Noob question about withdrawl?

bigdonkey1 · Member

Noob question about withdrawl?

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Hey BD, Welcome to the board. I'll read your post in a minute, just wanted to shout out before you left.

-- Edited by StPeteDean on Monday 26th of December 2011 10:06:42 PM

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

I'd think that you would've gotten sick or convulsed by now. Have you had trouble sleeping?

bigdonkey1 · Member

Yeah, a little bit, but haven't been waking up in the middle of the night or anything. The anxiety is keeping me up I think. They said you can get dt's and stuff 3-7 days after you quit, so a bit worried about that. The symptoms are pretty minor I'd say so far. I was only drinking like 80 proof 1/2 pint to pint a day pretty much. Would drink it in like 10-15 minutes and then get maybe another 1/2 pint an hour or so later and drink that.

Jerry F · MIP Old Timer

It's good to have you here and asking for support. You are concerned and right you should be because ours is a fatal disease if not arrested by total abstinence. I don't know if I quit cold turkey but I quit and never went back other than dealing with the compulsion to drink. It doesn't drag me across the parking lot into on coming traffic it just talks it's head off about having "one" and leaving notes all around my brain. I drank when I drank and whenever I wanted to and cannot remember withdrawals as others have explained...I've had the shakes the morning afters and stuff after I had pretty well tried to transfuse with whatever I was drinking the night before and still after a couple cups of strong coffee and a large breakfast they pretty much went away. Never lasted more than hours. I've gone into toxic shock 3 times that I can remember and still by the grace of God got cleaned up enough to get drunk again and survive it. My today concern is about relapse cause I pretty much respect the cunning, powerful and baffling nature of this disease.

If you want to count the head speak as withdrawl I've considered that before and then I'll be withdrawing for a life time...good! Everytime I sit in a face to face meeting...open, closed or business I'm withdrawing...getting farther and farther away from the next one. Alcohol does leave hooks and the hooks have barbs and the barbs hurt when you pull the hook out.

Keep coming back...there are more members coming up with their solutions. smile

Rob84 · MIP Old Timer

Welcome to the forum BD.

I detoxed myself several times, but everyone is different. I drank 3=4 days a week and got pretty intoxicated when I did (mostly beer). My symptoms where a little tired some dizzy spells and felt lackadaisical at times. I think all symptoms where gone after 5 days.

Like dean said, I would think you would have some major symptoms by now if you where in a danger catagory. Of course most of us are not qualified to give you medical advise, we just can share our experience. Certainly be ready to call 911 or have a friend take you to ER if you develop any problems.

I always took basic vitamines and lots of orange juice. Sweets can help take the edge off.

Start going to AA meetings and get a sponsor.

Hope this helps,

Rob

bigdonkey1 · Member

Thanks for all the support, I guess I'm just going to grind it out these next few days here and take it easy. As far as the AA thing goes, I'd definitely be interested in going to something like that, I'll probably forget how stupid it is to go on these binges, but I need an escape sometimes. Stressful time for me right now.

SoberSteve · MIP Old Timer

Each person is different, if you do decide to "home detox" make sure you have someone you trust around you at all times with them knowing to call 911 if you start convulsions etc, at least for the first 4 days..

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Big D, AA is all about how to manage stress (that we seem to always cause ourselves lol) so that we don't have to drink. Amazingly, what begins as a pain in the @$$ (getting sober) becomes a wonderfully pleasing experience, over time. It's been a couple decades for me, (and for two of the others that responded in this thread) and i still don't take it for granted, waking up without a hangover and generally feeling good all day. It's a bonus to feel alive and, once again, experience being a part of the world, free to go and do anything I care to, instead of being some sort of zombie tied down to a bottle and managing some trog like existence, where I can only go certain places, at certain times and even then, not safely and with no guarantees of returning. Stick around, this is "the eaier softer way"

carlasober · Senior Member

Welcome, Keep Coming Back!

