Quitting..What to expect ..What we did

[CarolD]

This thread is for our personal experiences
in de toxing from alcohol.

There are also informational links.

Withdrawing from alcohol is a serious
undertaking and can be dangerous.

There is no way to predict how you will react.
There are too many varibles.

For those reasons....Be safe...First talking
honestly with your doctor is a wise move.

This thread is not to be used for medical advice
but to compare how we each survived.

Please add your experiences ..

[CarolD]

This is from my files...I think it is from NIH
(United States National Institute of health)


If you plan to stop drinking all at once, you MUST have medical supervision for your detox if any of the following are true for you:

1. If you have a history of blood pressure that is higher than 140/90.

2. If you have used more than a six pack of beer daily, more than six 4 oz. glasses of wine or more than eight ounces (half a pint) of liquor per day for over a year.

3. If you have had prior withdrawal symptoms, such as depression or agitation.

4. If you have ever had seizures for any reason, and in particular if you have had alcohol DT's.

5. If you are using any other (either illegal or prescription) drugs in combination with the alcohol. This particularly includes benzodiazepines such as Valium, Librium or Xanex.

Withdrawal from significant or long standing alcohol use can be a serious process. Keep yourself safe as you make this change. You are taking a very important and brave step.

Withdrawal symptoms can include depression, insomnia, sweating, tremulousness, agitation, irritability, and brain "fog."

Bleeding, swings in blood pressure, convulsions, heart palpitations and hallucinations...means the ER.

Withdrawal usually starts 4-6 hours after the time you usually have your alcohol. If you drink every day at 6:00 PM, you will begin to experience discomfort that evening. If you have been a heavy drinker, your doctor may prescribe short term medication which will minimize the possibility of having seizures during detox.

[CarolD]

My De Tox

Day 1- Vomiting... Stomach Cramps... Heart Racing
Sweating and Twitching... Blurred Vision

Day 2 -Pain in liver... Head and Body Aches... Nose Bleeds
Hearing Voices... Convulsion

Day 3- Hallucinations...Compulsive Showering...Violent Dream
Jello and Broth stayed down

Day 4- Exhausted and finished!

I was so ignorant of the danger that I did it at home
with a friend who had gone to rehab.
Really lucky as I had several indications I needed medical help.

Don't be as risky as I was....do it with medical supervision

[CarolD]

My Tips For Easing Withdrawal
Remember...this can
be the last time you do this!

Water Drink oodles of water

Cut out caffeine

Eat a soft diet

Aspirin for aches

Hard candy for shakes

Rest if you can not sleep

A multi vitamin +B complex daily

By day 4 I was done with physical symptoms

[CarolD]

Still feeling weird after your initial De Tox?
Please check out PAWS

http://www.tlctx.com/ar_pages/paw_part1.htm

[CarolD]

Not sleeping?

Please see if this helps...

http://www.well.com/user/mick/insomnia/

[CarolD]

:wow: Scary
Alcohol and Brain Functions...

http://chemcases.com/alcohol/alc-07.htm

[CarolD]

How did I get addicted to alcohol?
:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...640436,00.html

[miss communicat]

my quitting was a bit different:

week 1: fatigue, depression, anxiety, sharp leg pains, and headaches. craving sweets. eating weird foods like chocolate milkshakes and cherries and ice cream. (I don't suggest that)

week 2: fatigue, depression and brain fog, less but still there. Leg cramps gone. Craving sweets but making better food choices. slept ALOT

week 3: have more energy, less brain fog and depression. no more anxiety. am eating better, taking better care of self. return to exercise program gently.

week 4: still have uneven energy levels. no headaches, no weird pains in body. Eating well. sleeping well.

Started AA mtgs. Life begins again.

[Jfanagle]

Carol,

I did find this thread after all. Sorry to be so dense, perhaps killed a few brain cell too many before I finally stopped!!

MY DETOX, like everything else at that point in life I was beyond stupid in the way I went about it. I was drinking between 2 sometimes almost 3 fifths of Canadian Club whiskey per day. I had been a very heavy drinker for almost 26 years, but this level for about a year. I was always pleasantly drunk morning to night and if I didn't drink I would shake so badly that I couldn't write. Believe it or not I was running my business during all this. Just goes to show that we don’t always need to lose “stuff” before we hit bottom hard!

DETOX

Day 1: I decided that I couldn't live like I was anymore so I went into one of the bedrooms in the back wing of the house and shut the door. Thus began 3 days of hell. Severe chills, violent cramping to the point of pain that was almost unbearable. Hot flashes and then followed by more numbing chills. I imagined I saw all manner of bugs and creatures crawling on the walls and carpet, but no pink elephants!

Day 2: More of the same from day 1 with periods of complete exhaustion and lapses of memory for a few hours at a time may have been blackouts but I was the only one there and so I don't really know what happened.

Day 3: Got somewhat better, but most of the symptoms were still coming and going. A whole bunch of sweating and chills. I was beyond wrung out with dehydration and hunger. At the mid point of day 3 I came out of my “cave” and showered, shaved, and drank copious amounts of water. I was very shaky and exhausted. I finally slept a lot.

Week 1: Contacted an old college friend, he is a doctor who was and still does run the University of Utah's Medical center and Medical School and asked him for some advice on what to do now. He told me "get on your knees and thank God that you didn't have a stroke and/or die you idiot!" “There are reasons why they have detox centers!” After these kind words he suggested that I do something with the rest of my life since I MUST HAVE BEEN SPARED FOR A REASON! Obviously he didn't think my "solo detox method" was a good idea.

Week 1 & 2: I called my insurance agent who was the only person I knew in AA and he took me to a meeting and I have been going ever since. Got a sponsor, took the steps as quickly as I could and began making my amends.

