welcome Lisa! I'm a Lisa as well, lol. Withdrawl symptoms like vertigo and shakes can take as long as 4I hours since the last drink to manifest so only being off the drink one or two days may not be enough time for symptoms to appear. Let me continue that I am not a medical professional so I am only offering my personal advice and experience. If you at any time feel the need to see a doctor, go!
I've done medical detox twice and detoxed on my own. I've had a seizure at least once (I suspect twice) while detoxing at home and it was terrifying. First time I medically detoxed, I was told that my potassium was so low I was at risk of a heart attack. I was only 30. I understand waiting for insurance. Some people have luck stepping down to avoid the sympoms associated with stopping cold turkey. I couldn't. At the very least, step up your water intake. Watered down blue gatorade is good and V8 is excellent for potassium and vitamins. Start a quality multivitamin. At my last stay in detox they also gave me a folic acid suppliment so I started that. Eat as healthy as you can. Many alcoholics tend to either eat junk or not eat at all.
Brogue14, the only way to avoid withdrawl is to not drink, of course. Are you seeing a psychiatrist (sp?)? Are you on anti-craving meds and/or a sleep aid? I find that if I go off my meds, I am almost definately going to binge or go on a bender. This is especially true if I stop taking my sleep aid (a non-hallucinogen). My advice is the same as the advice I have for Lisa. In a way, you don't really want there to not be any physical discomfort after drinking. If withdrawl was easy, we'd all stay alcoholics. It's a time to by as physically miserable sobering up as we are psycholigically miserable when we are drinking.