I'm gonna start once I get a handle on this detox. I'm feeling fairly awful right now. I was trying to get some tips on something that might help with that. You got any ideas? I bought some sweets and am drinking lots of water.
My opinion, I STRONGLY suggest that you call your Doctor, tell him the amount of Alcohol you were drinking, and the length of time you were doing that, and most importanly about the symptoms you are experiencing....
Can you call and go to the Doctor today, hope so, if not please call the office and tell them it is very important.
There is a Post on this Page by Mommy 3, and the last response to the Post is by Mark, (Pinkchip) I would take the time to read his suggestion, he works with young people that are at times in your position.
Yes the meetings too, as soon as you feel comfortable driving, but I would get the "green light" from your Doctor first.
Toni
-- Edited by Just Toni on Wednesday 24th of March 2010 06:22:40 PM
Yes, I'm suggesting going to some AA meetings to get help
it's what we do is help people stop drinking, I learned it's best to ask for help when I need it, not after I get a handle on it.
So you dont have any tips to help get through detox other than to go ask people at a meeting when I get over the shakes enough. Cool. Thanks.
I agree with seeking out help from a Dr as stated above, but what I was thinking was some face to face help would be beneficial, they usually know the local detoxes etc at meetings, and if you go to a meeting and ask for help you will usually get it.
You asked for help, I told you where to find help. Yes, go while you are still sick or even call the AA hotline and ask them to send someone to your house.
I can't reach out through a computer screen to help you, I know what it's like to go through the shakes and sweats having done it myself, I know the feelings of anxiety produced, in my opinion nothing replaces human contact and getting real live help with real live problems, you stated you only made it 4 days last time, I'm suggesting an idea where you never have to drink again.
At 4 days the detox was mostly mental for me, the incredible anxiety, although the night sweats continued for a few weeks, not being alone, or having the feeling I had to do this alone was the difference for me.
I can't help you but i know where to find people that will, so sorry if that came across as unfeeling or uncaring, or however it offended you, I apologize, you asked for help, I told you where to find help.
It's there if you want it, and in my experience, people who are serious about quitting drinking that ask for help at meetings usually get that help, so yes, if you want help to quit drinking, yes, I am saying go to a meeting.
-- Edited by AGO on Wednesday 24th of March 2010 06:33:00 PM
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Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night, light a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
My opinion, I STRONGLY suggest that you call your Doctor, tell him the amount of Alcohol you were drinking, and the length of time you were doing that, and most importanly about the symptoms you are experiencing....
Can you call and go to the Doctor today, hope so, if not please call the office and tell them it is very important.
There is a Post on this Page by Mommy 3, and the last response to the Post is by Mark, (Pinkchip) I would take the time to read his suggestion, he works with young people that are at times in your position.
Yes the meetings too, as soon as you feel comfortable driving, but I would get the "green light" from your Doctor first.
Toni
-- Edited by Just Toni on Wednesday 24th of March 2010 06:22:40 PM
Thanks Toni. I checked out that thread. Seems like the water and sweets were good choices. I found a article online that says eat bananas and strawberries.
I don't have insurance so a Dr or inpatient is out. Trust that if I had insurance I would have went to my Doctor before asking strangers on a Recovery Forum for help (nothing personal). I intend to go to a meeting tommorow if I feel any better, which I hope I will.
My opinion, I STRONGLY suggest that you call your Doctor, tell him the amount of Alcohol you were drinking, and the length of time you were doing that, and most importanly about the symptoms you are experiencing....
Can you call and go to the Doctor today, hope so, if not please call the office and tell them it is very important.
There is a Post on this Page by Mommy 3, and the last response to the Post is by Mark, (Pinkchip) I would take the time to read his suggestion, he works with young people that are at times in your position.
Yes the meetings too, as soon as you feel comfortable driving, but I would get the "green light" from your Doctor first.
Toni
-- Edited by Just Toni on Wednesday 24th of March 2010 06:22:40 PM
Thanks Toni. I checked out that thread. Seems like the water and sweets were good choices. I found a article online that says eat bananas and strawberries.
I don't have insurance so a Dr or inpatient is out. Trust that if I had insurance I would have went to my Doctor before asking strangers on a Recovery Forum for help (nothing personal). I intend to go to a meeting tommorow if I feel any better, which I hope I will.
Alcohol Detox is as far as I know is the only detox that can kill you. when you asked for help for a home detox I figured you didn't have $$$ for a doctor, one of the reasons I was suggesting a meeting was so other people could see you and assess your medical condition and call for help if you wouldn't.
If it does get too hairy tonight don't hesitate to call 911, penny wise dollar foolish is taken to a new level if you die, also do consider looking up AA in the phone book and telling them your situation, they usually are able to send out someone to check on you and take you to a meeting or just sit and talk with you.
