Natural Means of Dealing with Withdrawal?
 

Hello, first time poster but not a first time withdrawer. I was wondering if anybody knows of ways to help with alcohol withdrawal symptoms that do not involve prescription drugs, like perhaps vitamins or juices or things like that. I know I need to stop drinking but I'm shaking so much I can't do anything unless I take a drink or take a benzo. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

Welcome rm! It really is best to visit a dr. if you have any worrisome symptoms. Withdrawal can be dangerous!

I took B1 and drank lots of water, because I know alcoholics are deficient in B1. It doesn't manage withdrawal symptoms though.

Good luck and be careful!

Welcome RM and glad to hear that you plan on quitting, you won't regret that decision.

Regarding withdrawals, if you are to the point of physical dependance you really need to see a doctor. There is no "safe" way to do it on your own, and it can be dangerous - even fatal in rare instances. Please speak with a medical professional so you can deal with it safely.

No safe way to withdraw without medical supervision.

We have to remember that withdrawal can be fatal. I did it on my own and almost died plus I ended up in a hospital anyway. This is not a hangover where home remedies aren't going to hurt anything. It is very important you have medical supervision

This kind of "help" kept me drinking for years.
Detoxing from alcohol is hell. Keep posting, we are here for you.

Thanks for the input everyone. Is this something you can go to your primary care physician for? I don't want to go to the hospital and be put in the psych ward.

Yes, do see your doctor for medical help in getting safely thru w/d. Better safe than sorry.

I remember feeling like you did all too well. I detoxed on my own, and the first three days were bad, but after that the shakes went away.
Everyone is different tho. If you are unsure or need medical attention I would go in. I guess start with the primary doctor, and perhaps they can refer you? I don't know the answer since I detoxed myself.

Your GP can help you with detox.

Please be safe and see him ASAP.

You don't need to suffer or risk your life.

No one is going to lock you up, rm.

Hi and welcome rm6582 :)

I always recommend people seek professional medical help.

I had a very bad last at home detox.

I'm not saying this will happen to everyone, but I ended up suffering several mini strokes and, bottom line is, I'll never be the same again.

I wish, very much, that'd I'd seen a Dr now.

There are a lot of free or low cost clinics around - if there's one in your local area you might get some medical advice there?

http://www.needymeds.org/free_clinics.taf
http://www.211.org/

D

There was nothing anyone can or could say that kept me drinking or kept me sober. This has always been and always will be 100% my responsibility.

Yes, my primary care doctor set me up on a ativan taper and gave me some other tips to help with the process (hydration, electrolyte replacement, vitamin supplements). I also signed up for an outpatient treatment program at about the same time. At my first appointment they reviewed what my pcp's plan was and said it was solid and didn't make any changes to it.

I personally think that going through some type of supervised detox raises your odds of getting through that first crucial step towards sobriety. I can't count how many times I had decided to quit only to cave when things became uncomfortable.

Absolutely you can go to your GP. My first withdrawal involved nonstop panic attacks, severe insomnia, heart palpitations, dangerously high blood pressure, and high heart rate. I had no idea when I decided to stop then that any of this was possible. After a day of that I started researching withdrawal and became so frightened of the possibility of a seizure that I bit the bullet and visited my GP.

I'll be honest, I hate that I have that on my medical record, but it may have saved my life. Minimally, it gave me piece of mind. The GP gave me a taper schedule of benzos and something for my heart rate and blood pressure. My GP also had blood work and an EKG done. Thank goodness I was the last patient, because my visit lasted 1 1/2 hour. 15 minutes after I got home and took the meds, I stopped feeling like I was going to die.

My GP was very compassionate and understanding, and seemed very concerned for my health and safety. They had me follow up a few times in close succession to monitor things. I'm glad I took that route instead of waiting until I had to go to the ER.

Of course, I've foolishly relapsed a few times since then, since I'm not too bright, but none of the subsequent times have required medical attention. I don't plan on there being another time, either. I've had enough of that roller coaster.

Best of luck, and please seek medical help if you need it.

I tried all sorts of 'natural' remedies to ease withdrawal; in hindsight, it was just some kind of attempt on my part to downplay how grim my situation was. The reality is acute ethanol withdrawal is serious business and you need serious meds to get through it (relatively) comfortably. As everyone else said, go see your doc or go to the ER. They won't judge you or send you to a psych ward, or anything like that.

When they had me locked up in the psych ward for alcoholic patients, I was there for ten weeks. We had a constant stream of new patients over that time, only one had really serious withdrawal, DTs, screaming and all that. Lasted a couple of days. He had medical supervision of course.

Our hospital boards (in NZ) have there research on which they base their provision of services. They work on 1% of alcoholics needing medically supervised detox. It a practical sense this means sometimes there are not enough beds, They only have 5 in our capital city, but a lot of the time all beds are empty.

They out me on Ativan, fro no good reason I could see and after 3 days, when I woke up straight and realised the effect this drug has on me, I refused to take anymore.

My greatest fear, based in the fact that I have seen it so often, is jumping on the medication bandwagon too early, merely to avoid discomfort, and ending up with another addiction.

A few months back I worked with an alcoholic who got hooked on Benzos. Alcohol withdrawal is realtively short, a few days. Benzos can take a long time, months to ween off, and it is incedibly tough going. It just horrifies me what she had to go through and in the end she didn't make it.

It all comes down to self honesty. In my belief if I am taking medication to treat a condition or specific symptoms/pain, I am ok, but if I get to medicating to avoid the possibility of pain, I could be in trouble.

What a doc will do is prescribe a small number of benzos and give you a medication schedule to wean you off over the course of several days to a week. In really severe cases you might be hospitalized, but still given a diminishing dose of benzos and maybe fluids. Unfortunately there is no magic easy way to stop drinking, if you've been drinking enough long enough to get withdrawals worse than a hangover, so hopefully you aren't expecting an instant cure. :)

Oddly a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in water helped me and herbal teas. No magical fix tho. See what the doc says better to be safe then sorry I guess. I never went to the doc but was ready to hit the er if I couldn't hack it or something.

A competent doctor will use a short acting benzo and put the patient on a strict taper. Like you said alcohol withdrawal is short in duration, and so the benzo taper should be as well. The benzo taper is supposed to be used primarily to prevent seizures (with the side benefit of reducing anxiety), so when the risk of seizures has passed the benzos should be stopped. Unfortunately there are too many doctors that don't adhere to that strategy IMO and over-prescribe benzos to the detriment of their patients.

I don't know what a Dr might do.
I'm not a Dr :)

They might prescribe benzoes, they may not...they may prescribe other meds, they may not.

We're free to take what advice we're given or get a second opinion.

The recommendation I make to go see a doctor is based on making sure your detox will be safe.

D