Why You Need to Consider Apple Cider Vinegar for Alcohol Withdrawal
Apple cider vinegar has several science-backed benefits, such as helping manage diabetes, killing harmful bacteria, and improving heart health. Nevertheless, can apple cider vinegar help with alcohol withdrawal? Let’s read on to find out.
What Is Alcohol Withdrawal?
Alcohol withdrawal occurs when you have been drinking alcohol heavily for long periods and then stop or significantly reduce the amount you have been drinking. It can leave you with physical and mental problems, and its symptoms vary from mild to serious, depending on how much you have been drinking and for how long.
You can start experiencing mild symptoms as early as six hours after starting to withdraw from alcohol consumption. These symptoms include:
- Sweating
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Insomnia
- Headache
- Shaky hands
- Anxiety
These problems may become serious after the first two days of not drinking alcohol. You may experience hallucinations and seizures, where you see, hear, or feel things that are not there. Three days after you stop drinking, you may experience delirium tremens. Commonly known as DTs, delirium tremens are severe symptoms that can make you experience delusions and vivid hallucinations. Besides, DTs are often accompanied by the following symptoms:
- Heavy sweating
- Fever
- High blood pressure
- Racing heart
- Confusion
Alcohol Withdrawal Diagnosis
Your doctor will ask you questions about when you stop drinking and your drinking history. They may also want to know if you have experienced alcohol withdrawal before. Moreover, your doctor will assess your symptoms and even check for other medical conditions before putting you under treatment.
Alcohol Withdrawal Treatment Options
If your withdrawals are not severe or your health condition is not serious, all you may need is a supportive environment. This includes:
- Supportive and positive atmosphere
- Lots of fluids and healthy food
- Quiet place
- Limited contact with people
You may also want to try apple cider vinegar, which has many touted health benefits, such as a boosted immune system, improved skin health, and weight loss. Additionally, apple cider vinegar has been cited to help the body recover from the misuse of alcohol. Below, we will see how apple cider vinegar works and if it is worth including in your recovery plan.
What Is Vinegar?
To understand whether apple cider vinegar is helpful for alcohol withdrawal, you must first know what vinegar is. It is a fermented juice with different types of yeast and bacteria, which metabolize its sugar into acetic acid during fermentation. Food-grade vinegars have a sharp and tangy taste because of acetic acid.
Also known as acetate, acetic acid is a familiar molecule in your body. The cells in the body break fat and glucose into acetate to power themselves. Ideally, acetate is very similar to alcohol, and the liver even turns alcohol into acetate while processing it out of your system.
Can Apple Cider Vinegar Help With Alcohol Withdrawal?
Apple cider vinegar can help your body recover from alcohol withdrawal, albeit in a way you did not expect. Vinegar and alcohol eventually become the same chemical inside the body. This means vinegar may not do much to help improve the situation. However, apple cider vinegar is different due to its probiotic effects.
It is safe to say that apple cider vinegar can help make recovery from excessive drinking easier by supporting your gut. Apple cider vinegar containing the “mother” has probiotic properties, which are extremely beneficial to the body. For starters, this type of apple cider vinegar supports the growth of positive bacteria in the intestines. It also reestablishes a healthy balance in the gut, thereby lowering the impact of alcohol withdrawal on the body.
Other types of apple cider vinegar may also contain probiotic properties though not in large quantities as those with the mother at the bottom. That said, it is important that you mainly focus on taking apple cider vinegar with the mother for more effective results.
Research is still ongoing; however, experts assert that when the balance of gut bacteria in your system is poor, you will be exposed to several common ailments, which are made even worse through alcohol. Some of the common issues connected to both poor gut health and excessive drinking are alcoholic liver disease, oxidative stress, and intestinal inflammation.
Cutting back or quitting alcohol obviously increases your chances of not having to deal with these issues. Nevertheless, restoring the health of your intestines can help speed up the recovery process while minimizing the effects that come with alcohol withdrawal. Apple cider vinegar is a type of probiotic food, which studies have shown can help the gut become healthy again.
