Questions about personal experiences with alcohol withdrawal
 

Hello all,

I am not new to recovery, but I am new to alcohol dependence.

I was wondering, out of curiosity, the following things:

How much, how frequently, and for how long did you drink?
What kind of symptoms did you experience, and how long did they last?

I will be seeing a doctor soon for my own case, but I have been drinking daily since March and the past few months I average around 0.5-0.75 L of whiskey (80 proof) a day.

I have been half ass trying to taper and failing miserably. I don't think tapering has a high success rate with addicts, especially when there is a physical dependence to a substance such as alcohol. I'm not saying tapering is impossible, but it has certainly proven to be difficult.

Typically I drink 3-5 shots when I wake up on an empty stomach, which gives me a decent buzz. This morning I waited until noon, had 3 shots. 5 hours later I had another drink, and then one more a few hours after that. About an hour ago I began feeling mild anxiety and restlessness, and proceeded to take 3 shots on a full stomach. This "leveled" me out so to speak; no buzz, just a feeling of normality. I have had far less to drink today than on a normal day, and I've been considering trying a beer tapering system I found online. I'm not sure if I quit cold turkey what kind of symptoms I'd experience due to the fact that I have not gone long enough without drinking to experience the peak of the withdrawal. Sorry if this post seems unorganized, my literary skills have really gone down the ******* since I started drinking.

I'm just curious what y'all have experienced so I can get a vague idea of what I can look forward to... I understand everyone is different and I'm not looking for medical advice.

Thanks

I drank daily(7 years for the most part, with some days, and weeks clean here and there). What I drank always varied, but I would typically average 3 cans of four loko which is 12% ABV and a 16oz beer. Sometimes it would be a pint of vodka(100 proof) and a 24oz can of high gravity beer. The worst withdrawal symptom I had was insomnia, minor sweating, and some hand tremors. I did have really bad anxiety, too. I was worried about withdrawal myself a while back, so I tried to taper. I failed myself because I would just end up going out to buy more. There was no way I could stick to a system of tapering and restricting my intake. It was all or nothing. Just to be safe, my doctor prescribed ativan to use as needed, but I never had any extreme withdrawal issues(no seizures, hallucinations, etc). Glad you're seeing a doctor though.

I drank a case of beer which is 24 cans about 4 days a week. I did this for 2 and a half years. When I stopped I had no physical withdrawal. I did however find out i had a fatty liver at the time. My liver panel is fine now

I was drinking 3/4 to a fifth of vodka a night or 14+ beers, but probably more then that. I did this everyday for 14-18 months and withdrawals would start in 3-4 hours after waking up on most days. For me the worst part of it was Depersonalization, hallucinations, and panic attacks.

I'd usually wake up and depersonalization would kick in. It would start out with feeling de attached from my arms and it would slowly get worse and worse until I drank. Depersonalization is an out of body feeling or feeling de attached from from certain parts or your whole body. I never let it get too horrible and would start drinking.

Hallucinations would consist of "wall crawling". When I'd look at the walls all the black dots would create basically anything you could think of. I remember the first day of detox the dots were creating a hand flipping me off, yeah that was fun. The hallucinations were just creepy and I'd drink to make them go away.

The worst all was the panic attacks. The last 2-3 months drinking I drank through a panic attack everyday and some days I'd have another one while drinking and I'd drink it off again.

I luckily never had DT's or a seizure.

I also tried a beer tapering myself and failed. I thought if I drank 5% alcohol over 40% I could quit. It just lead to drinking a ton of beer and getting just as drunk.

aye, I've had depersonalization/derealization in the past as a symptom of panic. I have been relatively anxiety free/panic free a year before I started drinking again and I haven't had any issues since I've been actively drinking... but the anxiety/panic is my biggest concern and seems likely that it will inevitably return with a vengeance when I do quit drinking...

Ever since I can remember, I've drank. From about the age of 16/17. It must have been a problem way back then because I met my husband at age 17, and I can always remember one night us going to a private party and him saying "try not to drink so much tonight" not in a horrible way but in a kind of helpful, "I'm looking after you" way. Alcohol caused problems in our relationship way back then, with rows and histrionics etc.

Much later when I really drank a lot it was at least three occasions a week hitting the wine, then come home & start on vodka. I will never, ever forget how utterly dreadful I felt trying to hold down a full time job, feeling like death, spending half the week getting drunk & the other half recovering. All that and I thought I was the all time party girl, just having fun but nearly killing myself in the process.