bigdonkey1 · Member

StPeteDean wrote:
Big D, AA is all about how to manage stress (that we seem to always cause ourselves lol) so that we don't have to drink. Amazingly, what begins as a pain in the @$$ (getting sober) becomes a wonderfully pleasing experience, over time. It's been a couple decades for me, (and for two of the others that responded in this thread) and i still don't take it for granted, waking up without a hangover and generally feeling good all day. It's a bonus to feel alive and, once again, experience being a part of the world, free to go and do anything I care to, instead of being some sort of zombie tied down to a bottle and managing some trog like existence, where I can only go certain places, at certain times and even then, not safely and with no guarantees of returning. Stick around, this is "the eaier softer way"

Yeah, that's really good! The cursing for me I guess is I'm still at the stage where I could function pretty easily with it. My coordination doesn't really get affected, in fact I kind of pride myself on the fact that I'm a pro at hiding it, I've gone pretty much anywhere and everywhere drunk and no one knew.. it's just a mood enhancer for me. With that said, I know it could easily spin from just everyday, to every minute of the day where it becomes chronic abuse. However, I don't want to take jabs here at alcohol, it has carried me through some really rough times, however my intake has been excessive.

Anyway, have made it past the 40-48 hours thus far, and the last day I somehow managed to taper, which was sunday. So it's close to it's actually pretty close to 96 hours with only a quarter pint. I'm feeling pretty good right now. I really don't want to go back, actually, it's the leading source to my smoking addiction, I've quit for years, and whenever I go back to the first cigarette, I've always been drunk. So I guess it does alter my decision making, as far as me caring about things a lot less.

Anyway, months in a row drunk probably sounds like nothing to some long term users, however, I feel like I'm on a path that I don't want to be on, the source of me returning I guess was friends who like to drink, I started drinking every weekend, and then I switched to drink alone everyday, and just got more and more excessive. I guess my decision here is not even to drink socially, since I'm just an addict in pretty much everything I do. Go hard or go home. I really need to master the art of moderation.

-- Edited by bigdonkey1 on Tuesday 27th of December 2011 02:55:17 PM

-- Edited by bigdonkey1 on Tuesday 27th of December 2011 02:56:40 PM

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

"I really need to master the art of moderation." That's the rub right there. If you can have a drink or two, and walk away, on couple occasions consequtively, then you're not in the deep end yet. If you can't, you're one of us, and sooner or later it's going to get ugly. We all loved to drink. That's what's so tough. For the longest time it was ohh so subtle. So I drank a little too much last night. No one got hurt, I didn't miss work, didn't crash the car or get a DUI, my girl still loves me, health is good, bills are paid... We prided ourselves on maintaining all that and thought that we always could/would. Then a fuse blew and the blackouts/hangovers got worse. Missed a few days at work, or started drinking at lunch, and lost that great job. Are behavior, while drunk got more negative, and pretty soon everything irritated us, including our girl. She made comments that "our personality changed when we drank". Then she was gone. One by one, those things that hadn't happed "Yet" were becoming part of our history.

Big D. You're in here a bit early compared to most, but if you are an alcoholic and can walk away from drinking now, you'll save a lot of hardache and grief. I two had given up smoking and would start again everytime I drank. Drugs were also a part of my progression. Didn't really want to do them anymore but my judgment slide when I drank a few drinks. One of our many sayings ~ "A man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes the man". And far as self medicating goes. I like this definition by John Bradshaw ~ "An alcoholic is a man on fire, that runs into the sea, and drowns."

Consider staying sober for 90 days. Take the money you save, buy some good vitamins, food, and join a gym. Go on a health kick and see how good it feels. You can always go back to drinking, but wouldn't it be nice to know what it feels like to be sober for awhile? Here's a link to the AA book. It's a good read and interesting. See if it sounds familiar.

http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/en_tableofcnt.cfm

-- Edited by StPeteDean on Tuesday 27th of December 2011 05:41:54 PM

TwelveSteps · Senior Member

Welcome! Just one more point to add, do a Google search on "alcohol" and "kindling." There is evidence that the phenomenon of kindling means that each time you detox, it's possible your symptoms will get more severe. Just one more reason to make this time your last!

