WantToNeedTo

Okay, as some of you may know I have posted on here about my desires to be sober. I havent accomplished it yet, but now have a question. I know most of you will say see a doctor, and depeneding on how it goes tonight I will.

So here is my question, I now find myself suffering a fairly severe case of the Flu. Of course with the flu comes a LOT of the symptoms associated with withdrawal too. I have gone nights at a time without booze, not in the last few months, and suffered terrible insomnia, night sweats, and nightmares.

Oh i guess this is actually the question: Any ideas how to know when it is one and not the other? I mean I dont feel well, and sure dont have a desire to drink, only I am scared that if I dont have a few glasses of wine I will be up again all night and only get worse. Have any of you experienced having the flu while also cutting out alcohol?

Now that I read that back it all sounds like rambling of sorts, but I just typed it as it came into my throbbing head.

nandm

I wish I had some words of wisdom for you.

I do suggest making sure you discuss your stopping drinking with your doctor so he can help you with the withdrawls. It can be dangerous to stop without consulting a doctor.

I am thankful that you feel you are ready to work at stopping again. I sincerely hope you are able to find a solution to your drinking problem. Welcome to SR.

best

Either case...it would still be good to see the DR.
Be truthful with the Dr just as you were in your post.
The Dr can do a better job of telling you what is what with the more info you give.

WantToNeedTo

anyone else suffer from really bad acid reflux and indegestion upon cutting out alcohol?

CarolD

Please read this link for information

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

Sorry you are feeling ill.

StayinAlive

ya my valve in there was kinda pooched from drinking,no amount of Tums or zantac would appease the volcano. I went for xrays etc and they saw the problem with the valve, as well my fatty liver showed up. Nexium was prescribed and worked like magic. I wish could find a generic equivalent because its really pricey. But i think it is slowly(6 months) healing as i need less and less. Just a few more reasons to stay clean for ya

WantToNeedTo

Hey StayinAlive, thanks for the response. How long and how much had you been drinking prior to your problem and fatty liver?

StayinAlive

I have drank my whole life with occasional binges. But only in the last 7 years has my drinking been really unmanageable. Its hard to put it in terms of quantity since i drank in binge sessions towards the end. Drink so much in one day that i couldn't do anything for the next 3 days and then do it all over again. The good news is in time the liver can heal,but i have to be really careful what i put into my body(medications,fried and fatty foods other chemicals found in processed foods pops etc.) so as too not over tax the liver. Yours may be fine. When your in talking to your Doctor about your desire to quit ask for a blood test to check out your liver functions. Careful of cold meds, really bad for liver since they contain pain medicine and adrenaline which is hard on liver and can cause anxiety.

The nexium is for heartburn
Get well soon

chip

I hope you feel better soon, WanToNeedTo

It's been said already, and I'm another person who thinks seeing your doctor is a solid plan. Only a doctor can tell you what's going on with these health issues.

I had a very bad flu once during my heavy drinking days. It was so bad, I had to stop drinking for almost a day... this shows how bad my drinking really was. In retro-spect, I know it wouldn't have been so bad for me if I wasn't in the depths of a nasty, daily, heavy, drinking habit. As StayinAlive already said: be careful with the cold medications. They can really chew your liver up...and cause anxiety. It's not a good idea to use some cold medicines when you are still drinking.

Feel better soon, k? Perhaps this is a sign that the drinking needs to stop. Your doctor can help you stop. I encourage you to be honest with a medical professional, and seek a medical detox.
chip

Tazman53

WantoNeedto I have to jump on the band wagon and say see a doctor and be TOTALLY honest about the drinking, detox can and does kill. With me when I was drinking I would eat 15 or more tums in an evening, when I quit drinking the heartburn went away, it is rare now I get heartburn, but all of us are different so I would see a doctor!!

Signal30

The flu that is going around now, is the one that IS NOT the one that people are getting vaccinated for.

The flu is bad right now, and a good amount of people are getting it.

Either way you should go to your doctor.


Tom

reed

I haven't seen a doctor in 6 years, I should probably go see a doctor.

WantToNeedTo

ya know, I am starting to think this Flu, or me getting it I mean, may be a Blessing in disguise. I have said before on this site that I want to get sober, problem was I was always worried about the detox, mostly the insomnia. Well, turns out the medication the doc called in for me, Tamiflu, also causes insomnia. What I am saying i guess is that if I can continue to not drink during the flu, then the worst part(first 5days or so) will already be over. At least that is how I am gonna look at it, in a positive way, and I hope that once I am better from the flu, I wont dive right back into the 12 pack a night.

Oh, one more thing I have figured out from laying in the bed for 20+ hrs a day, the sore throat and ear pain that my doc kept saying was from allergies, definately isnt. It is from my acid reflux. I had read where that could happen and cause the "lump in throat" feeling and ear pain, and now as I laid there so long at a time awake I started to feel the acids come up and sit in that one spot. Perhaps I was just drunk in the past so I didnt feel the acids come up. Either way that is definately just another reason to quit, to prevent much worse things like throat or stomach cancer.

Anyways, sorry to ramble again, but thanks for listening(er.....reading).

WTNT