Alcohol Detox in San Francisco, CA

Medical detox for alcohol relies on benzodiazepines — usually lorazepam, diazepam, or chlordiazepoxide — to prevent seizures and dampen the nervous system overactivity that drives withdrawal. Doses are tapered down over several days as the body stabilizes. Thiamine and folate are given to prevent Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a serious neurological complication of long-term heavy drinking.

Detox programs serving San Francisco use protocols based on standardized withdrawal scales (commonly CIWA-Ar) to dose medications based on actual symptoms rather than a fixed schedule. This approach minimizes both the risk of under-treatment and the risk of oversedation.

After medical detox stabilizes the body, the next step is rehab — inpatient, residential, IOP, or outpatient — to address the underlying drinking patterns. Detox alone, without follow-up treatment, has a very high relapse rate.