smalltowngirl

Just curious, and if so, did it scare you enough to stop you from drinking?

I think a seizure would scare me enough to stop.... although, nothing else has.

fantail

Slightly OT, but maybe being scared isn't what you need to get you to quit? Everyone is motivated by different emotions, I think. For me during the initial week or so it was ego/vanity. I had to go to the hospital for gastritis and it wasn't the fear that did it for me, it was the humiliation of needing to seek treatment for an illness I'd caused myself. I have major issues with admitting weakness/asking for help, which is a bad trait, but in this case it was good because that incident just tripped a wire in my head. It was the line where the consequences finally became more painful to me than the thought of not drinking.

You may just have a high tolerance for fear... you shouldn't risk your life trying to find a trigger that might not exist for you. Withdrawal can be really dangerous.

artsoul

Well, if you suffered permanent damage from a seizure and had to live on disability, you might want to drink even more......

I remember being where you are, scared of drinking, but scared of getting sober, too. It's the worst place to be, and it won't get any easier from here if you keep drinking. You talked about going to the ER a week ago..... you just need to bite the bullet and get help. Don't think about it, because you'll talk yourself into another drink.

I didn't want to be sober until I actually got sober, and then I wished I hadn't waited so long. You can do this....... and you'll be so glad you did.

MattM316

Yep, just over three years ago.
I had been drinking heavily for many years but it never affected me badly until I reached about 29. Stress and other issues led to me drinking more than ever, for about a year I was getting a racing heart and muscle spasms at night, sometimes hallucinating.
Then I had some serious agonizing toothaches, took pills and alcohol to numb the pain as it was my 30th birthday night, went out and had to come home after a few hours.
Two days later I felt something wasn't right (night spasms and hallucinations weren't right, but this was something else!), got up at 6am, at about 8am I opened my eyes to two paramedics stood over me in my house.

I'd had a seizure and I had two more seizures that night in hospital.
Not only was I lucky to be alive, but as a result of the seizures I badly fractured my left shoulder. I've had three big operations on it - One to insert metal plates and bolts, one to have them removed and the last one being to replace the entire shoulder.
I have pictures if anyone is interested!

Did it scare me to stop? It did for a while and it still does.
I've had various slip-ups since then but recently a few things have caused me to make what I would say was my first truly honest attempt at giving up drinking completely.
Having slip-ups after having had a seizure is very scary. You get the racing heart etc and you know you have that 48 hour period to last through before you're ok.

Gottalife

Great question. It might point up the difference between a "hard drinker" and an alcoholic.

I have met a few hard drinkers in my time and one or two have had real scares from their doctors. If you don't stop drinking/moderate you will die kind of scare. Guess what, they stop or moderate, whatever the doctor says they should do. They responded logically to the scare.

When the doctor gave me the same frightening news, I did what I always
did to deal with fear. I got drunk. All attempts to scare me sober failed.
I saw a guy have a rum fit in a meeting one night. It didn't scare him sober.

BarbieKen

My doctors in De-tox told me I did the right thing by not going cold turkey I can only speak for myself....I sought medical treatment first so I wouldn't die getting sober. I know that wasn't what you asked, just throwing it out there. Bobbi

Dee74

I never had a seizure - I did have several mini strokes tho - that was enough for me to finally, and very suddenly, see sense.

D

wvuwhat

I've tried to quit multiple times. The worst side effect I've had to deal with is dry lips.

Olive1

I don't remember if I had a seizure or not. At the end of my drinking career I was in the hospital for two weeks and at one point in the ICU. I think my parents were afraid I was not going to make it. I am pretty sure I would be dead right now had I not been there.

Lifewillgetbet

I have had a seizure. 3 in fact. Did it help me stop? Yes I quit for a year then slipped a few times. I didnt know I could even have a seizure, or what a seizure was prior to it happening. I guess after having one you know know that you will need benzos or anti seizure medication to prevent it happening. Basically it didnt prevent me from binge drinking, it just made me get medication when I stopped.
The things that have kept me away from alcohol was intensive inpatient treatment and AA.

karate

No seizure here , I got on a binge last summer .

Had martial problems , picked up the old enemy -alochol
Is not a " friend " .

Had some anxeity attacks that were sure tough . BAD !!!!!

MattM316

Until Amy Winehouse died, the dangers of alcohol withdrawal were pretty much unknown to everyone, particularly the media. I don't recall ever seeing it mentioned in the media up until that point.
I only knew about it because I read up a lot about it when I was trying to quit and even then many people told me it was a load of rubbish.

Lifewillgetbet

Yea all I knew and thought was that I was extremely hung over and that would be the end of it. NOPE. Hospitalized.
Whats ridiculous is seizures are completely preventable. This should be given more attention. Seizures are no fun and apparently I came close to dying. The problem is that it is a pain to get the anti seizure medication. You have to be real close to your doctor or go to the hospital to get it in Canada. Luckily I have been honest with my Dr, and in the end he was just giving me a script and wishing me luck.

MattM316

I just had one in the morning, was taken to hospital, felt ok, then had two more that night. Apparently I rang my Dad on my mobile said he could pick me up as they were discharging me, he turned up and the nurses said "erm, he's going nowhere, he had two more seizures last night".
I know nothing whatsoever about the seizures, I only really remember feeling on another planet because of all the meds they put me on.

EndGameNYC

There are non-addictive meds for seizures which are readily and widely available.

Lifewillgetbet

That is basically what happened to me. I had one in my office at work. I called the ambulance myself because I had no idea what just hit me. Went to the hospital and apparently I had 2 more. One right after another. The 2 I had in the hospital were epic. I then laid in a bed for 3 days very heavily sedated. What catastrophe.

smalltowngirl

Agreed. I do get prescribed clonazepam, but during the day when I have to be sober the prescribed amount isn't enough to get rid of the horrific anxiety and resulting body shakes.

It's at the point now that even going to an eye dr. appointment or facing a clerk in a store gives me terrible anxiety. I wasn't like that before.

I'm literally afraid to go to my eye dr. appointment tomorrow because of my anxiety, I even had a thought to stop my the nearby liquor store and take a few drinks before going.

Scared of drinking, scared of getting sober. My thoughts exactly. I didn't go to the ER this week, I drank instead. Now I have 4 days of work that I can't afford to take off. It's amazing how quickly this progresses, and disgusting.

karate

"Agreed. I do get prescribed clonazepam, but during the day when I have to be sober the prescribed amount isn't enough to get rid of the horrific anxiety and resulting body shakes."

You may be looking at a dual problem ,benzo"s and alochol .

How much klonopin are you pescribed ?

smalltowngirl

.5 mg 4 times a day as needed

Dee74

I realise going to the Dr is scary but it really is the best place to get medical advice smalltowngirl...

Just a reminder to those who might be new, we cannot give medical advice here on SR.

D