Found this today, hope someone who reads it finds a help.
What else can I do right now?
It is dangerous to stop drinking instantly if you are physically dependent on alcohol. The brain is depressed by alcohol and removing alcohol instantly causes the brain to race. The symptoms are sweating, heart pounding or palpitations, tremors or shakes, rapid and extreme mood swings, and in certain cases fits. These withdrawal symptoms can be fatal.
Start keeping a diary of your alcohol consumption. Record the number of glasses. Stick to the same size glass each day. Try to keep to the same type of drink but if you have to mix drinks, record the number of glasses of wine, spirits or beer.
Reduce your alcohol consumption sensibly. We recommend a maximum alcohol reduction of 10% per day. If you are drinking 12 glasses per day you would need to reduce to 11, then 10, then 9 then 8.5, 8, 7.5, 7, 6.5, 6, 5.5, 5, 4.5, 4, 4, 3.5, 3.5, 3, 3, 3, 2.5, 2.5, 2.5, 2, 2, 2. so that in 3 to 4 weeks you are down to a low daily level of alcohol consumption - this is not the solution as you should be striving for abstinence, but this plan should help you to reduce safely.
Walk 15 to 20 minutes per day ideally after your evening meal, initially at a steady pace building up over 3-4 days to a brisk pace.
Drink plenty of tap water and drink at least a pint of water after your evening walk to help flush your system out.
Avoid WHITE FLOUR and SUGAR. Cut white bread out of your diet completely and substitute WHOLEMEAL BREAD (not brown bread as that is often just white bread dyed brown). Eat at least one slice with a meal three times a day. Learn to eat between 7 - 9 a.m., 12 - 2 p.m., and 6 - 8 p.m. This regime will reduce your craving for alcohol and make you feel better and helps you to control your weight.
Bye for now, best wishes.
Chris
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"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." -- Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989"
Hi again. Just to add that this information was taken from a webpage written by Doctors from a private Detox clinic in the UK.
In the event of serious withdrawal symptoms, personally I'd reccomend urgent medical attention.
Bye for now.
Chris.
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"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." -- Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989"
hi, Chris... yes.. that is good information and important to know. It is why some people can't just do cold turkey as we offer them nice words in many supportive posts. Some do need to wean off it, as some seem to be doing. I have seen bad delirium tremens in the hospital I worked at,,, horrible to go through as the brain swells and there are hallucinations of bugs crawling on the skin, etc. I don't know about the bread, but I do know that nutrition is very important, as alcohol has replaced a lot of normal body contents in the pickling process. I do hope that those who have been seriously drinking a lot of booze regularly consult with a professional as they go through withdrawals, to minimize the misery and help the effort to dry out be successful. thanks for the post, Chris.
love in recovery,
amanda
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do your best and God does the rest, a step at a time
Great post mate.. wish there was more actual nutritional and medical info for alcoholics but so far it doenst get much of a mention.. except the vitamin b stuff..
Theres alot of talk about stopping and staying stopped but so far iv seen very little about what our body and brain needs during withdrawl and what needs replacing and what we can do to improve our physical and mental health during and after alcohol abuse..
Alcohol is a physical addiction as well as mental and it affects us physicaly and mentaly from the front lines.. .. so we need more medical and nutritional information... i think anyway.. Everyone can tell us that we will get cirrosis, brain damage, heart disease etc. all the negative stuff comes easy.. but why not the possitive stuff.. Obviously the most possitive action is to stop drinking.. but what else.. All i actualy know is that iv used up my "limited natural supply of vitamin b"...
If i was a 'norm' going to the gym to exercise and get fit someone could tell me every little trick i could do to slightly improve my physical health and wellbeing.....
There must be plenty of things we can do to improve our health giving our situations... Suppliments, diet etc...
Even tips like 'well if you are gona drink then eating this and doing that will help'.. would be usefull..
There must be someone out there willing to offer some actual medical and nutritional information.
Hi Rob, Potassium levels are severly affected by alcohol, (potassium is used for heart regulation) Vit B (like you said) Vit C is destroyed by alcohol.
This is why on a hospital based detox programme you get a drip feed of vitamins. Many alcoholics are malnurished (the calories are there but not the goodness!)
Lots of fruit and veg, vitamin supliments and plenty of water is good.
