Cold turkey
 

I have been drinking almost every day for the past 7 years. 6-8 beers and one hard drink daily. I am on day 4 of no drinks, no medication. The first three days I have had a headache, insomnia, and today got a little light headed. I am drinking lots of water. What should I expect from here?

Hi Pave- every body reacts differently with sobriety. I would strongly suggest you get a full medical done by your doctor. So you know and understand where you are and what you need to do to be healthy and not relapse.

Thanks
 

I just had a full physical and everything is fine. I did not mention trying to quit drinking at the time though.

I hope you are not alone. It is important that someone knows what you are doing. I Googled everthing I could think of about home detox because I wanted to know what I was up against and when I should call 911. I also found a timeline which helped me count the hours until my body was clean.

Thanks
 

I have googled everything as well. I haven't had any severe symptoms at this point.

Hi Pave

drinking everyday for that long I'd recommend a Dr too. I know you've just seen one, but reconsider if you're concerned or feeling especially ill.

This is a link complied from various members detox experiences:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html

D

Not allowed to give medical advice here, but I would anticipate anxiety and insomnia for a while.. but those can drive a person crazy or drive them back to relapse, so while they don't sound like life-threatening concerns, they are sobriety threatening! We tend to try to quell them in any way we can and may end up turning to other substances, qualifying that it's okay because they are not the thing we are addicted to, but they can steer us right back to drinking.

If you have fears that things may get worse, I'd suggest telling your doctor about your drinking history and that you have just quit. A regular physical won't assess all the areas that would be assessed if they knew about your full history.

Glad you have decided to get sober, and join us here on SR! Seeing a doctor is always a good idea, they can help you through any withdrawal symptoms you may be having, and also give you an overall assessment of where your health is.

The first few days are definitely the hardest. I struggled more with the habit of drinking each night, and found it was important to schedule things to keep me busy during those first weeks.

You can do this!

On about day 4 you are through the woods of anything serious for the most part. Now the hard part starts of making sure you don't have to go through it again,

Welcome Pave