reckoner

For about the past year, I have been a nightly drinker, only missing 1-2 days a few times. I drink 10-12 oz of vodka.

My last drink was 36 hours ago. I am stubbornly trying to do this on my own. I have valium from my doc and some Xanax from an old script.

Is there a point in time where I can be sure I am in the clear? If I make it 48 hours am I good to go?

I am feeling very anxious this morning (but I have existing anxiety problems) and so far no trembling hands or any other symptoms really. BP is elevated but I do have high blood pressure and am on meds for that.

Ghostlight1

The best advice is to see a doctor. Only they can predict how a withdrawal will go.
It may be mild, it may be severe. No one here knows.
Don't be afraid to seek help.

Climber122

Does your doctor know about the drinking? He or she should know if not, especially if prescribing meds for anxiety. The only two withdrawls that can kill a person are alcohol and benzos so that's why it' important to consult your doctor - alcohol for all it's social acceptability is one of the most lethal drugs out there when withdrawing. That said you are not necessarily in terrible danger, but no one of this site can say one way or the other. Please check with your doctor on that.

whiskeyman

the best advice is seeing your doctor.
Please trust me when i say that withdrawl can be deadly, from experience.
The worst part was at day 4 for me.

I would never have gone cold turkey. Thankfully i never have to do that again.
I almost lost.

Mountainmanbob

those are good signs
but
if things change please see a doctor ASAP

let us face the truth here
you have been drinking very heavily for a good period of time

take care of yourself
and
meet many new sober friends here on site

Bob

Hevyn

Glad to meet you reckoner. Everyone's right about seeing the doctor if possible. My blood pressure spiked dangerously. After 3 days I felt much better - but we're all different. I hope you'll keep posting - this is a wonderful place for support & encouragement.

reckoner

Thanks everyone. My family doc is aware of my drinking and about the amount. He sent me home with 10 valium and told me to take one if I experience any withdrawal symptoms. So far I've taken one but only for the anxiety.

I've gone cold turkey for 2 days at a time a few times in the last year (the most recent being last month) and did not experience any withdrawal apart from the usual anxiety.

reckoner

well, last drink was 65 hours ago and I'm still alive. Very little in the way of withdrawal actually. Just the usual anxiety and panic, but I'm used to that. Bit of a headache too.

Was at the doc this morn and BP is back to normal. Hasn't been normal in months.

I HAVE TO KEEP THIS UP. So many positive things happening, please please please don't slip up.

Mrmellow11

For me I only had minor sweats the first 9 days and then my withdrawals became emotional ie anxiety and brain fog

karate

I don't have withdrawal symptoms after the first day .

I guess that's real lucky .

Nate1985

Congratulations on a near 3 days! Way to go, and keep it up. If you've already made it 3 days, what is one more? Just have a bit of belief in yourself, you've already gone 65 hours.

reckoner

Going on day 4 and I am still ok. In fact, I'm great. Slept a full night for the first time in ages. Fog is lifting.

karate

Some people just don't get withdrawal symptoms , that's lucky

grubby

I'm skeptical of doctors, but they seem to be more affordable than a full-feature rehab facility. Doctors just seem to hand out dangerous drugs like candy and don't really seem to care about you, and a rehab facility costs an arm and a leg. Doesn't seem like there is any easy way thru withdrawal for us average or un-insured folk....... it seems that what happens will just need to run it's course and time will heal most of the other symptoms.

Number one thing, whether you decide on some facility, a doctor, or something else...... do NOT do this alone.

If I had to do it all over again I would have just kept drinking and studied up on this disease online for at least a few weeks and THEN proceeded to quit. In hindsight, I now realize my body had built up such a tolerance that if I had just continued drinking i would have experienced 0 withdrawal symptoms. There is this mis-conception in popular society that alcohol is a "safe" drug, but then I started reading up on it and found out it's actually the most dangerous to ween yourself off of? I certainly got the "crash course" and then-some, it hasn't been a fun experience.

I was ignorant of this "withdrawal" part and thought it was only something that "hard drug" users like crack/meth addicts experienced. Oh man was i wrong. Here is what I went thru, and I am on day 31........

First week:

- pounding heart and higher blood pressure
- TOTAL inability to sleep, im talking 3-4 days with like 3 hours of sleep total
- a "feeling of doom" like i was gonna die after a few days of no sleep
- mild shaking of the fingers
- fatigue, fatigue, fatigue from no sleep
- general restlessness
- on the third day i think i had a very brief and minor hallucination in the morning, lasted about 6 seconds and then my vision returned to normal
- forgetfulness, while out doing random errands and going thru the drive-thru on Saturday i accidently left my debit card on my lap, when i got out of my car it dropped into the parking lot and i didn't notice......... had to report it stolen and get a new card ordered

Second week:

- shaky hands subside
- blood pressure is still a little higher than usual, but much better
- insomnia persists, absolutely nothing OTC will work
- fatigue, fatigue, fatigue from no sleep
- finally got a doctor's appointment, too bad it wasn't until Friday cause doctor is so backed up...... it seemed like an eternity, i considered going to the ER but then remembered I dont have insurance and doing so might be financial suicide
- in the mean-time, out of desperation, i asked my dad to bring me a few of his Valium pills on Sunday...... he dropped them off and i took one 5mg tablet..... within about an hour ALL the symptoms just mysteriously disappeared
- later that night i followed it up with a melatonin tablet, for the first time in five days i actually slept more than 1 or 2 hours, i got around 7 hours of sleep on Sunday night
- woke up Monday and still felt like crap, seems the quality of the sleep was not very good
- reading that Valium is highly addictive, i only got 3 from my dad, used the other 2 on Tuesday and Thursday respectively and was able to repeat the sleep results
- friday finally rolls around after what seemed like an eternity, i go there and wait my turn..... takes like an hour and a half for doc to get to me, he briefly comes in and asks me about my situation..... i tell him everything, he checks my blood pressure and such and says he thinks the worst is over, warns me against using benzos in the future and prescribes me some Ambien 10mg to help with the insomnia..... i didnt think the whole visit did much for me, no real solution just more drugs
- read up on Ambien horror stories and decide against taking them, sleep very little throughout the weekend using generic OTCs