I think the reason that there is so little information from doctors about detox is that the NHS doctors don't want to risk giving advise for risk of being sued, the private ones charge!
As I've said: free advise and information is available from your local community alcohol team (Phone number on web and on a poster in your doctors surgery)
Ever tried NHS direct? 0845-4647 (great if your in a withdrawal cricis)
Checking out the situation regarding Maes Artro on the 24th I hope.
Hi Amanda, Hope all is well in your world..... We keep sober to avoid self distruction.
Bye to you both for now.
Keep well and keep sober.
Chris.
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"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." -- Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989"
There is information like that... can find it at the detox centers and doctors who specialize in this field. There is not so much floating around the general community though. It is really important to get proper medical professional advice and help for really pickled people.
About things to make drinking better.... there is nothing.. alcohol is a poison and there is no way to change that. drinking kills. Stopping drinking is a shock to a poisoned system,,,, there are things that help withdrawal and to build up the sick and wounded body,,,, but... need to be in recovery to do that... find out from people at AA meetings, staff at detox centers, doctors.
Chris, can you find out what local agencies, like doctors and detox centers are around your area that one could call and hook up with to get help in detoxifying? some people just really can't do it on their own,, for the reasons you quote in your post.
love in recovery,
amanda
-- Edited by amanda2u2 at 15:11, 2006-04-14
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do your best and God does the rest, a step at a time
Hi Chris. Great post. Some excellent info there. Just wanted to say from personal experience, postassium was and still is a BIG problem for me. I was a binge drinker. Before I got sober, I was in the minus most of the time. 8 months sober now, and it's gotten some better, runs about 3-7, which is still low, but it can bottom out at the drop of a hat and I experience tachacardia. I eat bananas, drink OJ, daily and STILL have to take potassium pills.....So, if it's at all possible, anyone who desires to get sober (and actually does), should seek medical attention, their life could depend on it.
Just my take, this would be Great advice, under a Doctor's Care, but i cannot see most Alcoholics that are in the Drinking Stage, being able to pull this off.
It, to me goes against the Nature of Full Blown alcoholism, cutting back, when I tried, on my own, only led to even more drinking.
Im sure that some people will get a lot out of this, but my interpretation of the Disease is that in the "grip of the Disease" one does not think about the healthy stuff to do. Only thinking I ever did was how to get more Alcohol, never less Alcohol.
But I was one of those "sicker than others", got to admit it. That is why this Post confused me a little. Something like "Less, what do you mean Less, I want More, not less" HA HA
Yep, that says it all, STO's group, for sure,
STOG, (Sicker than Others Group) Gotta laugh really. We should have used the term STOGs before!!! Hope this is taken.............. lightly.
WOW, chris , i was on "meprobamates" for my panic attacks back in 80-81 and i got hooked....
and what i did was EXACTLY what u said here...on the 10% reduction per day, only with pills i had to break them up, and just like at first it was 3 quarters for a few days....than 2, than down to 1..finally i got off em...i sweated it out, and than got on diferent meds, and did NOT use them so carelessly as i did with the "mepro's".......
i still am on anti anxiety meds, but i ONLY use them AS needed for an attack and not maintence AND i take the vit-b complex AND GABA for my brain to slow down the electric impulses, it is helping me....and i am not increasing my need for my panic meds, in fact i do less of them.....even with this inner child trauma pain i am doing....i am less becuz what u sugested is sooo right on target....it worked for me......excercise, TONS of water, also what i do??? and this is just for me, but i take like 1pint water (bottled) and 1pint o.j. and mix them together...helps me keep my sugar levels balanced......
and stopping the white bread/ white sugar thing worked for me too
so thank u for sharing this......i did/ do all of it and it WORKS!!!!
and thank u for ur reply to my "do u feel like this" post.....i kinda wondered if my abusing alcohol days are kinda like "catching up to me" so i need more cleansing, and to keep doing what i am doing now..............see ya, hope your weekend is going the way U want it to...........rosie
All a bit shy of giving out what could be taken as medical advice...In the recovery home I began by eating food to replace poison intake. Whole foods, such as whole grain bread. Apples, bannanas. raw vegetables. I cut way down on fast food and sugar drinks. I saved up to buy raw, (non-roasted) nuts from a health food store. Snacked on those; still do.