The help is there, keep us posted
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Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night, light a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
I was at a meeting today with someone at 7 days and many people shared that they spoke with someone through the AA phone line in the beginning. You can get connected to someone locally who can talk to you and sometimes people will come be with you or take you to a meeting. It may seem scary but it can be a big comfort to be with others who know exactly what you are going through.
I spent my first days right here at this website. Eventually I took everyone's advice and went to a meeting. So glad I did, I now believe it saved my life, and it is now a life that is good and fulfilling.
I couldn't do it alone and you don't have to either. AA is free to anyone who has a desire to try to stop drinking. That's what it is-drunks who help other drunks. We come in all shapes and sizes.
Hope you are able to get some rest. If not keep coming back here. There's good folks who do care, and we help each other as best we can.
Welcome Mike...Just make sure you call someone if and when you need to...what AGO stated about going to meetings now is true...aside from doctors, other people in AA will know what the deal is and if you need to go to the hospital. Also, you would be like the 5 billionth person to come into AA with the shakes...so don't wait for them to go away before you go to meetings. Mine took months to go away fully so waiting on that is not a good idea. Everyone that goes to AA is in recovery at one stage or another, so it is not our place to judge you for having the shakes or any such thing.... Come as you are. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
Mark
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
I was in the same boat when I first started getting sober. No job, no money, no insurance.
I stayed at a friends house as I was going stir crazy and jumpy all the time at my own place.
I did not feel like eating at all though. Another friend kept telling me to eat but that just upset my stomach all the more.
Then another said at least keep up with fluids--water, kool-aid, gatorade, or flavored waters.
It lasted about a week, and man did I get the hungaries finally--ate 2 soft shell tacos, 2 burritos and a very large pop of some sort.
Man did I feel better then. And I was going to about 2 or 3 meetings a day--but did not really say anything about the problems--was too scared to.
I introduced myself and I said it was my first week and I just wanted to absorb it all--did get a Big Book and the 12 and 12. The person that helped me get my Big Book unfortunately died recently
Tell us how the meeting went :) I am looking forward to hearing. AA works miracles when people are ready for it. There is a lot of talk about the success rate of AA not being so great, but I do often restate what one wise oldtimer has stated at several meetings I've been to which is along the lines of "The success rate in AA is 100 percent for people that want recovery."
Furthermore, in one of Bill Wilson's last statements he was asked if he would change anything in the big book and he stated the only thing he would change in "How it works" is to change "Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path to NEVER have we seen a person fail....."
Anyhow, I am only saying all this because I know when I was where you were at (a couple days into recovery) I was unsure, afraid, skeptical.... I was also told that if I didn't believe AA and my faith were strong enough...to at least believe that others believed it. So anyhow, with that said....I believe you are going to do great Mike!
Mark
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
I must confess. I didnt get to a meeting yesterday. It was my wifes birthday and I took her out for dinner. Of course the restaurant had great beer on tap and it was "happy hour"...I drank water. Going to the beach for the weekend. Ive already looked up meetings near where we're staying. Working on day 3. My brains a wreck and my nerves are worse, but I know it'll get better.
Way to go not taking a drink. Speaking from personal experience, the better I started feeling the less I thought I needed AA. I have to remember that UN-treated alcoholism will kill me, and even after a few 24 hours I still wake up every morning with untreated alcoholism. I'm one of the lucky ones...the treatment for my disease makes me feel better, and the side effects are a better, happier life. I need meetings, literature, and the fellowship of other's like me to treat my disease. You have allot to offer others in meetings. Some of the best meetings I've been to were the ones where there was someone newly sober and still feeling the effects of withdraw. It reminds me that I don't ever want to go through it again.
As for easing your symptoms, I drank allot of Gatorade and and ate honey like mad. It helped replace the fluids I needed, and the honey replaced the sugar i wasn't getting in my drinks. I know there are many programs in most cities that can help you detox that don't cost a dime. You may want to look into some of those. Good luck and God bless...
Thanks Brian. I'm really nervous about this trip. Not that I ever need an excuse to drink, but the beach is a place where I usually go all out. At the beach its pretty much accepted to drink early and often...
What I got from going to a meeting when I was new was the experience, strength and hope of those who had gone through what I was going through. It doesn't have to be a mystery and you don't have to go it alone. The wife and family are nice, but they aren't fellow alcoholics, they don't and can't know the pain and anguish that we feel deep inside. For me to hear a fellow alcoholic share his story of what he went through and how he got sober made all the difference in the world for me. They say if your around long enough you'll hear somebody tell your story, I heard my story at the 1st meeting I attended. Knowing how his person who was just like me over came his demons and got long term sobriety gave me the strength to make it another day, and 1 day at a time is all we really have. Many many people you'll meet at a meetings have gone through detox and they can help you and they want to help, there's an unbroken string of alcoholics from Bill and Bob to the present who've have stayed sober by 1 alcoholic helping another. It's the miracle that make the 12 steps work. Good luck, Bob.