Unless we stop completely and eradicate alcohol from our lives forever, it only gets worse, never better. Since I've seen the light I see drinkers in a totally different light. Most peeps are addicted but it's perceived in our society as "normal" , it is not normal to drink poison. It is not normal to be a "bit tipsy" every time we go out, even for dinner.

Near the end I was maintenance drinking a fifth (mickey) of Fireball throughout the day, along with 8-10 beers at night. This was just to feel normal though.. I was just drinking to stay alive (with pancreatitis).

My amount I consumed before this (starting in grade 9) only God knows.

Panic attacks/anxiety/insomnia was by far the worst leading up to detox.

I've never had a seizure, but recall pacing around my house bracing myself for one. was truly terrifying.

I was referred to a detox clinic by doctors at the hospital after 3 ambulance visits in a span of a month. bailed from detox early and they gave me 200 tabs some pretty relaxing pills.

That's what saved me..

I remember pacing around the house ready for a seizure. I was having a massive panic attack, completely hyperventilating, uncontrollable twitching. Didn't have any booze or a car and it ended in an ambulance visit.

Yeah depersonalization/derealization was pretty horrible.

Great was to describe it...that was EXACTLY me boston.

I went down on one knee and counted to myself, '' 1.2.3..here we go!(waiting for a seizure)...closed my eyes but nothing. This repeated itself over and over. I wanted to get it over with.

This also resulted in a ambulance ride..had the oxygen thing up my nose and everything.

I think we may have experience a form of hell there...don't you?

For sure a form of hell. It was horrible. I was just pacing through the house just waiting for a seizure and then finally gave in and called 911. Didn't need oxygen because they were able to calm me down enough, but it was scarey none the less. Sad thing too was while being drove to the hospital I knew I'd come home and get drunk...and I did and did for another monthish before I finally gave up and went to detox.

Alcohol withdrawal is scary business.

Holy ****. Thats roughly exactly what happened to me...except alittle longer than a monthish..blurry times.

Looks like we were in the same ball park.

Not to be dramatic, but I dont think we could of survived going cold turkey/tapering or anything like that.

Detox was the only way..

I felt so messed up during all this that I actually thought that I did die...and was in hell.as weird as that is...my brain was completely loopy.

yes that was scary times.

Yeah tapering/cold turkey wasn't an option. I needed detox.

I was trying to taper with beer...didn't work.

Drinking beer was pointless..it was only medicine to me.

The only reason I drank it was because I knew if I drank even more hard booze my withdrawls would become even worse.

I couldn't imagine my withdrawls being any worse cause I had experienced every single part of a hellish withdrawl..except a seizure. So I kinda assumed dying was the next step in withdrawl...along with the anxiety of my ****** pancreas.

But yah..I tried the beer tapering thing too.

epic fail

hi under-o....
i did cold turkey after over 20 years of daily wine drinking, it was night sweats, lower GI upset, vomitting, etc.
however if i remember correctly you also have some medical issues/allergies.
go to your doctor, you need a supervised detox especially. don't mess around with this.

My only medical issues are allergies, but I failed at tapering, I woke up at 4 with anxiety and took 4 shots on an empty stomach. The last thing I want is medically supervised detox, but I see no other option. I'll find out on wednesday what needs to be done about school and from there I will weigh my options. I'm hoping there's such a thing as outpatient detox... I thought I had heart issues at one point but it was only a combination of reflux due to sinus drainage and anxiety, I think if I had any real issues my doctor would have said something after my ECG, instead my mom got the phone call and said everything was fine

6-10 500ml cans of 5% beer a day for a decade.

This went massively up at the end when I increased to all day drinking of stronger stuff and nearly lost everything.

Health- pre-diabetic now under control, kidney, pancreas, liver damage, all now relatively under control, overweight now an athlete. Gout too, in my feet. Uric acid was up.

Withdrawals- extreme mania, total mental breakdown, depression, insomnia, constant liver pain, diahorrea followed by multiple day constipation, headaches, dizziness, extreme lower leg itching, kidney pain, white spots on tongue, extreme sweating especially at night, paranoia, savagely vivid nightmares, compulsion to drink endless cups of coffee, yellow tinge to skin and eyes