Welcome to SR Trying2009

It's always best to check with your doctor :)
but having said that, Tex's advice about keeping hydrated is good advice - burning skin or not.

here's a link to some of our members' detox experiences

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html

D

Trying.....:wavey:
Welcome to our SR Alcoholism Forum

Glad you decided to join us...:yup:

Thanks TexasBlind and Dee74 and CarolD

It certainly helps to know that someone else went through this as well - and that it shouldn't last forever.

I did see the doctor - hence the bloodwork coming out OK - but his solution for the itching is cortizone and I really don't want to spend my days with my whole body slathered in that stuff.

I guess it's just a question of getting through it. Its been suggested that probiotics would help the immune system recover - that the source of the itching is the damaged intestines.

Still be interested in other comments.

Thanks for your support:thanks

Hmmm....
Unless a medical condition is diagnosed by my doctor
and a healing plan recommended
I let those types of suggestions alone.

Often they are given by people wishing to sell me a product.
:)

aGrandma,

I’m by far no expert and I can only give you what I went through just days ago. I drank for the past 22 years up until last Tuesday and was about 1-2 cases of BEER everyday. I’m an Alcoholic and was also on Zanax for 30 days. My Dr. put me on it for Insomnia. He knew I was struggling with my Alcohol, so I was very open with him. I took the exact amount as he prescribed. I was taking 0.5mg 2-3 times a day, just like the bottle said. It worked great, however, I started to notice about 2 weeks ago that I was getting very addicted to it. I needed to have it, no matter what. I craved it. I did some research on the internet and found that it was very addictive and just about as bad as Alcohol. I hate to say this, but it does it’s job great. However, it’s a HORRIBLE drug to get addicted too and it comes very fast !!!!

What I did last Tuesday was most likely not recommended by any doctor, but I joined an AA group/Specialist for One-On-Ones and went COLD TURKEY on the Alcohol and Zanax. This was done all at one time. I just hit DAY 7 (OH YEAH !!!!!) of being CLEAN from both. However, I had some severe withdrawal symptoms hit me all at once.

Day 1 – No Problem
Day 2 – No Problem
Day 3 – No Problem
Day 4 – Started to get some withdrawal symptoms. They included Cold, Clammy, Constant Swets, Shaking, Ears Ringing, Very Jumpy (Everything seemed like it was 1 foot away from me and seriously LOUD)
Day 5 – Absolutely The Worse Day Of My LIFE. Symptoms included all of the above times 10. I thought I was going to lose my mind. I had no idea what to do and just about ended it all. Either go back to Alcohol, Zanax, or just end everything. It was the scariest day of my life !!!

Last Sunday was DAY 5 for me. Like I said, I had NO IDEA what I was doing. Now the next thing that happened I cannot explain no matter how I look at it. Some call it “BLIND LUCK” or “DIVINE INTERVENTION”, but in either case, I did a search on Google and typed in something like “Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms Timeframe” and the very first site that came up was SR’s. It pretty much saved my life that day. I posted a thread on Sunday called “Help !!” and that is exactly what I got. I spent the next 6-7 hours on-line in the OPEN CHAT room with a bunch of people that got me through the day. By that night, I was feeling very normal with NO ALCOHOL or ZANAX. Again, they SAVED MY LIFE !!!

Now, I still have the insomnia pretty bad. I just came off of a 37 hour stint of Insomnia and the people here recommended Meletonin and I must say, I just got 7 hours of sleep that was much needed. It was GREAT !!! No More DRUGS !!!

With that all being said, DAY 6 (Yesterday) was the BEST day of my life. I felt 100% NORMAL and I have NOT felt that way for months. It was a breath of fresh air, NO WITHDRAWAL symptoms of any kind. It was like the world was lifted off my back. I really can’t describe the feeling, but it was a complete 180 of the MESS Sunday was. All I can say, it “THANK GOD” that I found this place. I really do not know what I would have done on Sunday had I not found SR.

I hope this helps and welcome to one of the best places on earth.

John DeRocker

to piggy back on some others: sounds like nothing more than untreated alcoholism. But obviously he should consult a doctor. Just because you take the alcohol away doesn't mean that he will somehow change into a different person, in many ways he will become more irratible and discontent because he no longer has his usual way for dealing with stess. That is why it is important to go to recovery meetings and work a program.

Please be aware gang - the OP in this thread is from 2007 :)

D

For the Original Poster—

I second what Tazman said. I think it is really important that your husband be really frank with his doctor. Does his MD know that he was a heavy drinker who recently stopped? I am pretty sure that when you take the alcohol out of the liver that drugs start being metabolized at different rates or differently. For example, my antidepressants finally got a fighting chance. So, perhaps these cold sweats have something to do with the change in his body coupled with the pills he is taking. The doctor needs to know all the information.

