I posted this in reply to another member on another thread, but why not post it again within its own specific subject? I hope it might help inform somebody:

I am in the UK (south-east England). I have been through three detoxes. Two private and one on the NHS.

The private detoxes lasted around a week. They used Librium, which is the detox sedative of choice over here. They also boosted me with Thiamine and Vitamin B (strong) complex.

It was not in the Priory, which you will have heard of, but a similar local private institution which was lovely. The rooms were like a very nice hotel, the food in the restaurant was top-class (REALLY delicious!!) and the counsellors were absolutely superb. I had wifi access, I was allowed my mobile phone, and to make calls out on the staff telephones. This is very different from the tough regime I have heard of at the Priory.

Unfortunately the counsellors were all ex-addicts themselves, and so every session they tried to help with my issues (basically low self-esteem, and failure to grieve properly for a lost relative) were also aimed at persuading me that abstinence was my only route forward throughout the rest of my life. TSM and the Baclofen treatment that I am recently interested in have convinced me otherwise. Attending AA, CA and NA were part of the programme.

I have to say that Librium works excellently as a detox medicine. Even with it though, staff would check on me throughout the night to make sure I didn't have any seizures. In my second detox I believe that I had some sort of brain trauma (a mini-stroke?) because I was asked to read something out at an AA meeting, and although reading has always been my greatest strength, I struggled so, even though I was almost off the Librium. Once I am fully sober and CURED I'll be pushing my GP to send me to a neurologist to check up on this. Something has happened there, although I am not too bad - in fact almost back to normal (although I am a committed alcoholic once again ).

Both times I stayed for the minimum time for the detox - 7 days, purely for financial reasons (I was self-funding and it costs about £500 a day). The counsellors wanted me to stay for at least two to three weeks to fully deal with my issues, and I wish I could have, because they were SO excellent at dealing with emotional stuff, absolutely superb. If anybody would like details of where this place is please PM me. I also have an acquaintance who went to a similar place (don't know quite if it was 5* like mine, but it was meant to be very nice) in Scotland, where it cost 'only' £1500 per week.

Most of the patients at this place were covered by private health insurance (Bupa covers it I know) and stayed for up to 28 days.

My third detox/rehab I had no more money, so had to go NHS. I'm no snob, I would have done that anyway, but the private place admitted you on the very day you wanted (and the levels I was drinking then, much as I am now, made me absolutely desperate.

Again, they used Librium. I was lucky, as the facility was new and very comfy - apparently the previous place was an NHS nightmare, from the mould on the walls to the rats scuttling round at night. The staff were excellent, but the other patients were mainly heroin/crack cocaine addicts. It seems that alcoholism takes a very back seat to drug addiction (probably both politically and because of the greater associated crime that comes with drug abuse) in Kent.

I stayed for nine days, which I needed by then, as the waiting list kept me out from there for almost four months, by which time I was in a terrible state. I had not been able to eat properly for months by the time I got in there, and was almost a walking skeleton. Why? Because of my drinking the excess stomach acid meant I couldn't hold food down. Alas, my GP didn't have the foresight to prescribe, or even recommend, a simple antacid which would have made the world of difference.

We heard that one girl died just days before she was due to be admitted, because the waiting list was so long

It was also a different kettle of fish from my private detox. They confiscated your mobile phone at the door (so people couldn't phone their dealers for drugs) and it was more regimental - with times to get up and go to bed. The counselling was generally lousy, although the day staff were absolutely dedicated, to a fault.

Interesting to hear what nationalized health care is really like. The USA is trending toward such a system, and I'm fairly sure many (most?) Americans don't know the downside of that type of system.

Bob

PS I do not have any political affiliation or have any opinion on the US health care debate and bills. I do want people to have all the facts, just like I want everyone to know all the facts about alcoholism and Naltrexone.

The sad thing is Bob, that although the detox centre (the only specialist unit of its kind in Kent) had 14 beds, they are forced to keep four beds free for patients from other regions for some administrative reason.

All of those four beds were empty in my nine days there. The girl who died could have been in one of those beds. Shocking.

Bob, there is nothing inherently wrong with a nationalised health service, in my opinion, as long as it is run correctly, and ours is not. I don't know if you've heard of a British publication called Private Eye. I'm sure you'd enjoy it a lot, there's a lot of good satire in there, as well as the serious stuff. They constantly draw attention to the way millions (if not billions?) of public pounds are thrown away that should be used for treating people. Rather, the money goes on useless committees, 'managers', and out-sourced roles at a ludicrous expense, etc etc etc.

A nationalised health service could and should work, with the amount taxpayers here fund it. Unfortunately incompetency from the top (mainly) to the bottom has made it a national embarrassment.

Hi 8,

The NHS is a national disgrace! Just to think that the girl may have lived were it not for the incompetence of the NHS. I have only once had the misfortune to be admitted to an NHS hospital in my entire life. It wasn't alcohol-related. I was only in the hospital for three days but I was so traumatized by the experience that I burst into tears when I was discharged.

BTW, I found your experiences of detox very interesting.

V.

NHS = No Hope Sadly

As I said, I have no political opinion.

However, I am very sorry for the death of that girl due to "incompetency".

Bob

I should add also that there are two more options for detox in the UK (or certainly in England).

The first is in-patient (regular) hospital detox. Most likely when you are admitted to a hospital as a drunken emergency. They will use Librium. and I guess it depends on the hospital how the care you receive is. I spent two nights in hospital before my detox at the specialist NHS centre, and they didn't give me enough Librium (after two previous ones I knew how much I would need/should be given). In fact, I had to protest quite strongly to the nurses and doctors to gain even half what a dedicated centre would give you!

The second is a home detox, and this depends on your GP, and perhaps also on your local psychiatric centre. My then-private psychiatrist argued for this in my case, as it took so many months to get in to the specialist facility*, but my GP was clueless and useless, so it never happened. I have met one gentleman who told me that he had a home detox using Valium, but I have no idea if this is usual, and if Librium may be used in other cases. This is what I am heading for (determined to demand this time) if my 24/7 drinking continues for a week or more longer, I cannot go on like this.

* The specialist detox facility, servicing the whole of Kent (population over one and a half million people) has fourteen bedrooms, four of which appear to be kept free for other regions, for some administrative reason. Bering in mind that one in ten in the UK has an alcohol problem, and one in twenty a very serious one, the numbers speak for themselves.

I was also shocked when I was a patient there that two heavily pregnant ladies were admitted. One was drinking (so she said, though no-one could believe her, three or four litres of vodka per day. The other was a heroin addict. I don't know if anyone has seen the film Trainspotting, but I heard stories in that place that make it seem like The Wizard of Oz. Having said that, it was on the whole their drug addiction that made these people do the things they did, and amongst the 20 or so people I was in detox with there was only one character I would class as truly a bad person.

The long and the short of this post! If you are in the UK and need a detox, insist to your fullest might to have a home one. Failing that, get to the ER of a local hospital (you might have to feign some great distress, if you don't have it already) and it's possible to be admitted and have one there.

It's best not to wait imho for admission to a specialist unit, because of the such long waiting times. Also, alcoholism in the UK is seen as far less of a priority than drug addiction (again, presumably because it is less associated with crime, and thus newspaper headlines and 'targets' for the government).

@ Bob I did not mean to imply you did, I was just trying to fill you in on the situation as I see it over here, as you seemed interested.

@ Virgil I agree with you completely. Personally, I have a great fear of being hospitalised again in an NHS unit (open ward). I would rather die at home, I think, if I could not afford a private room.