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Chlormethiazole or chlordiazepoxide in alcohol detoxification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Denise Duncan  and
David Taylor
David Taylor*
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
*
∗Correspondence
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The alcohol withdrawal syndrome is characterised by symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, anorexia, nausea, tremor, sweating and disturbances in coordination. These symptoms tend to occur within 6 to 12 hours of alcohol-dependent patients stopping or reducing their alcohol intake. Less frequently, convulsions, hallucinosis and delirium tremens can occur. Delirium tremens (disturbed orientation, visual and auditory hallucinations, paranoid ideation and tremulousness) is the most serious complication of alcohol withdrawal and occurs in up to 5% of patients withdrawing from alcohol. If it is severe or poorly treated, death can occur. In the UK some clinicians use chlormethiazole while others favour chlordiazepoxide. This article will examine and compare the use of these two drugs.

Type
Drug Information Quarterly
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 20 , Issue 10 , October 1996 , pp. 599 - 601
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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