As for the xanax, I have taken benzos many a time in my life for real serious medical situations (panic attacks). This has included Xanax. However, I realized when I got sober that I really liked xanax because its short half-life made me feel exactly like I was drunk. I told my doc this and no more xanax for me; this is a good thing. As a recovering alcoholic, I am not opposed to using benzodiazapines for medical reasons, but I do think that there are ones that are better (ativan in my case) because they make you feel much less like you are drunk. But all of this needs to be discussed openly and honestly with a doctor who knows about addiction issues.


---Just saw what Dee wrote, ha :)

The start...
 

It's amazing that I find myself on this website today. Only 3 weeks ago did I begin to realize I had a problem and I've been drinking heavily for 5 years.

I always found a way to justify it but when my craving became intense 3 weeks ago and I went for drink when I didn't even want it I knew I had a problem. I was out of control.

Amazing as 5 years ago when I began heavy drinking I didn't even realize you could become addicted. I thought alcoholics were a special breed of people i.e. not people like me I just liked a drink after work...but then I went to Thailand with $20,000 and nothing to do for 3 years but a correspondence degree. I ran every day, I wrote a book, studied and at night totally unplanned slipped into the nightlife scene, everyone else was drinking (group norm) I had the money, I could get a bottle of whisky (half litre) and mixers for $5 I could then listen to live music chain smoking cigarettes and no one said a word in fact it was what everyone else was doing.

5 years on I've gone from being a fit 28 year old to a barely functioning 33 year old. I've been off booze just a week and it's so frightening time has just opened up.

So funny how you never see it happening. I thought i just liked a drink.

Ironically I'm also the fittest person in my friendship group in that I can run 10kilometres at a clip and have muscles from my boxing training but underlying that I'm an alcoholic fossil. One thing to note no matter how well you box after a litre of whisky when a gang set about you there's nothing you can do. this happened to me last year I thought I was unbeatable and there I was beaten to a pulp.

I feel I'm about to get my life back and I'm totally excited no more booze and hopefully I'll finally be able to publish a book. I've written 5 but never been sober long enough to do anything about publishing them.

Brightsid,

Welcome. This is a very old thread (started in 2007). Why don't you start a thread in the newcomers section so we can all get to know you?

Oh man... I am so nervous...
 

I literally just quit drinking (after 5 years literally almost everyday) cold turkey about 24 hours ago... It all makes sense now... It was alcohol that caused my panic attack/anxiety issue. I've seen several professionals and always down played my alcoholism. I have also been taking xanax for about 4 years everyday and have built up an addiction for that as well. Luckily! I am getting evaluated tomorrow and am looking for some answers. I shake all the time (unless buzzed) I am anxious all the time (unless buzzed) I can barely sit through long car rides (unless buzzed).... since I didn't wake up hungover today.. I don't have the shakes as bad but do have the sweaty palms. I have also been working out and eating healthy the past month... so wish me luck. Oh and the amount that I used 2 (used 2... yay!) drink on a daily basis was about a 12 pack of 16 ouncers a day...


-Scott

Oh my gosh, I thought the sweats were from my new fleece sheets! Thanks for the info.

I know that this is an old thread but it comes up on search engines so folks may still be reading it, a lot. I've had a lot of trouble trying to relate my type alcoholism, so this is my story:

You’ve heard the scare mongers, you’ve read the sob stories. You’ve seen the drunks who can down a quart of liquor before noon. You’ve heard and disregarded all of the psychological mumbo-jumbo. You’ve heard about the guy from Pennsylvania who had his driver’s license revoked because he told his doctor that he drank a six pack daily. The world has become a bunch of adolescent teenage girls whose histrionic behavior you find unattractive and just plain childish. The politicians are weak and liars. The scientists grub for their grants with the integrity of a used car salesman, or worse, not wishing to so deeply insult the used car salesmen. The NAS, AAAS, Nature and most other publications are so rabidly liberal that they would sell their soul to advance the global warming scare. And these folks are going to tell you about drinking? Right. But I will.

You are strong and relatively successful. You work for a living, always have and always will. You’ve had addictions before, good and bad. Exercise, work, cigarettes, coffee, hobbies, sex, drugs, rock and roll. You’ve quit when you had to, sometimes when you didn’t. You drink because you like to drink, period. There’s no deep psychological meaning or underlying neurosis. Knowing why you drink is not going to make one whit’s worth of difference. You don’t drink to escape, to deny to forget or to ease the pain. You can handle pain just fine. You drink for the same reason that you have sex or go skiing, it makes you feel good, great sometimes. Dump the psychological mumbo-jumbo, drinking is pleasurable, period.