GG

bigdonkey1 · Member

Yeah, I was reading up on it, really just want to make this my last time lol.

I don't know it's a delicate time for me still, I don't want to go to any new years events or anything right now. I can see myself drinking again if I do that. I'm probably just going to avoid being around people who drink for the first 60-90 days or so, and the next step is to figure out a way not to drink while being around others.

SoberSteve · MIP Old Timer

Get to a meeting!!!

bigdonkey1 · Member

Ha yeah, I should do that too. I'll probably look for something in the next few weeks or so.

leeu · MIP Old Timer

Instead of "looking for something" in "the next few weeks or so", how about looking for and going to an AA meeting tomorrow? You don't have to say anything or even give your real name. Just go-check it out.

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

what Lee said, in a few weeks, you might be feeling so good that you forgot why you quit. We've all done it. There are no week willed people in here. Most have tried quitting for a number a years (and succeeding briefly only to begin drinking again) prior to realizing that we couldn't do it our own for any real length of time. In Most of the previous trials , we were secretly planning to drink again, once we proved to ourselves that we weren't really problems drinkers, as we could give it up for a month or two. Making it to a year is a different story. In the replies to your thread, you've got at least 2 folks with over 30 years sober, and 3 with over 20. There would've been plenty of time to pat ourselves on the back and proclaim ourselves "cured". Have you had a chance to do some reading in the link I posted, Big D?

-- Edited by StPeteDean on Thursday 29th of December 2011 08:10:19 PM

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

It sounds pretty clear to me that you are an alcoholic. Experimenting with moderation, detox, quitting, relapsing is something we all do until we realize how futile it is and there is a life of sobriety out there utilizing AA and that way is so much better. I hope for your sake you are willing to surrender and not just going on the wagon until you think you will learn something that will allow you to drink like other people. That will never happen.

Mark

bigdonkey1 · Member

StPeteDean, I read a few stories from the link, they were pretty interesting, I liked them a lot.

I think I'm at the point where "I'm in the clear", it's been 10 days, and haven't really thought about it for a few days until now. Just been thinking about addiction and stuff, right now, I have some bit of momentum here, and I've moved onto breaking my next habbit, which is my cigarette addiction. Mr. nicotine, mr caffiene, and mr ethanol have taken up the bulk of the hours in my life. I'm trying to learn new coping mechanisms, but I would be lying to say I didn't miss my 3 friends. I've been through a lot with them, a lot of highs, a lot of lows, they were my goto friends and helped me. It's like they are dead now. I've been in a state of confusion lately, and trying to figure this out.

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Big D, we all go through that kinda lost without the old friends thing. You don't have to stop being their friend, just take a break for a bit to get you life together. As far as the "we've been through a lot together", that's I feel about my AA buds that I've been hanging with for 20+ years now. We were all drowning, hanging on to the same life preserver, helped hold each other's head above water. Moving past the desperate times, getting sober, we've learned how to have (real) fun and enjoy life again, and really for the first time. I've been to different parts of the world with several of these guys. Going skiing in Breckenridge next month with one of them. Going scuba diving in Key Largo with another in April. Another one and I have season tickets to our NFL team and enjoy going to games/tailgating. I've got some newer (5 years) AA friends that I ride motorcycles with, and a couple others that I go to concerts with. I'll be 52 in march but I haven't aged much

since I got sober at 29. Hindsight is 20/20, and it's crystal clear the problems that my drinking caused me, and how my denial kept me from getting sober for about 10 years (I was a teenage alcoholic). Alcohol kept me from doing ALL of the things that make my life comfortable and enjoyable today: self employed, happily married, house paid for, lots of hobbies, time and money to pursue them, and good health. I'd have been dead or in prison a long time ago if it weren't for the gift of sobriety. It's this "Hindsight" that you must rely on, when we tell you "how it was, what we did, and how it is now".
This and a little faith, that if you take the same steps, you will get the same results. It helps to also think about the alternative, what kind of results are waiting for you if you continue to drink?

"How it works" http://www.southbayaa.org/howitworks.htm