How long does it usually take for the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal to abate?

Question

A 79 year-old friend of mine recently fell and broke her hip.
She had three times the legal blood-alcohol limit at the time
and was known to drink regularly.
After surgery to fix the broken hip, she went into DTs. The
physical shakes and tremors lasted about three days and
she was treated with Adivan and Trazadone. She was moved
to the physical therapy unit.
The problem is she can seem very clear-headed but every
now and then she thinks she's at home instead of at the
hospital. Or she might say that someone was looking in the
window last night or making a lot of noise in the backyard.
The nurses say it could be the drugs and pain medicine that
are making her confused. Adivan was stopped two days ago
but she still gets Trazedone at night and possibly Percocet
as needed for pain.
Before all this you could tell if she had been drinking but she
never was confused about where she was or thought someone
was at the window, etc.
It has been 2 weeks since surgery.

Answer 1

It may be the drugs, but the stress of the incident and DTs could have unmasked other problems.

I've seen severe DTs last 10 days in ICU.

Answer 2

ativan(antianxiety med)side effect,drowisness,insomnia(cant sleep),agitation,sedation,dizziness,weakness,,unsteadinessdiorietation and depression tese are cns effects .trazodonealmost same as above but,CONFUSION and vivid dreams. being in the hosptilal/nursing at first can cause these symptoms,also the medications can,but it could also be another cause as simple as a bladder infection or with her having recent surgery a respitory infection(bronchitis etc) you could suggest the dr/nurses look for signs/symptoms of this or just run these tests (ua,chest x ray blood work)also note for infection at wound site(where hip surgery was preformed)hope this help also another suggestion is maybe ativan would calm her nerves instead or trazodone just a though.hope she gets better

Answer 3

Believe it or not, alcohol can take as long as two weeks to leave your system. The rule of thumb you hear about twenty four hours for every ounce is how long it takes your body to process alcohol but you can still go into shock from withdrawal for up to two weeks

Answer 4

3 days of physical addiction and 21 days to break any habit