Bostonsportsfan

A lot of the older alcoholics I talked to in detox have had withdrawal seizures. It was always my biggest worry, when my alcohol withdrawal was at it's worst. I'm glad I never had seizure, but I called 911 on myself in the summer of 2013 because of alcohol withdrawal and I was playing with fire those last few months of drinking that summer. Withdrawal seizures are no joke though, considering how they were explained to me from alcoholics. They sounded very scary.

Bostonsportsfan

That makes more sense. The 15% fatality rate for alcohol withdrawal seizures seemed high.

MattM316

This is a good link to it too:

7 Things You Might Not Know About Delirium Tremens



They should teach this in schools surely?
Because going out and drinking is 'the' thing to do basically. It's not 'normal' if you don't drink.
So the vast majority of people are going to drink alcohol, but the mad thing is that hardly anybody has a clue about how dangerous the withdrawals are.

And the dangerous DT's don't just apply to full blown alcoholics, it can happen to people who for example go on a stag weekend, drink loads for two days and then just suddenly stop.

glassdark

I drank heavily several times a week for five years. I didn't start having withdrawals until the last year. I knew it was completely different than anything else I have ever suffered from. My husband didn't believe me when I told him it was withdrawal. I know realize that I suffered from the DTs, but luckily never had a seizure. The best way to describe it is feeling like you could jump out of your skin. Hot and cold flashes, racing heart, and just an overaloverall feeling of anxiety and dread.

newhope01

MattM316,

Seems like you have been through a lot on your journey to recovery.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Glad we brought this old thread up and I agree alcohol withdrawals/addiction should be discussed in high school.

RandomDiego

We were sent people from prisons telling their stories in high school. Also a local alcoholic who had been like 10 years sober. But their stories seemed so remote.
I remember me thinking.. I control alcohol perfectly. I will never end throwing my life away.
And here I am.

Yes. It's a problem certainly. I know some people who go out and don't drink. But it's like ¿5%?, anyway, my social life is completely biased.

I live in a place where certain rural areas have a 20% of diagnosed alcoholism in mid-age persons. And, in the whole, 85% of those between 14-18 years old consume alcohol. It's legal if you have 16. Most start at 13-14. (Those statistics are from official sources).

And yeah, taking into account some of my (recently old) pals are starting to have problems with alcohol. Even if not in the same grade as me. I think that things are not going to change very fast.
It's a cultural thing. That's the problem. That alcohol is not seem as a dangerous drug even if, in some grade, most people has seen what it can do. But still..

Completely. The joke is that that kind of behavior, strong binge drinking in the weekends, can be even worse than a full blown alcoholic in terms of brain damage.
Kindling is such a nightmare.

Have a good day.

Diego.

MelindaFlowers

Learning about in high school would not have deterred me. I thought the bad stuff only happened to other people.

It makes me think of like driver education. If everyone in the US got up tomorrow and became a responsible driver we could probably cut car accidents by about 90%. But people always think not me! Won't happen to meeeeee!

If they did include it in high school curriculum, I think it would have to be extremely graphic. Come to think of it if they just did a presentation about how fat alcohol can make you that would probably stop a lot of young people from drinking.

Fluffer

Yes, that happened to me once while I was in my mid twenties. I was drinking heavily for days and then after I stopped I was shaking violently in my bed for hours. Don't know if that is DTs or the shakes. Scary stuff. Never did a continuous multi-day bender again after that.

MelindaFlowers

I'm actually kind of surprised I didn't get DT's. I drank 12 units of vodka a night 365 days a year. Never once had a morning drink though. Never drank continuously all day. Only from 5 pm to 11 pm. I'll bet it I was pretty close though. I had stroke-level blood pressure 180 something over something, heart palpitations, sweats, and kinda minor but daily shakes/trembles.

Fluffer

When I was a kid in school in the Reagan years we would mock those cheesy anti-drug ads like "this is your brain on drugs" with the egg frying. Totally ridiculous and ineffective ads. Why not show the history of a street person on skid row from how they went from being normal to that. Or before and after pictures and say do you really want to become that person? Still, at that age we were so arrogant and knew it all and were bulletproof, or so we thought. I don't think we would have listened to anything.

MattM316

I got to the point where I had to drink through the day just to stop the extreme withdrawals, it was like a never ending cycle of abuse basically.

newhope01

I relate a lot to your story MelindaFlowers, I too drank everyday for 365 days about 6-7 drinks per night but never in the morning. Never had DT's or what I consider withdrawal symptoms with the exception of night sweats. Don't know how I was able to avoid some of the more serious symptoms.

About teaching it in high school, I believe that if you can reach one person, its worth it. But, there are also a lot of incredibly intelligent kids out there that will still experiment with drugs with the understanding that if they are not careful, they will end up dying or becoming dangerously addicted. While I do not advocate experimentation, I know some kids are going to try some kind of psychoactive substance at some point in their lives. Giving them all the information about drugs, particularly the "harmless" and socially accpeted alcohol, may help reduce harm.

MattM316

Well, yeah I've had six seizures, two hospital stays, a replacement shoulder and a fractured cheekbone to thank for it all!
Somehow my body and mind got through it and I'm happy talking to anyone about it.

dSober

It's like holding your hand in a fire. The longer you do it, the more it burns you. It's really just that simple except that fire doesn't call most of us back like alcohol does.