Detox from alcohol is a very serious issue and if you or someone you know is an alcoholic who has been drinking heavily for a long time then there is a real need for a medically supervised detox process.  Do not even think about quitting drinking cold turkey as this is extremely dangerous for anyone who is seriously addicted to alcohol and in fact it can kill you to stop suddenly.  Most people underestimate the danger in quitting drinking so do not make this mistake and seek medical attention or a drug rehab facility.

As I have already pointed out the best way to detox from alcohol is to do so in a medical setting of some sort.  The ideal location for this is at an alcohol or drug treatment center where they specialize in doing such detoxing for people.  The second best place to detox is in a hospital or an emergency room.  If you are in serious withdrawal from alcohol then this is a life threatening condition and no emergency room can really turn you away.  On the other hand, there are other places more qualified to treat you and that would be the treatment centers and rehabs.  So ideally you will want to set something up in advance such as a trip to rehab.

While you are in treatment they will give you medication in order to safely detox you from the alcohol.  Normally this will be an anti convulsant medicine that can prevent you from having tremors and seizures.  People do not think it is possible that they would have a seizure simply because they have never had one before.  This is dangerous thinking as most people do have their first seizure while detoxing from alcohol.  Thinking that you can do it alone without any help or medical supervision is a big mistake and could cost you your life.

When you are coming off of alcohol you will go through a number of detox symptoms.  Not everyone will experience these exactly but these are the general things that people will go through:

1) Sweats and night sweats while trying to sleep.

2) Headache.

3) Nausea and possibly vomiting.

4) Anxiety or being nervous.

5) Visual disturbances, seeing things out of the corner of your eye, sensitivity to light, possibly hallucinations that may be mild or severe.

6) Audio disturbance, including sounds seeming loud and frightening and harsh, or possibly audio hallucinations and hearing things that are not there.

7) Tactile disturbances, such as feeling bugs crawling on you or having pins and needles sensations on your skin.

8) Disorientation, not knowing where you are or what is going on.  Can be accompanied by hallucinations.

9) Tremor, hands that shake, either mildly or violently, sometimes leading to seizure. 

10) Agitation, restlessness, fidgeting.

So the best way to detox from alcohol is to treat all of these potential symptoms in a medical setting.  This will result in the safest detox possible while also being the most comfortable for the alcoholic.

Another advantage of seeking out treatment like this is that the alcoholic will generally be exposed to residential treatment following their detox.  This is extremely important because the detox itself will not do much good unless the person can find a new way to live and figure out how to live sober.  Most alcoholics can not do this without some sort of program and making major life changes, so it does little good to detox them if they are not going to get any follow up care.  That is what residential treatment is for and if they are not willing to go to this length then chances are good that they will end up relapsing shortly after detox.