Overall, apple cider vinegar may not do much when it comes to detoxing alcohol from the body. However, that does not mean it cannot help you recover from excessive drinking. By improving gut health, apple cider vinegar can speed the process of restoring your health and making your body function normally again.
How to Make Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar, including the ones with mother, is available in nearby stores. If you’re busy, you can purchase your apple cider vinegar from the store. But if you decide to make one at home, you should consider the following basic recipe for apple cider vinegar:
- One to two tablespoons of sweetener
- Eight ounces of distilled or purified water
- One to two tablespoons of raw and unfiltered apple cider vinegar
Sweeteners may include Stevia, maple syrup, or organic honey. This basic drink of apple cider vinegar comes in many different variations with some having lemon juice and others a dash of cayenne pepper. For the best results, it is recommended that you drink apple cider vinegar regularly for several days. Most people prefer to drink it three times each day: when they wake up, mid-morning, and again in the afternoon.
What to Know Before Drinking Apple Cider Vinegar
Because of its intestinal health benefits, apple cider vinegar is recommended for someone who has seriously cut down or quit alcohol. However, there are some things you need to know before drinking apple cider vinegar. First, this drink is acidic in its pure form; hence, you have to dilute it with water. Drinking it in its pure form may leave your tooth enamel corroded or even cause burns in the throat and mouth.
Because of the acidic nature of apple cider vinegar, ensure you rinse your mouth thoroughly with water immediately after drinking it. It is worth noting that even a single glass every day may be enough to have a negative impact on your teeth. Therefore, if you can, be sure to drink the apple cider vinegar through a straw.
Additionally, apple cider vinegar may interact with different supplements and medications. Research points out that it may lead to low levels of potassium if you take insulin or diuretics. Needless to say, talk to your doctor before you start drinking apple cider vinegar on a regular basis.
It is also worth noting that apple cider vinegar may cause nausea, stomach discomfort, and other side effects after drinking it. You are likely to experience these kinds of discomfort in the morning hours when you drink apple cider vinegar on an empty stomach.
What Should You Also Drink Besides Apple Cider Vinegar?
While recovering from alcohol withdrawal, you should never forget to drink water. First, alcohol is a diuretic, which means it dehydrates the body. Water dilutes it, lowering its negative effects. Water also plays a crucial part in the biochemical reaction of the liver and the entire body. Furthermore, you should drink water because it can help fight the feelings of nausea and stop you from vomiting.
Summary: Does Apple Cider Vinegar Help With Alcohol Withdrawal?
Since vinegar and alcohol are very similar, apple cider vinegar may do very little to flush out alcohol from your body. As a detox tool, you may want to avoid it and, instead, turn to water. Water hydrates the body and lowers the impact of alcohol on the body by diluting it. Water may also eliminate the feelings of nausea and prevent you from vomiting.
Just because apple cider vinegar is ineffective in flushing out alcohol does not mean it is not helpful. According to aforementioned studies, apple cider vinegar does a good job of improving gut health, thereby speeding up the process of recovering from alcohol withdrawal. It is, therefore, recommended in the fight against alcohol withdrawal.
Contact Alcohol Awareness Today for Help
If you are struggling with alcohol or fear the effects of alcohol withdrawal, Alcohol Awareness is here for you. As our name suggests, our mission is to raise awareness for alcoholism by offering free and reliable resources. When you call our hotline, we can direct you to healthcare professionals who offer treatment plans.
We are recovering alcoholics ourselves; hence, we understand how hard it can be to quit alcohol or cope with alcohol withdrawal. Over the years, we have helped several people in many different ways, including helping them find the right treatment plan. On our website, we offer clients all the details they need to know more about us. We also have sections where we have talked about the symptoms, medications, and health effects of alcohol on the body.
Additionally, we have listed what you need to focus on to know when alcohol consumption is starting to become a problem. Some of these are recovering much slower after drinking alcohol and drinking for longer periods. At Alcohol Awareness, our free hotline for alcohol abuse is available 24/7, so you can reach out to us whenever you have a problem.