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Old 03-19-2018, 01:54 PM
  # 12 (permalink)  
Lost000000
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 7
Great comments above. Obviously, as already mentioned, it's difficult to give specific advice because everyone is different, and reactions depend on so many things, particularly previous drinking habits.

For me, I found (the one time I managed to quit and avoid drinking for 4 months) that exercise definitely makes things easier, but that is not always possible. For so many of the symptoms, when they do hit, I found that breathing exercises were incredibly effective. They can even be done sitting down at a desk, with ten colleagues in the room, or on the plane, or in the car, even when driving, or at 2am when it feels like I'm having a panic attack. Just by lying relaxed on my back, or sitting and placing feet firmly on the floor, hands relaxed on the knees (or steering wheel), and staying focused on slow breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth, I honestly feel that I am able to slow down my racing heartbeat, calm my stress level a bit, get my eyes to stop flitting left and right and focus on what is going on right in front of me.

In general though, in my limited experience, after 24 hours, it's about as bad as it's going to be (but this is from the perspective of someone who typically drinks from 5am until the moment I go to bed, so my initial reaction is fairly rapid. Having said that, I never found that it got much easier over the next 5 days. It was just a matter of managing things, sleeping when I could, and (because it is legal where I am and I was prescribed it) taking cannabis capsules at bedtime so that I got a better sleep.

I hope for the best for you, and that your business trip goes well.
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