dgrptr

I am a 29 y/o male and have been drinking nightly roughly between 6pm and 2am for the past 3 years. I started by drinking about 6 bud lights a night and over time it has progressed to about 16 bud lights a night over the past month or two. I don't get blackouts or anything like that and my hangovers are just feeling tired. If I go about 24-26 hours without drinking I start to feel moderately anxious and I can't tell if my hands are barely visibly shakey due to anxiety or the withdrawals. I am a hypochondriac and I am very afraid of having a seizure if I quit drinking. I have been looking into alcohol tapering which seems like a good option for me. I just want someones opinion because this scares me quite a bit. Do you know anyone similar to me having major symptoms? Please someone help me alleviate my fears and give your opinion on me tapering off alcohol. Thank you.

serenityfreedom

I had the DTs at the end. I tried to taper off but found out I couldn't. After I take one drink it's all over. I can only speak for myself but I needed to quit completely. I would suggest checking into the hospital. They have to take you. They can monitor you and will give you something to keep you from going into the shock of withdraw. More people die from alcohol withdraw than any other drug. Your fear is valid. If you have the tremors than you are experiencing withdraw symptoms and should get medical help to detox.
peace-Jonathan

ScottFromWI

Welcome DGR. I was a daily/heavy beer drinker myself for a long time too, so I know where you are coming from. Tapering off/down is discussed here quite often, and for the large part it is not successful. For one thing, it's really just another for of moderating your drinking, and alcoholics cannot moderate. Another issue is that even if you do successfully taper down, you still have to eventually go from drinking some alchohol to NO alchol, and you can still have withdrawals.

If you are worried that you might experience serious withdrawal, your best bet is to see your doctor. You can then set up a safe plan to quit.

JeffreyAK

16 beers every night is a chemical dependency alright. I was up there too, and a really good night of self-control was 9 beers, though that usually meant I wouldn't sleep much. ;-)

I couldn't taper at all, one drink and it was all over, "I'll try tomorrow, the stars aren't lined up correctly tonight". If you can, great, but I suspect you'll find the same thing if you try.

Medical detox is the way to go, see a doctor and explain the issue, and you should be able to get a small quantity of librium (benzos) that will help keep you safe from seizures while you quit drinking cold turkey.

Having said that, I can't count the number of people I've come across who wouldn't quit because they were afraid of seizures. It's largely just the lizard brain yapping in your ear, feeding you excuses for not quitting. I've only encountered a few people who have had seizures when they quit, it does happen but it's very rare and usually follows from many, many cycles of drinking heavily followed by bad withdrawal.

Please don't let that fear stop you from quitting, or else you simply won't and it'll probably get worse and worse. There is medical aid available if you seek it out.

dgrptr

I am pretty confident that I can taper off alcohol by decreasing one beer a night until I'm done. I'd like to give it a shot and if that doesn't work then I will go the doctor route. Do you guys know when seizures happen? Do you think my hands being a little shakey is due to my chronic anxiety and getting worked up about quitting or more likely withdrawals? Also my resting heart rate by the next day at 6pm is roughly 64. Thanks again this is helping me feel better already getting feedback.

suki44883

Tapering never worked for me and I tried it many, many times. Once I took that first drink, it was off to the races time. However, you will do what you feel you can do. I hope it works. If it doesn't then please see your doctor and tell him/her about your drinking habits (please be honest) and ask for help. There is no shame at all in asking for help.

In the meantime, post here often and take advantage of this resource. SR is a great source of online support.

Welcome!

MariahGayle

Glad your here dgrptr - You will find much support & encouragement here. I suggest you seek medical advice RE: detoxing.

JeffreyAK

Shaky hands, sweating and insomnia are all really common symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. It just means your body has somehow adapted to drinking 16 beers every night (a very large quantity of alcohol ), and when the alcohol stops your body craves it so you can feel "normal" again. You don't really have to worry about seizures if you follow through with either tapering (if it works) or medical detox (if it doesn't).

dgrptr

so I'm not getting sweaty and no insomnia really. Just getting anxious thinking about the withdrawals and my hands get shakey. I'm drinking 16 beers over a period of 8 hours so I guess thats an average of two beers an hour.

Sebastian84

Hi Dgrptr,

I feel like we can probably relate to each other. I'm a 30 year old guy who two days ago finished a huge binge. Up until December of last year I drank regularly - maybe 2/3 days each week of heavy drinking on weekends. I then got retrenched almost three months ago, which gave me more time and opportunity to drink. It escalated and by the end (two days ago) I was drinking a 1.125 litre bottle of vodka or Jim Beam every day, usually starting in the afternoon and ending in the early hours of the morning.

