Dee74

I just accepted the skin crawling, the sweats , the blurred vision, the gut cramps, the immense fatigue and the auditory and visual hallucinations as par for the course.

I thought everyone got those, and I thought everyone 'drank them off'..

Aellyce

There is a lot of overlap between what we call hangovers and withdrawals. A common hangover (the immediate malaise following a heavy binge also in people who drink infrequently) is, at least in part and similarly to withdrawal, due to an acute rebound in response to the effect of alcohol on the nervous system and other parts of the body. And both hangover and withdrawal involve the dehydration and varying degrees of alcohol poisoning. People that are not alcoholic typically recover quite quickly (a day or so) from the hangover because the harm is more acute compared with the chronic damage we alcoholics subject ourselves to. The chronic exposure leads to persistent changes (sort of an adaptation but not in a good way) in how our body works and suddenly removing alcohol causes the severe mess and overreactions experienced by addicts as withdrawal.

Also, can't resist commenting on the way you live, Mike (I read about the sailing around the world on a boat also before on the forum) - it is so cool! I could imagine myself living that way also... well, not sailing but I kinda do as I have lived in many different places and while I now have a more stable base, I travel a lot, meet people all over etc. I have lived this way since my early 20's but the alcoholism in my 30's definitely made me stuck in many ways. Very glad that period is behind me now. My work now binds me to one place to a significant extent but it is such that I can do a lot of it from anywhere with a computer and internet connection. Anyhow, don't want to hijack the thread more with a different topic

MattM316

Alcohol withdrawals can kill you so it's for sure the best idea to see your doctor so they can advise the best course of action.

I got to the point where I had to keep drinking just to stave off the insane withdrawals.
It seemed to work for a while, but eventually your body can only take so much abuse.
Eventually I ended up having seizures and ending up in hospital (two lots of three seizures over the course of four years) along with a fractured shoulder (leading to three operations).

I've had some slip-ups since then and doing it cold turkey is not only a dangerous and risky idea, but it's also hellish.
Sitting around shaking, full of anxiety, with a pounding heart, hallucinations when you try to sleep and just waiting for a seizure to hit, really isn't the best way to go about things!

So take my advice, someone who has actually been through it more than once, and see your doctor asap.

wheresthefun

For me - YES!!!

I started drinking heavily/alcoholically (whatever anyone wants to call it) in my early to mid 20s and stopped at the age of 51 (July 2011). But, I did a lot of my mental heavy lifting about eight to nine years before I stopped drinking. So, I would say, especially for the last couple years of my drinking, it was simply a physical addiction. I think that's why stopping, FOR ME, was actually pretty easy at the time, because I'd already worked through most of my s***, and did and still have a great life. And, my life is even that much better, as a non-drinker.