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What happened to me? Did I experience alcohol withdrawal (first-timer)?



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What happened to me? Did I experience alcohol withdrawal (first-timer)?

Old 08-21-2016, 10:02 PM
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What happened to me? Did I experience alcohol withdrawal (first-timer)?

This post is a little long, but for anyone who reads it entirety thanks for taking the time.

I had a scare moment earlier this week in the middle of the work day. Around noon, out of nowhere, my voice became slightly shaky, heart was racing very fast, hands were shaking, my whole body was just kind of twitchy. Felt like I had drank 100 cups of coffee. I was at work and freaked out, called a nurse hotline because I had no idea what was happening to my body. I couldn't get my body to calm down no matter what I did. I ended up walking around outside for a bit and finally just sat down, drank some water, and after awhile my body came back to calm.

I should also mention that earlier in the morning, I drank a 24 oz energy drink and only had 2-3 hours of sleep the previous night.

So now let me give the backstory of what led up to that moment.

For a period of ~4 weeks I was drinking pretty heavily almost every day. I'd drink anywhere in between 4-5 on a light day, 9-10 on a moderate day, and maybe up to 15 or so on a heavy day. Mostly beer and whiskey. I'd start anywhere in between 4 pm and 9 pm and drink anywhere from a 2 hours at a time all the way up to probably 10 hours some days. I wasn't really keeping track, but I was drinking nearly every day.

I stopped getting hangovers and was just enjoying being out at the bars with the locals. I'd go out and drink, and wake up the next morning with no hangover whatsoever (even if I had 15 drinks) and be full of energy for the work day. Everything seemed fine.

Then for a few days in a row, I noticed just a strange body sensation sometimes. Couldn't really tell what it was, but I noticed something odd. This happened for maybe 3-4 days. And then BAM -- out of nowhere, I had the scary episode at the top of this post.

That episode happened on Tuesday (today is Sunday). So here's what happened between Tuesday and now. (I read about "tapering down" if this was indeed withdrawal)

So the same day I had the anxiety/panic attack or whatever that was, I had exactly 6 drinks that night. The next morning, I woke up with the thumping heart and twitchy feeling all over my body. I drank some gatorade, took some vitamins, and after an hour or so it disappeared. The rest of the day was normal, feeling just fine.

Wednesday I had 4 drinks. In the middle of the night, I woke up with the thumping heart again. Went away after an hour or so and fell asleep. The rest of the day was perfectly fine and normal.

Thursday I had 2 drinks. Slept just fine, and all day was fine.

Friday I had 0 drinks. Slept fine, all day was fine.

I figured maybe this was just a fluke, so saturday I went out with a friend and had 9-10 drinks or so.

Sunday (today) around 11 am, I had the thumping heart, twitchy feeling, but this time I had a general sense of confusion for a bit. Really weird body sensation. It eventually went mostly away after a couple hours and I took a nap. Woke up from the nap with thumping heart again. Continued, but in a very mild manner for most of the day until 5 pm. Then I had 1 beer at a family cookout and after that 1 beer I felt perfectly fine and dandy.

I'm trying to figure out what exactly happened to me? I've never drank this much before 4 weeks ago. From my research, it looks like this might be a form of withdrawal.

I hate to think that I've permanently altered my brain chemistry or body. I'd like to go back to being a regular social drinker. It'd be nice to go out and have 6 drinks or so and not wake up with the scary thumping heart feeling. Maybe it's too late?

Do you think it's possible for me to recover and be able to consume more than 2 beers and wake up fine the next day? I don't have any emotional addiction to alcohol -- I was simply having fun drinking nightly and up until the scare episode I was not suffering any negative consequences.

