Category: Alcohol withdrawals

  This article is medically reviewed by Dr Peter McCann, MSC, MBBS. Dr McCann is a is a Psychiatry and Internal Medicine Resident at Duke University Hospital, USA.     What are ‘the shakes’ and what causes them? The ‘alcohol shakes’ is a term to describe tremors caused by Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome, which occurs in some frequent alcohol users when they suddenly stop drinking.  It is part of a condition called alcohol withdrawal syndrome that occurs in around 50% of people with heavy alcohol use. In the mild form, typical symptoms other than tremor include anxiety, sweating, nausea, restlessness, headaches…