You can hold your liquor and it’s been a long time since you got rip roaring bumbling drunk. You are a controlled alcoholic and you know it. You don’t drink at work and rarely or ever drink before 5pm. You drink what the little girls would call a lot but your buddies would call a few. The alcohol hasn’t ruined or taken over your life, you work, you exercise you carry on. But there is doubt.

You’ve been drinking a long time, almost as long as you can remember. It started with beer and wine, but it has progressed to hard liquor. Beer and wine won’t do it anymore, you need a stronger kick. You still drink beer and wine, just add the whiskey. You attribute it to age but you’ve noticed that you can’t drink as much as you used to. You sometimes get confused but most often just tired and go to sleep. The old Redskin, John Riggins, is a classic example. Strong, successful, lay down and went right to sleep after a few drinks with Supreme Court Justice O’Connor, after telling her to lighten up Sandy. You laugh.

So you’ve quit drinking a couple of times, no big deal. No shakes, no hallucinations, but you didn’t feel any better either. Actually, you’ve been quitting every day of your life. After going to bed at 9, 10 , 12 o’clock, you go through withdrawal. You’re hot and sleep without blankets. Your blood pressure goes up, eventually you wake up and can’t sleep for an hour or two. It wears off and you go back to sleep. The next day your vision is affected, spots, blurriness. Blood pressure is elevated, mild headache. Sometimes you get burning patches on your skin that last for a day or two. Subtle neurological problems like ringing in the ears. Memory problems. Almost everything can be attributed to aging, and indeed some of it truly is. You’re going to get tinnitus not from drinking so much as the all of the noise. Memory loss will come, drinking or not. We’ve seen our kind make into their late eighties and beyond. They’re strong.

But the stomach problems are worrisome. Chronic cough and runny nose. It is the alcohol. Acid reflux is probably to blame, the stomach is letting some of its toxic brew into the windpipe when you pass out at night and this is irritating and infecting the lungs and sinuses. You completely understand how Jimi Hendrix died. You have woken up coughing, unable to breath? Had to stand up for a few minutes and get some water. You haven’t slept through the night in years. It’s time to quit.

Quitting is harder than cigarettes, the urge is stronger and lasts much longer. It always erupts right around sunset and subsides before bed. No problems what so ever in the morning or afternoon, it’s the 5 o’clock happy hour that calls with such intensity. After three days your blood pressure stabilizes and lowers. Your stomach problems clear in a week. But your vision goes bad, hard to describe but blurry and spotty. Ringing in the ears increases, those burning patches return. You don’t feel good, weaker and older, your concentration wanes, you drink again. But it’s no good, the alcohol makes you feel bad. Not at first, at first you clear right up, but thirty minutes later it comes back, the tiredness. You know it’s time, you quit, for good, you’re strong and it’s not that hard. What’s hard is letting go, no more wild drunken parties, no more getting high, no more hanging out at the bar and the babes and the booze. But it's time, we all change, we grow and we grow old and we grow up. We find love and we find meaning. We find that life is defined not only by its pleasures, but by its sacrifices. Anybody can handle the good times, what defines you is how you handle the bad times. There’s so much more to life than that adolescent partying. Time to move on, time to quit drinking, time to say goodbye to another piece of our life, like an old friend you used to know, and look ahead.

Every one is unique but most medical research intidicates physical withdrawal symptoms are gone within a week. Mental/social repair takes longer.. Hope he's feeling better soon!

Tonight will be night #1
 

Last night was my last night of drinking. I've been a heavy drinker for almost 7 years (Drunk/blacking out nearly every night). I've got a three week supply of alprazolam for anxiety which I haven't taken in almost four months. Any advice on withdrawal symptoms? I've heard conflicting info that if one can stay on top of the withdrawal symptoms (coaching oneself) they can overcome the DT's and anxiety that come along with it. Here goes... :worried:

Cold at night and random hot/cold all day...
 

I was a daily drinker but not too heavy. However last weekend after two hard days of drinking I was a total mess that Sunday sweating through 3 sets of clothes and not sleeping.

My heart was racing it was awful. I've had withdrawal anxiety for a day or so before but nothing like this. Haven't drank for 4 days since but still have chills at night and hot/cold flashes all day. Is this withdrawal symptoms or should I be getting checked for another possible medical condition?

If you've been a heavy drinker for a long time your withdrawals can actually get worse and worse. It's called kindling.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...lly-again.html

No one here can tell you for sure what this is tho.

If you have any concerns at all, seeing a Dr is best.

D

Thank you for sharing we all need to read this,
 

:thanks:thanks