Weeks 2 thru 422 (the present): Go to at least 2 meetings a week or more if needed, work with other alcoholics and exercise regularly, eat sensibly and pray when required based on life's little bumps in the road.

DO NOT FOLLOW the first three days under any circumstances. After week 1, if you are a PhD like I was (poor hopeless drunk), then what I have done just might work for you. Only my opinion however.

Thanks for asking me to participate Carol.

Jon

[Signal30]

I was very fortunate when I went dry. I can't really say I detoxed because the only effect I felt was little sleep. I was able to sleep only 2 or three hours, and felt energy from unknown sources. That was like that for a few days until it caught up with me, and all I wanted to do was sleep.

The biggest mistake I made was not going to the doctor right away, As already advised when drying out, you should go to your doctor immediately. When at the doctor, be honest about your drinking habits. Withdrawal can kill you.

Tom

[Sugah]

I don't know that I'm qualified to respond here, but I'll give it a shot. I was not an "alcosaur" (I didn't use just alcohol), but during the periods when it was the primary substance I put in my body, I did find myself withdrawing from it, though usually not without chemical (self-medicating) help.

The one thing I do know about withdrawing from alcohol, as I've watched my father and other family members, as well as other patients in detox go through it, is that it should not be attempted without medical supervision for those who are drinking heavily.

That said, the bulk of my physical discomfort was over in less than a week. It's been described above, so I won't bother to repeat it. The worst of it for me was the mental part -- the fog, the fatigue, the depression. I had several periods of "white knuckle" chemical sobriety where I was dry, but I was miserable. The depression turned to a vague discontent. I was not happy being just dry. I spent both of my pregnancies and nursing periods in this way. As soon as I could, I went back to drinking.

I'm not saying that it can't be done -- that the drink can't be put down and not picked back up without any other changes. I just couldn't do it. The booze was only a symptom of my problem. I was my problem, and that's where I had to do the work in order to recover.

Even during my last detox, I went to meetings, got a sponsor and began working the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Whatever method a person chooses, I urge that it be done with an open mind and complete willingness. I don't know that attempting to quit while holding on to reservations ever works.

I know that the one thought that kept me from seeking recovery was the fear of what came after. I did not have any adult experience living chemically, mentally and emotionally sober. Had I known how good it really could be, I would not have hesitated! But it didn't come without commitment and a lot of hard work, every bit of which has been rewarded a hundred fold.

Peace & Love,
Sugah

[1963comet]

Detoxing

I thought I lost my mind. I quit drinking because I knew I could not control it any more. I was at my mom's house when I relised I had to stop. I ran out of the house like a crazy person. I did not even know what I was doing. I went to the hospital and just sat there in the lobby. They called the rescue place in town. So, I was put up in a hotel for the next few days. I was so scared that I locked myself in the bathroom. I was so sick that I could not even eat. All I knew was, I could not take another drink.

When I was 19, I would watch my son's grandfather crawl under a table when detoxing. I know what he went through now because I crawled into a bathroom in a hotel.

I weighed 102 pounds and I thought I was going to die. My family helped me get in touch with couseling. I did not know I was going threw withdrawls.

[Pinkcuda]

When I quit it wasn't my choice. My kids were taken away and my parental rights were in jeopardy. I had to comply with Social Services and part of their requirement was monitored sobriety. I was getting no less than 2 BAs or UAs a day and as many as 4. Therefore drinking was out of the question. Detoxing never occured to me or them for that matter. I just quit with no concept of any medical consequences. I didn't get sick for some reason. I sure was depressed though. I fought through the Court Case and won after about 4-5 months and got my kids back. Now the decision to quit was mine and not theirs. I had been going to A.A. for a couple months to appease the Courts and decided to stay there and stay sober. The only thing was now that I had my sobriety for my own reasons in play I was expecting results and I wanted results right now. I wasn't seeing the results I wanted. I was expecting life to be a bed of roses since I quit but it wasn't happening. My depression got worse and I was wondering if it was all worth it. I went to the Doctor and got on some Anti depressants. I ended up taking about one a week when my wife would ask if I had been taking them. Again, I didn't get instant results from them either so why bother? This depression lasted about a year and a half, maybe more. It might be just a coincidence but my depression trickled away about the same time I started hitting the steps pretty hard.

[findingout]

Physically, I did not have a hard detox even though I had been drinking heavily pretty much every day for the last two years and in the mornings when I got up for the last eight or so months of my "career". I think I was very lucky to stop when I did because I had started to make the transition to straight vodka as many of us do. I believe if I had kept on for much longer, things would have been worse. I did go to see a doctor because a medical checkup was a requirement of entry into the treatment program I had agreed to attend as a condition of keeping my job. Despite trying to sit on my hands for the whole examination, I was unsuccessful in preventing the doctor from noticing how much they were shaking. He was about ten years younger than I was and it was weird/embarrassing to talk to him about my drinking at first. But my head did not explode and I didn't fall off the face of the earth. He was pretty matter of fact about the whole thing and I actually felt a tiny bit better after the appointment was over.

Mentally, it was a different story. Since my employers knew about my problem, I felt like I was living in a fish bowl the first weeks of recovery. First weeks? More like the whole first year. I had been drinking and using drugs for twenty five years and I had no idea how to live sober. It seemed as if I had to learn to do everything again. I didn't like it and I didn't like talking about it. I tried very hard to minimize it and pretend like it was no big deal but inside I was a mess. If I hadn't had the support from outpatient treatment for the first year and from A.A. and N.A. to this day, I don't believe I would have made it. I needed people who had been where I was and were where I wanted to be. I still need them but I no longer see that as a bad thing.

Even though my sobriety originated as a result of "get treatment or get another job", I really believe that my decision to stop was the most imp