My withdrawals didn't kick in for a couple of weeks, but when they did they lasted about three weeks, in the middle of that period I did see a Doctor who put me on pain killers, but they only took the edge off the aches and pains, but it did get better.
As regards to sleep, I was convinced I needed to drink to escape my problems and get a good nights sleep, obviously when I started to slow down and then stop sleep was almost impossible, for me I turned to God, I prayed for the strength to get throught it and since then I have not had a bad nights sleep. Obviously this worked for me and as I had destroyed everything good in my life it was the only route left, as the drink wasn't enough and I found I could not even go through with suicide.
This weekend I've started a Blog about my experiences, I stopped drinking on 29th March 2012, since then my life gets better by the day, so I thought I would start to share my experience.
Keep going, there is a better life beyond the alcohol no matter which route to recovery you take, always remember never suffer alone, share it, let it out, there are many people willing to help.
Wayne