Thread: Detox Night Sweats Question?
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Old 04-19-2013, 07:35 AM
  # 5 (permalink)  
Mattcake
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Gaah, in the nights when I didn't drink, I'd get these sweats and wake up in a panic. Horrible.

The science behind the sweats is complicated, google "adrenergic storm".

But since you asked, lol... Basically your body - at a biochemical level - is "used" to the presence of alcohol (booze affects certain neurotransmitters very heavily), same for other drugs; when the drug is gone, your whole system is off balance, so it tries to compensate for the missing booze or drug (via GABA, it can't!), triggering other neurotransmitters (glutamate and others) in the process, which in turn... etc. This whole mess translates into sweats and the other typical withdrawal symptoms. Sorry, I'm a geek, lol.

The good news is that, if your doctor is overseeing your detox, you have nothing to worry about. Our body is amazingly resilient, if given a chance it will regain its balance very quickly. The sweats should stop very soon.

The bad news is, by a process called "kindling", each successive detox gets exponentially worse and dangerous. Make sure that this is the last time you have to endure withdrawal
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