Old 10-09-2016, 08:44 AM
  # 8 (permalink)  
tekink
Member
 
tekink's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Lakeside, Arizona
Posts: 1,138
Originally Posted by Paul50 View Post
Thanks D - yes I have a new Dr and am having tests etcetc but I disagree I have got more useful advise off a "bunch of people on the net" than I have from any GP - my new GP wasn't aware of itchy skin and liver disease for starters while SR gave me lots of useful advise ps but I did get an insight into his visit to Kruger - I may have missed the remit of SR but I thought it would include being able to ask questions about what people go through mentally and physically while getting sober - maybe I am mistaken and I am in the wrong place - thanks for your input Paul
At 10 days I was already an emotional wreck. I'm a laid back guy who lets most anything roll right off my shoulder. I've worked in high stress environments my whole life and have always had an easy time with staying cool.

Mentally and physically I have stomach aches for the first week. I get raging mad at the drop of a pin. I become depressed and cry for no reason. I'm on an emotional roller coaster. I have insomnia. My brain feels like it's full of mush, thinking clearly is very hard. I have not attention. I forget all kinds of things.

Basically it's like this. Your brain adjusts it's chemistry to normalize itself with all that alcohol. You take that alcohol away and your brain is still acting like it's there putting it into a chemical imbalance. My brain's been on alcohol daily for 20 years, buzzed every night. The last three years I drank to the extreme as a coping method for the head and body trip opiate (dr prescribed) withdrawal.

I have the start of liver damage, I didn't itch but I had the foul taste in my mouth (it's just starting to go away now today is day 26. My liver damage was just starting. I would also wake up with the taste after drinking and it would stay until I started drinking that day. I started eating more salads and trying to eat very healthy outside of all the ice cream I'm eating as a reward. I have a craving for sweets now also which is out of the ordinary.

I find talking about the symptoms helps my mind cope. I quit because my blood test showed the start of liver damage and fear of and early death leaving my wife to watch me suffer was my motivating factor to commit myself to never drinking alcohol again and never changing my mind.
tekink is offline