QuickBen

Hi all, after reading this forum for the past hour after a Google search turned it up, I decided to join. I may or may not be in rough shape... I may be in denial, I don't know. Just wanted some thoughts from people who have been there.

I'm on day 2 without a drink. I'm 27, I've been drinking, I suppose, pretty heavily, daily, since late 2006. In the past year I've averaged at around 6 beers a day. I rarely am drunk during the day, usually only on vacation or the occasional weekend. I recognize that I have a dependency on alcohol, though am a little reluctant to file myself under "addict." The rest of this post seems... a little ridiculous, and potentially embarrassing, but I'll go with it (and try to be brief.)

Anyway, yesterday I woke up feeling nasty. I have a long history of acid reflux and it seemed to be flaring up. I was reading up on the condition, and suddenly got reaaaal spooked about the connection between heavy drinking, acid reflux, and eventually, esophageal cancer. So I told myself (as I have a few times before in the past year) "I WILL NOT DRINK TONIGHT."

So I came home and didn't make myself the usual drink. It wasn't hard, it was kind of liberating honestly. Had dinner. Was watching TV with my girlfriend, and at around 9pm I started to feel... real crappy. Anxious, clammy, nauseous. Around this time I started Googling symptoms for alcohol withdrawal and this sense of panic just started stealing over me.

I told my girlfriend what I thought might be happening. She (who's a pretty light drinker AND who keeps me on a pretty short leash... but has never seemed to think I overdo it regularly) said I was crazy, needed to get off Google, stop working myself up, etc.

This is getting way too long so I'll skip to bullets...

-Around 10:30PM I puke my face off.
-Girlfriend tells me I have the stomach virus that's going around (it's true) in our area. Part of me buys it, part of me says no.
-After vomiting, I actually felt fine and was able to go to bed. Got a great night's sleep last night.
-Woke up feeling fine. Top notch actually. That doesn't sound like a stomach virus to me. But it also doesn't seem like withdrawal?
-A little foggy today, but otherwise really functional and upbeat. Got work done, did errands, yardwork, etc.
-About two hours ago, started feeling tense and anxious again, and am now full of dread over the prospect of having another night like last night, and having withdrawal in general.

Basically what I don't know is... did I have a remarkably short-run stomach virus that inadvertently triggered me to stop drinking, that would actually mimic some withdrawal symptoms? Or have I drank enough daily, for enough years, that I would be experiencing withdrawal symptoms like the ones described above (only at night?) and am just in denial with this stomach virus bulls*t?

Any input at all would be welcome. And thanks.