Third week:

- insomnia continues, i sleep very lousy and usually for no more than 2 1/2 hours per attempt
- fatigue, fatigue, fatigue from no sleep
- head is clearing up despite fatigue and lack of sleep, i get a bunch of stuff done this week including an eye exam, getting caught up on some work, and doing some other things i had put off due to the absolute hell of the last 2 weeks
- blood pressure is back to normal

Fourth week to today:

- insomnia continues to be a problem..... fatigue, fatigue, fatigue
- Sunday march 16 finally decide to give Ambien a try, take a 10mg tablet and fall right asleep, wake up 6 hours later and start my monday...... sleep quality was not good and i felt sleepy during the day
- take Ambien 10 mg again monday night, finally sleep a full 8 hours.... wake up Tuesday rested but i feel "weird" throughout the day and experience lightheadedness and shortness of breath from anxiety seemingly caused by the Ambien
- decide to skip Ambien tuesday night due to unpleasant side effects..... try a melatonin tablet and fail to get any sleep, go to bed at 8 pm and at 6 am Weds I a still awake looking at the ceiling
- Weds morning around 7 am I try a half a pill of Ambien, I sleep for about 3 hours and wake up around 10 am...... experience a "wanting to vomit" feeling for the rest of the day and seem to lose my appetite
- scared of taking another Ambien, i skip the Ambien on weds night and try some chamomile tea....... it has no effect and i dont sleep even an hour last night
- am here typing this on Thursday afternoon unsure what to do next...... the classic "damned if you do and damned if you dont" dilemma: take an Ambien and sleep, but get bad side effects...... dont take the Ambien and dont sleep at all

So in summary, expect LOTS of insomnia....... that's been my experience anyways.

I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect, sorry if it was a bit long but i thought that any new people to alcohol detox might benefit from some extra details.

I think I drank around the same amount as the OP, OP says 10-12 oz of vodka. I drank the following almost daily, roughly:

- 1 40z (Steel Reserve or Olde English)
- 2 regular 5% beers
- small amount of vodka thrown into the mix (every other day or so)

Hawkeye13

Glad things are going well reckoner

Hopefully you will be feeling great soon.
Welcome to SR and your life of sobriety.
Both are wonderful places to be

kbeen

I went cold turkey by myself without telling anyone a few years ago. Ovbious shaking, sleepless, anxiety. Then by day three I felt better. Then next I suddenly, while driving with my wife I had to pull over and dry heave out the door - several times. THere was a flu going around my kid's school, so I told her it was that.

OK, got the heaves out of the way. Everything is cool.

Next thing I know I am on a gurney in an ambulance because I had a gran mal seizure while working at my desk - though I felt perfectly fine just before. Luckily I was not holding my daughter.

My wife looks worried (just a day after the puking incident) and the doctor looks perplexed. I had to tell them both that it is because I stopped drinking. Wet home and the next day I had another seizure. This time my wife was not so scared but we went to check into a detox center.

Both times I nearly bit my tongue off
I did have some fun hallucinations though.

Fast forward three years and I have relapsed.

This time I didn't drink nearly as much, and had on occasion survived a week with barely noticabel shaky hands and nervousness (so little I thought I was just imagining it because I was scared), so thought I was doing OK.

This week I had to go away for a week where I would have limited access to my stash, and by day two my wife knew what was up. She could see my face shaking and I couldn't hold a glass of water. Finally, at a business meeting, with my wife and her colleagues, I couldn't even get the teacup to my mouth without dropping it. Tried to excuse myself but the stairs were very steep and I was very wobbly and disoriented, so I sat still - until I suddenly felt faint and once again found myself in the back of an ambulance.

This time my wife knew what was up so they immediately put me on a drip of medication that would stave off future seizures, and prescribed a few tablets of E Keppra that will get me through the next five days clear, other wise I would be worrying about it happening again any minute now.

Now two days after the last seizure, I can barely walk because my muscles are so sore (they said I was in convulsions with muscles tensed for about ten minutes) I have a splitting headache, very tired. flu like symptoms (which I guess are a side effect of the drug), but other wise feel fine.

I am lucky because I am actually happy this happened accidentally. I didn't crave the alcohol, so much as when I realised I had the shakes again, I feared the seizure, so I kept drinking just enough to make them subside. Now that I am outed, and past the *that* hill, I can focus on the mountain.

sugarbear1

How are you doing, reckoner?

dSober

I'll just tell you what happened to me; you decide what to do.

I stopped and went through severe withdrawl many times after drinking 1-2L of cheap vodka / day for as much as weeks on end. I woke up in an ambulance, a few times, because someone else had called. One time, I was given Librium at the hospital once, the others I just layed there for 24 hours or so and suffered through it. Most times I just suffered at home. According to the doctors at the hospital, I had many seizures. Since I had the same symptoms at home (pronounced shaking, passing out, etc) I have to assume I had them at home too.

I'm still here but I understand others aren't. Those are my facts. Your move.

dSober

Oops, sorry, forgot. Felt much better after 3 days worst case.