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Work like you don't need the money
Love like you've never been hurt, and
dance like no one is watching.
If you are truly an alcoholic there is help in the doors of A.A. You have to figure out for yourself where you are at with the whole getting better deal. If you ask for help it is there. If you don't ask the outlook is grim. I hope you make the right choice, whatever that may be for you.
Howdy all. Welp, I drank at the beach this weekend.
I did Mon-wed sober 2 weeks in a row.. This is week 3 of being sober since monday. The difference is this time I went to see a counselor (who sent me to a 2nd one), and I have started going to meetings (which I didnt before). I went to a 7pm last night and a 6:30 this morning. Fighting through the detox again, but this time replacing the drinking with meetings and seeing physcologists. Just wanted to touch base. Hope y'all are doing well.
I remember when I started going to meetings and they asked me if I had a drinking problem, and I answered "No, my drinking is just fine, it's those damned intervals between my drinking I have difficulty with"
That's when all those pesky problems appeared, like angry spouse, hangovers, in trouble at work etc so I'd drink and all those problems would go away.
Until the next interval. Like when I woke up in the morning.
I found for me to actually make sobriety work I had to not drink on consecutive days, so good job on the whole Mon-Wed thing, now lets get thu-sun to fall in line and we gotterlicked
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Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night, light a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
today I went to a sporting event and didnt drink....for the first time in my adult life. The games went much faster before. It was crazy. I actually bought a hotdog and ff and had an icecream later. I never did that in the past cause I was straight slamming booze.
anyways, I feel really terrible physically with this detox today...I thought I was gonna pass out or fall out or something a couple of times today..shaking, nervous, really worn down feeling, etc...looks like I'm paying the high price of low living,huh.
A day at a time, hour at a time, 10 minutes at a time...I only have to not drink NOW, and I can always reach out NOW (and guess what, it's always NOW). So what I do NOW is what matters...and if I screw up NOW, hopefully I will have the next now to do something better.
There are lots of people, especially in the rehabs, who will take away sugar, caffeine, and nicotine right off the bat. I'm not of that mindset. Sugar was really helpful for me in getting sober. It did two things for me---raised my body's sugar level back up to where the alcohol used to fit in so that I wasn't so shakey and also gave me something to put into my body in place of picking up a drink. Butterfinger candy bars were the best for me and must have been for a lot of other alkies, too, because our sober club couldn't keep them in stock, they went so fast. The founders used concentrated sugar a lot to help alcoholics through the tough early days, too. I suggest you try having whatever candy or other sweet appeals to you and see if that helps.
Nothing is going to really make it completely easy for an alcoholic to get through the early days without suffering the physical consequences. Some things may take a wee bit of the edge off but the bottom line is, you just have to get through it without drinking or mood-altering chemicals. If Butterfingers helped me, then bully for Butterfingers! I made it with their help and it worked for me, so I bequeath my stock in Butterfingers to you. (Big grin) That shakey, gonna-pass-out feeling is scary and if I hadn't gone for Butterfingers and other sweets when I had the feeling, I might have picked up another drink to get rid of it.
-- Edited by Ellen E on Thursday 1st of April 2010 02:06:50 PM
Mornin Y'all. Just wanted to say hello. Ive been sober 34 days (and nights) as of today.
Been hitting as many meetings as possible, but at least one per day. I now have a temporary sponser. I'd be lying if I said I felt great, though some days I feel pretty good. Ive learned from the rooms and outside help its gonna take some time to get back to full strength....just trying to give time, time.
I did want to offer some tips on the Thread topic. Since I'm fresh off detox I thought if some other person found this place, I good offer some helpful SUGGESTIONS...My suggestions not AAs. Here is what helped ME: *Lots of Water...pound it. I was really dehydrated coming off a 5th of whiskey a day (or 12-16 beers). * I took to eating some sweets. Now I know there is a debate about this, but it helped me. I dont know if I convinced myself it would is why, but it helped. * I tried to improve my diet...not eating perfect mind you, just working in some fresh fruit, veggies and seafood...baby steps. * Exercise- I started just walking and have now joined the gym. It got my heart pumping and I was told exercise helps fight off some of the depression that comes along for some of us freshly off the booze.
And of course the meetings....just telling people I felt like death, and hearing from those that had been through it, that it would get better was helpful.
Anyways, I'm off to a mens meeting.
Thank you so much to those that PM'd me, and posted encouragment in this thread. I will be around and hopefully I can give something back over time.
Congratulations on your 34 days. It is always great to hear that the program still works.
May I recommend starting a new topic and let the MIP folks know how you are doing.
The only reason I found that you had posted this update is that from time to time I change the sort order to "Last Modified" other wise I would have never seen this posting update.
Glad you are sober and attending meetings it will keep getting better as long as you work the program.
Larry, ------------------ The road to sobriety is a simple journey for confused people with a complicated disease