Thanks for reading. Looking for any input.
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Old 08-21-2016, 10:29 PM
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If you read the sticky at the top of this forum that is " excerpts from "Under the Influence"" you may gain some valuable insight that might help answer some of your questions and give you some direction on where you might need to go forward.
Only you can figure out where you lie on the alcoholic spectrum. It could just be you are a heavy drinker. And that things are reversible to a state you want. However you will find that all of us who stick around here have been there done that, and know that alcoholism is a progressive disease and once you cross that invisible line there's a good chance there's no going back to normal levels.
I used to drink much like you and for many years before I experienced withdrawal, as in heavy withdrawal from heavy drinking. I first came to sr with a very similar post and was quite irked with the answers I got and went away and proceeded to drink myself into oblivion and hell for two years following.
Withdrawal and high tolerance are big signs of dependency in this area. It's all downhill from there if you continue to want to drink the way you used to.
Moderation chasing for someone who is walking the alcoholic path is like the donkey following the carrot dangling on a stick. It's tiring, draining, all consuming and not even worth it.
My very caring advice from someone who was once you at that age and progressed to much worse even though things still seemed manageable for a long time... do what you can to halt it now. It's not going to get better. I wish I had taken my head out of my rear and listened to the folks here when I first came here. I did myself and my family a world of hurt by putting drink above the rest. Maybe it's time to look at your priorities and do some reading around the site?
Please. Don't end up like me. Stop before stopping seems impossible.
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Old 08-21-2016, 10:39 PM
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In AA, we call actions such as yours "doing research." You have just discovered that alcoholism is progressive--you are experiencing worse and worse withdrawal symptoms. What more needs to happen before you decide to quit drinking?
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Old 08-21-2016, 11:24 PM
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[QUOTE=leeman;6102358]
I had a scare moment earlier this week in the middle of the work day. Around noon, out of nowhere, my voice became slightly shaky, heart was racing very fast, hands were shaking, my whole body was just kind of twitchy. Felt like I had drank 100 cups of coffee. I was at work and freaked out, called a nurse hotline because I had no idea what was happening to my body. I couldn't get my body to calm down no matter what I did. I ended up walking around outside for a bit and finally just sat down, drank some water, and after awhile my body came back to calm..QUOTE]

This happened to me three months before I stopped drinking:

One morning sticks out to me in particular. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was April 2014. I woke up hungover (like every day), dressed, and went to work. Soon after arriving at my desk I began sweating a cold sweat with chills. I was checking my emails and felt the sudden urgent need to get up and pace around the room. My heart was beating rapidly and I felt like I was only taking 1/2 breaths. It was quite alarming. This particular feeling was new to me. I remember that even reading through an email made me feel like I was having a panic attack. My eyes are brain were not synchronizing like they should have. The intensity of this episode lasted maybe 15 minutes before I calmed down. How I got through the rest of the day, I'll never know.

Your description reminds me a lot of what happened to me.

You mention that you'd like to go back to social drinking. You also mentioned that you sometimes drink 15 drinks in a night. I also drank 15 drinks a night on a regular basis so I know exactly what a body feels like after that amount.

Sometimes it took 15 drinks for me to get through an evening. When I say "get through an evening" I mean that when I had the urge to take a sip, I took a sip and it filled the five or so hours I had from getting home from work to being able to fall asleep. Normal people would call this "passing out."

Number one, your tolerance is huge. I remember thinking that I drank more in one night than was recommended for an entire week. Also that I would drink that much on work nights and go to work the next day when normal people would go to the emergency room with alcohol poisoning.

Basically, once it takes 15 to hit the sweet spot, nothing less will ever do. Certainly not a normal amount like two beers. It may work for a few days but I'd guess the huge amount will return.

Moderation attempts were a nightmare for me. I felt more anxious if I was in a situation where I could only have two drinks (dinner with friends, party, etc.) than if I had none at all.
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Old 08-22-2016, 01:15 AM
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Hi and welcome leeman

I'm not a doctor so I cannot tell you whats going on. I will direct you to this link on kindling tho.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...lly-again.html

I can't tell you if you're suffering from kindling either, but it may give you some food for thought, and a starting point to ask some questions of a real Doctor

