Originally Posted by
dan5555 
Hi I am new here and in need of some advice/support.
My story (in short
:
I am 28, male and have been drinking (mainly binging) for about 10 years. During these 10 years I have also used quite alot of party drugs but thankfully haven't touched anything to do with drugs for about 2 years.
My drinking started off as social (as i am sure it does with everybody) but slowly progressed into a problem and most recently I ended up making daily trips to the alcohol shop at 6.30 am ..... I would drink for an entire week because something small would upset me....but then have to stop either because my girlfriend would make me (hide all my money, keys and lock me in our bedroom) or else I would wake up in hospital (where it is hard to get a drink - even though I have begged hospital staff to give me "just one beer" to control the shakes
CRAZY.....
I quit drinking (This time around) for a number of reasons (family problems, girlfriend was gonna leave me) but mainly because it was messing with my head and it was causing alot of anxiety and some depression. It also robbed me of my character as I used to be such a social person, on top of the world with alot of confidence. Because of alcohol I now have no confidence so I decided to give it a real try at stopping this time for my family, for my girlfriend, but mainly for me to try and get some of my life back !!!!!!
I am now in my 2nd /3rd week and have had a really tough time with the withdrawal symptoms which consisted of:
- Anxiety and Panic (during the first few days)
this was the worst for me and all i did all day was pace up and down and go for long walks which helped a bit, most of the time it was unbearable
- Insomnia
- Bad dreams and sleep paralysis
- shakes
- hallucinations at night (i had to sleep with the light on)
- racing thoughts and worried about everything
....all through this time I would have done anything to get my hands on a bottle of whiskey to relieve the pain... but somehow i got through it.!
Most of the initial withdrawal symptoms have passed now but I am left with horrible DEPRESSION... I cant think clearly, Everything seems like a huge task even speaking, i am so irritated and get worked up very easily.... I am stricken by worry all day long that this will not pass and I would love to hear from someone who had a similar experience to give me some hope that this is a normal symptom and it WILL pass.....
Thanks for listening, good luck to all who are going through this nightmare
Dan
Hey Dan! I can relate to your post man - completely! I had panic attacks so frequently, it scared the hell out of me! I was watching the movie FIGHT CLUB! (If you've seen it, you'll know how weird/tripped out it is) and had a huge panic attack while I was watching it on the train. I had nowhere to go, so took deep breaths and just had to deal with it.
I paced around the house heaps too, but it felt like I was floating from room to room. It was such a bizarre feeling.
I had the worst insomnia ever - even sleeping medication didn't work. I was lucky to sleep for an hour a night. Many nights I didn't sleep at all. I still struggle with sleep now (just past 2 months).
I had the shakes on and off for 2 days, in my immediate withdrawal.
I had bad dreams, every night, I used to be paranoid that someone was going to break into the house and kill me, most nights. I had to move my desk in front of my door, just so i could attempt to sleep.
The racing thoughts are the worse! Mine were all to do with health problems, I used to think that I'd overdose on a particular vitamin, or that I was having a heart attack, or had some other type of health problem. I think it's got a lot to do with the obsessive compulsive stuff that goes with PAW's.
*DEPRESSION*
I have this on and off all the time. I don't feel 'sad' as such, just kind of have a really negative outlook on everything in life (i.e. what's the point of living, we just live and die, etc.)
*CAN'T THINK CLEARLY*
It's horrible, it does get better though man... I was absolutely terrible for my first month and a half... It only started to lift just before 2 months for me... But it still is pretty crappy. If i'm trying to focus on something, or multi-task and someone talks to me, I have no idea what they're talking about.
I can relate to the irritation man. Everything is a frustration! Making meals, doing washing, talking to people etc.
Yeah! I worry all the time man! My worry, as stated above, is ALWAYS about health problems!
- I wonder am I ever going to get better... I worry that I'm going crazy! I worry that I'll never sleep properly, I worry that I've permanently damaged my brain! I worry that I'll never be able to multitask again (I can't even send a text message and talk at the same time. *** I didn't drive for the first month!***)
I CAN RELATE to EVERYTHING YOU POSTED MAN! It DOES slowly get better. It took a while for me to get out of the initial part of it all. but I'm on my way up! I found for me, the first month was horrible! But it feels like i'm slowly waking from a really scary nightmare.