deadbobsuncle

Hey guys!! Im new to this forum... ill give you some details about my recovery first.

I havent had a drinking problem for long, around 2 years which a lot of people see as just binge drinking. I understand it could be seen as this but with my pattern of drinking i realize this is a very typical pattern of drinking for an alcoholic. I just hope i have nipped this in the bud before i get 10 years down the line and find out i have wasted a lot of my life.

I'm only 21. For around a year i have been experiencing withdrawal everytime i stopped drinking. For ages i thought it was due to certain substances i was doing whilst drinking... i stopped doing any kind of illegal drug around 6 months ago (bar a few slip ups obviously..)

I have quit uni for the year and moved back with my parents (who btw have been absolute saints, doing everything in their power to help me.) I managed to keep my drinking under control for around 2 months now. Every time i have a relapse i wake up the day after with a lot of the symptoms I had whilst i was going through withdrawal.

I have detoxed with chlordiazepam around 3 times now. The past couple of times due to my sobriety i have been told (after trips to A+E and to my addiction councilor) that i should not be experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

I have recently had a new liver test. Apparently when i was drinking my liver compensated by producing more enzymes to break down the alcohol. Now i have stopped my liver has dropped massively in the enzymes that deal with this so every time i have a binge i end up with a 3/4 day hangover.

To me... i always assumed this was withdrawal but according to health professionals this is not withdrawal, just severe hang over. Im not sure if theyre correct but after freaking out several times and being told the same thing i can only assume theyre right. It just feels the same as most of the symptoms i got from withdrawal are the same as these symptoms, i cant really tell the difference tbh.

Im just worried because the first time i withdrew properly, without drinking the night it started I ended up going into convulsions... Being a hypochondriac (these problems literally take over some of my life... i spend my life on wikipedia) when the anxiety set in, which i'm sure most of you are familiar with i go nuts.

Well... very long winded i know. But when i have these four day hangovers i vomit everything until my stomach muscles are so strained i cannot vomit anymore. I pour with sweat, especially when i actually manage to sleep. I literally wake up with a Josh shaped wet patch on the bed (i have to go dry off with a towel.) Trembling obviously. This all comes in waves of feeling alright then going to feeling like ****.

The most worrying symptom is that i am having these dreams. Theyre incredibly lucid and terrifying, i wake up and its like i just came out of an out of body experience. Just now i had a rash all over my body that ached all over. I was physically in a lot of pain in the dream. I woke up and didnt realize it was a dream for around 5 minutes of confusion.

This is very disturbing and i am still sure this is withdrawal. Does anyone have experience in what has happened to me. Thanks if you actually made it to the point of the end!! I know this is very long winded. I am trying so hard to kick this problem.

Thanks everyone who replies !!

Lenina

Hi Josh!

I don't know, I never had that kind of experience with withdrawal but I'd say it's a good thing to not drink again. If you can, see an addiction specialist. It sounds like you really need to not put alcohol in your body again.

Counseling is a good idea. Please don't let this drag on for years. It doesn't have to if you get some treatment.

Welcome to SR, by the way!

Love,

Lenina

spilledmilk

I have bad experiences with withdrawal symptoms. I had them for awhile and asked my dad if what was happening was normal, he said yes but he has problems with alcohol himself. So because he said they were normal I went on drinking and they always got worse and more frequent. The terrible confusion, the anxiety and sweating are all part if you withdrawing. The only way to stop it is to quit drinking. I was in the hospital when I quit drinking and he said it would take 3 weeks to withdraw from alcohol. I waited 3 weeks and still had withdrawal symptoms. I stopped again for a while and still had withdrawal symptoms. I just recently slipped up and managed to have withdrawal symptoms and I had only had 3 drinks this time. I was surprised because I quit drinking november 23/2010 so thought that the withdrawals should be over with. I remembered though that in my addictions class I was told that it can take up to 2 years for them to stop depending on how bad you were. So it could be a year if someone wasn't as bad. I must say that the withdrawals are what got me to quit and they are whats puts me back on the wagon if I relapse. So to me they have kind of been a blessing in disguise.

MelindaFlowers

Hi deadbobsuncle,

I too, am a hypochondriac. I started my hours-on-end wikipedia, mayo clinic, and dozens of other websites. I have been a very heavy drinker for about five years. The online searches started after I felt some discomfort in my upper-right quadrant. I felt a discomfort and that was it. I self-diagnosed myself with about 13 different fatal alcohol-related diseases and felt many symptoms.

I went to the doctor a few days later and after finding out I was fine all the symptoms went away. I did not have the guts to get bloodwork done, but when the doctor aggressively poked and prodded my stomach/liver there was not the pain that I had felt for days and that kept my up at night worrying myself sick.

Now I've been sober for a week and I am calling to get an appointment to get bloodwork done. What a feeling: going from a hearty, healthy, 25 year old to a 28 year old worrying about chronic diseases?

What madness!

Guess what the cure is? Stop drinking.

It's not easy but my hypochondria has kept me in check. I am not advising you to do this but whenever I think of drinking again I immediately think of a slow and painful death.

Once I let that sit in my mind for a few minutes I think of all the wonderful things about not drinking such as feeling good everyday, no need feeling the need to worry, looking about 20 years younger.

I hope to see you around the site!

Wilde10

I have not had withdrawal symptoms from drinkin so I know nothing about them. Many here have an experience about them and from what we have all read yours seem to be quite close to those posted normally.

However, I would never substitute the words of doctors by what I am reading in the very anonymous wikipedia or whatever Website. Internet is great to find like-minded people, and some information, but it seems to me that your post is part of youu hypochondriac behaviour. You are under treatment and supervision with the help of your parents.

It is clear that whatever your problems of anxiety are, alcohol and all the worries that come with it, will make them worse. Does it really matter that you are having a proper chemical reaction due to your physical dependency to alcohol instead of an anxiety/hypochondriac issue making you believe you have them and suffering anyway?

artsoul

Hi DBU and welcome! I know that lucid nightmares are part of withdrawal for some people. And I'm thinking: what's the difference between a hangover and withdrawal(?!).......

I do know that things kept getting worse for me. For very little buzz I was getting some pretty strong hangovers/withdrawals. It may have something to do with the damage I'd done over a period of time.....

Anyway, I'm glad you're here - you definitely need to stop before it gets worse. We're here for support!

deadbobsuncle

Wow! Thanks for all of your replies!! Im surprised anyone made it to the end... I've had a slight alleviation of the symptoms. Still pouring with sweat occasionally and having the nightmares but ive managed to eat.

Apparently vitamin B helps to alleviate the withdrawal process so im super-dosing myself with that and im taking thiamine just to be on the safe side.

Tbh i think its been good for me to go through this without medication this time (as we all know benzos work wonders for the symptoms). I cant say ill be picking up a bottle for a while after these 3 days of hell. Just hope im gonna be alright by tomorrow evening, gotta go on holiday on Wednesday! Can relax and get some diving done...

Again thanks guys i really appreciate your help. I dont feel quite as awful since ive heard other peoples stories.