I resolved to spend the $ I used to spend on poison, to rebuild body. If you "eat your chow," after awile you will find you are thinking more clearly, in a better mood more of the time. You will build up a "head of steam," physically; you'll get stronger than ever. You can start to build up a knowledge base of your own by asking around, net, books, too. Then you'll be certain of what works for you.
Good food might be the safest, surest way until you can get more info. I wish you health in sobriety...-paul
About things to make drinking better.... there is nothing.. alcohol is a poison and there is no way to change that. drinking kills. Stopping drinking is a shock to a poisoned system,,,, there are things that help withdrawal and to build up the sick and wounded body,,,, but... need to be in recovery to do that... find out from people at AA meetings, staff at detox centers, doctors.
Well what i mean .. well for example my doctor told me, when i spoke to him about 3 years ago (i think) that if drank having not eaten then the alcohol would start eating into my liver more because it would have nothing else to eat.. That stuck with me and i almost always try to eat alot now before drinking.., Not drinking is the best choice obviously.... but .. and well for another exmaple the vitamin b stuff is usefull to know (if even its the info sometimes given), even though still drinking my life changed dramaticaly when i started taking brewers yeast tablets... able to do my job much better.. Ironicaly at the time i didnt know that i needed to replace my vitamin b.. i just looked around for things at the time thatwould give me more energy.. Stupid fucker that i was didnt think it could be the alcohol i was pouring into me every night.. gees.. talk about denial..
Im sure that some people will get a lot out of this, but my interpretation of the Disease is that in the "grip of the Disease" one does not think about the healthy stuff to do. Only thinking I ever did was how to get more Alcohol, never less Alcohol.
Sometimes though, and iv kinda done this and so has my mum.. Both still drink but try to eat healthily and do other things that are right.. Like start walking, eat salads etc But still drink.. We knew it wasnt gona stop the damage the alcohol was doin to us really but just cos i was doing something so unhealthy didnt mean i couldnt try to be healthy where i could.. Dont get me wrong i wasnt too hot at sticking to it.. But i have gone through patches where im eating fruit abit and salads.. Acualy i like salad and often have lettuce, cucumber etc in sandwhiches + tomato, radishes and spring onions on the side..
When i talked to my doctor about my drinking it was because fingers in my right hand where going numb and tingly at times, he didnt think it was the drink but a nerve in my shoulder but it was the drink. .infact it was the beer i was drinking. i was sober for a week then but after doctors appointment, same day infact i bought some Port.. And well i duno how much was psychological or what but my hand got back to normal.. But anyway, driftin off from the point.. The doctor asked about my diet? And seemd pleased that i was atleast eating salads n shit.
But to be honest the doctor was not much help about alcoholism, i think i should have seen him in the morning.. I guess if a doctor has seen loads of patients throughout the day then gets a a guy come in who is knowingly abusing his body can make him think 'well why do i bother' sort of thing.. He wasnt nasty or anything and he did say "im not questioning your life choice" (or words to that effect) but he wasnt alot of help in that department.. And notice he said the word CHOICE.. not DISEASE.. If i go to see a doctor again it probably wont be him, hes a good doctor, most the time, but perhaps not knowledgable enough on this subject..
Actualy i have thought, lots of times now i guess, that if i can get sober for 6 months or even a year .. then go to see a doctor to get everything tested etc..
Hmm iv just rememberd my doctor didnt mention about the vitamin b.. even when i asked him if there was anything else i could be doing/taking etc to replace anything lost due to alcohol..
Well what i mean .. well for example my doctor told me, when i spoke to him about 3 years ago (i think) that if drank having not eaten then the alcohol would start eating into my liver more because it would have nothing else to eat.. That stuck with me and i almost always try to eat alot now before drinking..,
Now that's a HOOT!!! Eat! Don't eat! Doesn't matter! If you're an alcoholic, or even just a problem drinker, you can bet your ass your liver is shot out. The good news, it may not be too far gone YET!. But keep drinking and it WILL be! My liver enzymes were thru the roof 9 months ago. Now, they're normal. What a blessing I received. Others are not so lucky.
STOG, (Sicker than Others Group) Gotta laugh really. We should have used the term STOGs before!!! Hope this is taken.............. lightly.