I was drinking a lot very consistently. Tapered to about a 6 pack a day pretty quickly. The first 32 hours has been a cake walk. Does that mean it will likely be OK the rest of the way. I am reading scary things about detox especially 48 to 72. What is the likelyhood of encountering sever symptoms late in detox when early has been easy?
I don't think there is any way for others to tell you as we are all different and handle detoxing differently. It can be dangerous to quit drinking all at once without medical supervision so be careful. If you are still drinking a 6 pack a day and quit completely, your detoxing experience could me more like a mud slide than a "cake walk".
My Dr. (in detox) said my 'blood pressure' was one of the highest he'd ever seen when I got there ... and the staff checked it ever couple hours for a week ... they were extremely worried that I'd stroke out on them before I got stable ... and my blood test revealed my liver was in failure ... I could not walk for 3 days ...
Everybody is different due to our own specific drink'n patterns, like LTR said above ... and PC is right, go see a doctor if you're come'n off the booze ... the risk of seizure and/or stroke is very high ...
If you're not go'n to a 'detox' unit ... then at least go to your local AA meet'ns ... they can offer you help to make the right decisions ... Please keep us up-to-date on your progress and feel free to ask all the questions you wish ...
Love ya man and God Bless, pappy
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
The first time I went to detox was after I had had a seizure in the ER waiting room while waiting to get in.
It was only about 18 hours since my last drink. Mind you I was constantly drinking massive amounts day and night before then and had stopped merely because I had run out of money. The whole day I was feeling insanely horrible and anxious and honestly thought I was going to have a heart attack. I called the nurse's hotline and they told me to have a drink as soon as possible to prevent me from having a seizure, which is exactly what happened.
I went to the hospital as I had done going through alcohol withdrawal before and put on a valium drip, and this time they called detox for me and I was put on the waiting list and they sent me home with a few day supply of valium to get me through the days until I got into detox without seizuring again. Although I did drink as soon as I got out of hospital right up until the moment before I walked into detox. They did not give me valium in the detox, nor would my doctor when I got out, because then you have and alcoholic who's also a pill-popping drug addict. They gave me less addictive drugs such as phenobarbital, trazodone, seroquel, chloral hydrate (some of these were just for sleep, as I hadn't for days).
Anyways, that being said, we are not a panel of doctors and it would be very unwise for us to give you medical advice. However, I would strongly suggest phoning your nearest detox facility and see when you can get in so you can monitored throughout your withdrawal. When in there, see what outpatient treatment you can get into for when you leave. Best of luck.
-- Edited by Jakamo on Monday 7th of March 2016 06:59:55 PM
I'm not a doctor, but I think you can kind of ween yourself off of it. I know you don't want to go from drinking a fifth of liquor a day, to stopping cold turkey, that would be dangerous.
I would cut down to 3-4 beers a day for a week, then down to 2 for a few days, then down to one. Then, you need to make the decision to stop completely. AA can help you with that, and, so can we here.
Me myself, I had slowed my drinking down to about where you're at, 6-8 beers or a bottle of wine or a few hard drinks a day for about a week, then, the last day I drank, I had about 4 beers, then, the next day, nothing. I didn't go through hard withdrawl this time, like I have before, after stopping cold turkey after a heavy hard liquor binge.
Everybody is different, though.
Best thing to do is go see a doctor.
Good luck. Quitting is the best thing I've ever done for myself.
Yes, that is if you are capable of weening yourself off without going into full-blown alcoholic mode again. It takes a lot of self control to stop after a couple. Remember at this point you are taking the alcohol as medicine, to help prevent withdrawal, not because you find drinking pleasurable.