D
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Old 08-22-2016, 12:24 PM
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I think, if nothing else, your body is trying to tell you to stop and take a good look at what you're doing to it. Please listen to your instincts. If you feel what you're doing isn't good. It probably isn't. I drank Red Bull and Jager for years and there's no faster way to end up in an ER with a rapid heart rate and a panic attack from hell.
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Old 08-22-2016, 01:13 PM
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Not in anyway to sound like medical advise, but it sure seems like your body /neuro chemistry is having an adverse reaction to alcohol. maybe it's a temporary thing?
Are you sure you don't have at least a small emotional attachment to intoxication? (which in my view, phormer drunk phd) is just as if not more dangerous going forward. Maybe stick to the two beer limit, and if that proves too hard , it may be a good idea to consider just not consuming alcohol, its just one chemical among countless others and it may not 'like' your chemistry, or rather your chemistry may not like it.
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Old 08-22-2016, 01:16 PM
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Old 08-22-2016, 02:24 PM
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Mate, this sounds eerily familiar. With the one difference that you're not yet as bad as I was when I decided to quit for the last time. Bear in mind, nobody but a doctor can give you medical advice- and if somebody does, listening to them is a bad idea.

That being said, a tolerance of 15 standard drinks (I assume you mean American measures- UK units are about half of that, I think) is not normal. A normal person would be out cold, and not in any shape to do anything but puke after something like that.

I got to a point, at the end of my last stretch, where that much was needed just to keep me from having withdrawals. No buzz, no feeling good, I needed a bottle of vodka just to feel "normal". Its been almost 9 days sober now, and I still feel the after-effects. The twitchiness, insomnia and anxiety mostly. Writing here helps.

Food for thought. You don't want this mate.

Can you drink just 2 beers and be normal the next day? I dunno. Can you? Have just 2 beers I mean? Or are you like me, and 2 beers turn into "meh, I can have two more, I'm no *****", turns into "**** it, I can be late to work tomorrow, three more", turns into "screw it, I'll buy a bottle of vodka and mix it with coke to keep my buzz going throughout the workday, nobody'll notice". Up to you to answer that question. All I can say is, at first my answer was "yes". It didn't keep.
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Old 08-22-2016, 02:34 PM
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Welcome to SR

Originally Posted by leeman View Post
I'd like to go back to being a regular social drinker. It'd be nice to go out and have 6 drinks or so and not wake up with the scary thumping heart feeling.
A couple things...first, that you equate regular social drinking with six or more drinks. I would guess you average more than 6. So you must have some idea in your head what an alcoholic drinks, and that it vastly exceeds your consumption. It's not how much you drink, but how it affects you.

Second, even though you suffered anxiety after drinking that caused you much concern, you don't want to give it up. If a health scare won't make you consider stopping, what will? I dont think normal social drinkers risk their health over a couple of drinks.

But alcoholics will.
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Old 08-22-2016, 09:29 PM
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To OP:
This sounds very familiar to how my withdrawals creeped there way into my drinking life.
It took me two years of continued efforts to manage the insanity that my drinking had become. The anxiety, panic attacks, eventually hallucinations kept getting worse and worse until I was ready to finally let go of alcohol. By the time I was ready, I could not and ended up in hospital to detox. I would recommend quitting before things get worse.


....just my two cents, i realize that your situation is likely very different from mine
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Old 08-23-2016, 08:36 AM
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Yes your post resonates with me as well. I can remember trying to control the whens, wheres, and how much so often. I changed from red wine to white wine ( lower alcohol levels), to liquor ( because then I could control the amount of alcohol to aw say one shot, haha....always ended up with 3 shots in each, ooopsie how did THAT happen??? Anyways, that whole control game was frankly exhausting as hell!
I finally figured out if I was expending all this energy trying to control this thing, I MUST have a problem, right? I mean social drinkers and even moderate drinkers dont use any brain power on alcohol.
I experienced all of the same symptoms you refer to as well. For me I think it was a mixture of chemical/neurological imbalances as well as my sugar dropping out on me and a whole host of other physiological changes. Im not sure about your physical situation but its always a good idea to seek medical advice because we are all individuals and respond differently.
So what happened for me is I had this brief ( and I do mean BRIEF) moment of clarity where I thought to myself....if you were suffering these consequences from say eating bananas, would you keep eating them? Well Duh, I said to myself, no you wouldnt! Stop eating the Bananas! Stop drinking the alcohol!!!

Anyways, best of luck to you and blessings to you as well!
Im glad you are here asking questions, thats a fantastic start!
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