Lindsaysg13

Hi everyone, I'm new here today. Been an alcoholic for 5 years and was able to stop no problem before in the past, but last month I went to the hospital here in Germany for feeling like utter crap. They kept me overnight to observe me and the next day as we were driving home (I hadn't had a drink in a night after drinking a liter or more of vodka a day for 3 years) and had a terrible anxiety attack. So bad that I got sick all over the sidewalk, wanted to just smack my husband for trying to help calm me, and the urge to just strip my clothes off and run to try and get rid of the anxiety.

I ended up going home, throwing up every 5 minutes for 3-4 hours, drank almost 2 liters of vodka added to my Zoloft and Trazodone. I ended up back up in the hospital because I stopped breathing and I had a .3 BAC level. I detoxed for 5 days with the help of pills to stop any seizures I might have had, my anxiety, and the nausea/vomiting.

Was sober for about 3 weeks before I started sneaking vodka back in the house. I ended up stopping cold turkey and in the came withdrawal symptoms and the major anxiety. I'm about 4 days sober now and have the cravings to drink again, but not the desire to go through this again...

How long did your anxiety symptoms last? Mine are so bad, even with me on Zoloft and Trazodone. I have this constant tightness in my chest and I'm very agitated. After I got out of the hospital, the anxiety was pretty much gone, but now it's just worse than ever. It's just awful that I sit here just willing my life to go so I don't have to have this anxiety anymore... I also hate the night sweats. They are so bad that I wake up with every inch of my body completely drenched. I have to change my clothes 2-3 times a night and wash our bed every day.

bigsombrero

Yeah, I had all those symptoms and was also a heavy vodka drinker. Extremely high anxiety, night sweats were bad, I also had the shakes and tremors. I had been on zoloft as well, because I was experiencing anxiety in daily life. It didn't really work, as the anxiety was mostly a result of my drinking. I also was prescribed xanax and klonipin, but nothing really worked. Unfortunately I did not detox like you (smart move) and had several withdrawl seizures and had to be rushed to the hospital. Eventually I found myself in a rehab treatment center, where I also took Trazodone at first to help me sleep, but stopped taking it after I was released.

I have been completely free of all medications and alcohol for almost 14 months.

In my experience, the night sweats were gone before I left the treatment center, so probably within a week. The anxiety took much longer to subside, I was able to function once released from rehab but was very, very nervous in social situations for a few months. Mainly I was only anxious when the focus was "on me", otherwise it didn't impact my life. I've only had one major anxiety attack around the 8 month mark, otherwise I've been okay, for the most part.

As you can see, nobody's story is exactly the same. I can't tell you "1 week for the sweats, and 3 months for the anxiety" - it's not that simple. All I can do is give you my experience. I hope you stay alcohol free, that is really the only answer for these terrible symptoms - that is the one thing I'm sure of. Good luck.

Lindsaysg13

Thank you for sharing your story with me. It eases my mind that the symptoms will pass eventually (I knew they would, but had a hard time thinking they actually will) and I just have to push through and avoid alcohol to get rid of the symptoms. I'm hoping to be off of all medications as well in the future. I did cold turkey my second time just because the German hospital scared me senseless. My first night sober without any of the pills they gave me in the hospital is hopefully enough to not want to relapse again.

robgt350

Lindsey hello.
i drank vodka also for several years. i did about a 1/2 - 3/4 liters a day. i decided to stop drinking after several years. but i tried several times and failed. finally i did it. well i did not go into detox as you described. but i did get night sweats and anxiety alot. i learned to find a hobby to occupy my mind and make my brain work. was a math major in college so i took up sudoku puzzles every night before i go to sleep to rest my mind. i also did some exercise such as walking before dark. i took up reading a good book.
i also took some anti anxiety medications. i took them for about one month. i still had the strong urge to drink, but i did not. so honestily i do not know if the medication helped me.
for me it was the mental strength and drive that kept my sober.
but my night sweats and anxiety lasted for about 3 weeks. i do not have them any more. i still get the urge to drink at times, but no where like it was before. i have been sober for almost 9 months.
Germany, i have always wanted to visit germany, you have a nice country

Lindsaysg13

Rob, thank you for sharing as well. I actually just started reading again and I took up word finds while in the hospital, stopped doing word finds shortly after since I started drinking again. It was impossible for me to read too when constantly drunk, so I'm enjoying good books again. We live in German, but aren't natives. We are from America, but my husband is AD Army so we got stationed here.