Typically on days I'd be drinking, or knew I had drinking to look forward to, I wouldn't really have any symptoms either, with the exception of mild shaking and anxiety when I was actually buying the booze, which would disappear after the first few slugs of liquor. I decided on Monday night, lying in a stupour in bed, and waking up the next day with a beer spilt all over me, that enough was enough.

So I'm only on my second day of sobriety, and in my experience the withdrawal symptoms only begin once you've stopped completely and have sobered up. In my case I'm shaky, very anxious and nervous, particularly around people (I haven't left the house in days), my skin goes through hot and cold flushes and periods where I feel I have ants crawling all over it, and I sweat from time to time a little bit. It's possible that you're not experiencing much of this because you know and your body anticipates the 16 or so buds tonight.

In my case, tapering wasn't going to work, I knew after such a period of very heavy drinking, that I didn't have the discipline for it, and knew that cold turkey was the only way I could beat it.

It's not easy, but this forum has been an incredible help. In fact I spent maybe 5 hours on it yesterday (my first day), and have spent most of today on it so far as well. I expect to spend alot of time in the coming days as well, as I've found that reading the stories and experiences people share helps me, as does participating and typing out posts as well. The chat room is a great place too, though may be quiet at certain times of the day (I'm in Australia so everyone is sleeping during the day when I'm most active). This community I've found is incredibly supportive and active, and every person I've spoken to has been non-judgemental, friendly and helpful. I guess it's because we're all here for the same reason, and most have gone through what I'm going through at the moment, and what you might experience yourself in the coming days.

Good luck mate. Feel free to pm me any time.

Seb.

Dee74

I think everyone here was scared of quitting...if it counts for anything, quitting was the best decision I ever made.

Tapering never worked for me - it was asking me to control my intake...if I could do that I wouldn't need to taper

I recommend seeing a Dr - I had a very bad last 'home alone' detox.

D

Axiom

PLEASE SEE A DOCTOR.

I am newly sober and relate so much with your story.

I knew I was alcohol dependent. I was looking up what detox was like and got scared. I talked to a friend who said "you'll be fine. But, you should dry up for a couple weeks". I thought I was making too big of a deal of it so I quit, cold turkey. I had massive anxiety and minimal shakes for the first two days. The night of day two full blown DTs with audio hallucinations and confusion. I ended up in the ICU for four days and the hospital for a week. It was scary as all get out.

I am your age. 28 when I quit, 29 now. I was still "functional" but looking back I was fading fast. I still had a job and kept up with most my responsibilities. Don't think you're too young or haven't drank as long as a lot of people. It can be really bad. I wish I had gone to the Dr. I still work myself up thinking about the withdraw sometimes.

PLEASE BE SAFE. It is completely worth it and I would go through it again to get here but I wish I had been smart enough to see a Doctor.

This is not meant to scare you. I know that this is hard but that fact is withdraw needs to be taken seriously. A doctor will either give you medication to help or tell you you need to go through supervised detox. You have absolutely nothing to lose seeing one.

dgrptr

But if I can taper off IS it a safe method if I decrease by one beer every couple days?

dgrptr

axiom,

how much were you drinking daily?

also if I am able to commit to a taper and decrease by one beer every 2 days is this safe? Thats my biggest question.... I WILL go see a doctor but I want your opinion on the taper....if it works if followed.

-Thanks again everyone for your help

Axiom

Depended on the day. Usually around two bottles of wine. Beer was a range because I usually had shots with it. Some days only a few(just to show I could). Frequently a lot more. In short, however much it took me to get drunk that day.

The last two weeks a binge of all day buzz/maintenance drinking to trashed at night.

Here is the thing though. It doesn't really matter. Everybody is different. The DTs are rare but I can tell you that you don't want them.

I have no clue how safe tapering is but don't go cold turkey. Again, I STRONGLY suggest you see a doctor.

dgrptr

Yes I would never go cold turkey. i know how dangerous that is. I really appreciate your input .

Serotonin

See a Doctor man. I have battled withdrawal so many times I now hear voices and have seriously dangerous physical withdrawal after 24 hours of abstinence. I'm so lucky to be sober now. Each withdrawal gets worse the longer you go.

Dee74

What I think you might be missing is that no one here knows your medical history - what might be safe for you might have killed me and vice versa.

If you want some reassurance you really need to see your Dr.

In the quote above, you're asking for medical advice. We can't give you medical advice here - it's against our rules.

Dee
Moderator
SR

dgrptr

I didn't mean to keep asking questions or be offensive. I'm just very scared and I don't know how I got to this point. Not being in complete control scares the hell out of me.

Dee74

I understand I've been there myself. Like I said, I really bad detox and I was terrified of dropping dead any minute. It's a lonely place to be.

The rule is there for your safety dgrsptr