Aellyce

There is a lot of overlap between what we call hangovers and withdrawals. A common hangover (the immediate malaise following a heavy binge also in people who drink infrequently) is, at least in part and similarly to withdrawal, due to an acute rebound in response to the effect of alcohol on the nervous system and other parts of the body. And both hangover and withdrawal involve the dehydration and varying degrees of alcohol poisoning. People that are not alcoholic typically recover quite quickly (a day or so) from the hangover because the harm is more acute compared with the chronic damage we alcoholics subject ourselves to. The chronic exposure leads to persistent changes (sort of an adaptation but not in a good way) in how our body works and suddenly removing alcohol causes the severe mess and overreactions experienced by addicts as withdrawal.

Also, can't resist commenting on the way you live, Mike (I read about the sailing around the world on a boat also before on the forum) - it is so cool! I could imagine myself living that way also... well, not sailing but I kinda do as I have lived in many different places and while I now have a more stable base, I travel a lot, meet people all over etc. I have lived this way since my early 20's but the alcoholism in my 30's definitely made me stuck in many ways. Very glad that period is behind me now. My work now binds me to one place to a significant extent but it is such that I can do a lot of it from anywhere with a computer and internet connection. Anyhow, don't want to hijack the thread more with a different topic