizures or delirium tremens. Medical supervision is what separates the safe version from the risky one.
Yes, though the picture is very different. “Treatment doesn’t make the risk disappear,” says Dr. Naveen Kumar, MBBS, DPM (Psychiatry), Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at Abhasa Rehab and Wellness. “What it does is put someone in the one place where every complication can be spotted early and answered immediately. That is the whole point of supervision.”
“The question I always come back to is orientation,” says Dr. Naveen Kumar. “In alcoholic hallucinosis, a person may be seeing things that aren’t there and still tell you exactly what day it is and where they are. In delirium tremens, that anchor is gone.
The confusion, the fever, the unstable heart rate arriving together is what tells us we’re dealing with withdrawal delirium.” Rahman and Paul describe this clouding of awareness as a defining feature of DTs.[1]
Rahman and Paul identify the highest risk in people with a long history of heavy daily drinking, especially those who have had a previous episode of DTs or a withdrawal seizure.[1] Older adults, people with poor nutrition, and those unwell with another condition at the same time also face elevated risk.
Often, yes. “Almost every DTs case I have treated involved someone stopping alcohol suddenly with nobody medically involved,” says Dr. Naveen Kumar. “Planned, supervised withdrawal changes that entirely, because the risk is being watched for before it arrives rather than discovered afterwards.”
The WHO withdrawal management guidelines set out structured assessment and monitoring as core to safe withdrawal.[4]
For anyone with a history of heavy, long-term drinking, previous withdrawal seizures, or a previous DTs episode, no. Mayo Clinic notes that alcohol withdrawal symptoms can become severe enough to be life-threatening.[6] A medical assessment first is the safest way to know which category someone falls into.
Delirium is a broad term for sudden confusion with many possible causes, including infection, dementia, and hospital stays. Delirium tremens is one specific alcohol-withdrawal cause of it.[1] Our delirium disorder treatment page covers the broader condition, which is a different topic with a different treatment pathway.
For the full picture of how alcohol dependence is treated beyond the emergency itself, see our alcohol addiction treatment overview.
Taking the Next Step
Two things about delirium tremens are true at the same time, and holding both is the honest position.
Delirium tremens is dangerous. It can be fatal without treatment.[1] Nobody should minimise that, least of all a family hoping it will pass by morning.
Delirium tremens is also well understood and treatable. Doctors know what DTs is, know what causes it, and know how to manage it. People come through it every day and go on to build steady, ordinary, good lives afterwards.
The NIAAA describes alcohol use disorder as a treatable condition supported by a range of effective approaches.[10] That’s not optimism. That’s the evidence.
If someone in your family has just been through an episode like this, or if you’re worried that stopping drinking might trigger one, the next step doesn’t have to be dramatic. It can just be a conversation.
Our clinical team is here to talk through what a safe next step could look like, confidentially and without any pressure. You can ask questions without committing to anything at all.
If picking up the phone feels easier than filling in a form, you can call or WhatsApp us directly at +91-73736-44444. There’s no pressure to decide anything on that call. It’s simply a way to talk something through with someone who understands it clinically.
And if the emergency is happening right now, please close this page and call 112.
Talk to Abhasa’s clinical team confidentially.
Call info@abhasa.in or +91-73736-44444 Our compassionate team understands what you’re going through. We’re here to help you take the first step toward recovery, safely.
Continue Learning
Delirium tremens is one chapter in a longer story about alcohol dependence and recovery. These related guides may help if you want to understand more of that story.
References
[1] Rahman A, Paul M. Delirium Tremens. StatPearls Publishing, 2023. NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482134/
[2] Schuckit MA. Recognition and Management of Withdrawal Delirium (Delirium Tremens). New England Journal of Medicine, 2014;371(22):2109-2113. https://www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1056/NEJMra1407298
[3] Withdrawal Syndromes. StatPearls Publishing, 2024. NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459239/
[4] World Health Organization (WHO). Withdrawal Management. In: Clinical Guidelines for Withdrawal Management and Treatment of Drug Dependence in Closed Settings, 2009. NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310652/
[5] American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm
[6] Mayo Clinic. Alcohol use disorder: symptoms and causes. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alcohol-use-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20369243
[7] Cleveland Clinic. Medical Detoxification. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/medical-detox
[8] Ambekar A, et al. Magnitude of Substance Use in India: National Survey. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India / AIIMS-NIMHANS, 2019. https://socialjustice.gov.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/Survey%20Report.pdf
[9] National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Evidence-Based Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorders. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/
[10] National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Alcohol Use Disorder: From Risk to Diagnosis to Recovery. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/health-professionals-communities/core-resource-on-alcohol/alcohol-use-disorder-risk-diagnosis-recovery
[11] World Health Organization (WHO). Alcohol (fact sheet). 28 June 2024. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/alcohol
[12] National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Understanding Alcohol Use Disorder. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/understanding-alcohol-use-disorder
[13] National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Alcohol’s Effects on the Brain. 2023. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohols-effects-brain
[14] McPheeters M, et al. Pharmacotherapy for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA, 2023. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2811435
- Medically Reviewed by
- Senior Consultant Psychiatrist & Medical Director
- Abhasa Rehab and Wellness
Medical Disclaimer: The information on this page is for general information and education only. It is not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for assessment, diagnosis, or treatment by a qualified healthcare professional.
Delirium tremens is a medical emergency. Nothing on this page should be used to decide whether to delay seeking medical care. Never attempt to manage alcohol withdrawal, delirium tremens, or any withdrawal seizure at home based on information read online. No medication should be started, stopped, or adjusted without direct supervision from a qualified doctor.
Individual medical circumstances vary. Always consult a registered medical practitioner about your own situation or that of a family member.
If someone has stopped or cut down heavy drinking and is now confused, seeing or hearing things that aren’t there, shaking badly, running a fever, has a racing heart, or has had a seizure, get medical help right now. Call 112 or take them to the nearest hospital emergency department. Do not wait to see if it passes on its own. Do not try to manage it at home.
24/7 support lines in India:
- Emergency services (India): 112 (24/7)
- Vandrevala Foundation Helpline: +91 9999 666 555 (24/7, multilingual)
- iCall Psychosocial Helpline: 9152987821 (Mon to Sat, 8 am to 10 pm)
- NIMHANS psychosocial helpline: 080-46110007 (24/7)
Editorial and Review Information
Written by: Abhasa Rehab and Wellness Clinical Content Team.
Medically reviewed by: Dr. Naveen Kumar, MBBS, DPM (Psychiatry), Sr. Consultant Psychiatrist and Medical Director, Abhasa Rehab and Wellness.
Helplines offer emotional support and guidance. They do not replace emergency medical care. When the warning signs described on this page are present, medical care comes first.
Review cycle: This page is reviewed at least every 12 months, and sooner if clinical guidance changes.
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