Obladi

Ok, then. Maybe your primary problem is anxiety. I don't know. We're sure not allowed to diagnose you any more than you can diagnose yourself.

I think going to see a doctor about this is a very good plan. You need to impress on that person the full picture of what you are experiencing. If you go to A&E and say, "I think my blood pressure is out of control," that's what they will look at. If you go to your physician and say, "I was concerned about my BP but it's fine now, and by the way I think I drink too much," that's what they will look at. You need to get to a medical professional and tell them straight out what you've been going through. Don't let yourself be rushed - this is serious biz and you deserve help.

Alternatively, or maybe in addition, can you find a shrink who has experience with dual diagnosis? It's entirely possible that this is exactly who you need.

It's a pain in the rear end to have to do all of this stuff when you're feeling like crap, but it certainly can't be any more difficult than living through what you are now.

In the meantime, how about an experiment? How about if you commit to a week without drinking to see how you feel then? It couldn't hurt.

O

Dee74

Ob makes some pretty good points

I'll continue to wish you well no matter what you decide BA

D

BanAlcohol

ScottFromWI

My guess is likely that he's not an alcoholic and you are. I had a very hard time accepting that myself, but that's what I needed to do. There is no logical explanation as to "why" that might be either - I also needed to accept that.

Sorry to hear that you are still drinking by the way, hope you can make the decision to quit some day.

BanAlcohol

ScottFromWI

As I said before, there is no logical answer to that question. You have to either accept that you cannot drink any alcohol, or accept the consequences if you do. Why your friend can drink and you can't is not relevant.

Dee74

I have some friends who could drink more than me and yet who never seem to have the obsession or bad consequences I did.

I had friends who drank less than me who are dead now from their drinking.

We may never know the answer to the question why but we can still do something about the problem and stop drinking.

D

ThatWasTheOldMe

Probably because your friend doesn't have alcoholism.
Focus on yourself. Alcohol withdrawal is a symptom of alcoholism; obviously most people that don't have alcoholism can drink like a fish. Until they develop alcoholism, then they start getting the symptoms you're talking about when they stop.

ThatWasTheOldMe

Incidentally, another symptom of alcoholism is worrying about the drinking of others.

I'm not kidding, these are diagnosable symptoms. We cannot give medical advice here, but I don't think I'll get in trouble for saying you should probably see a doctor and explain in detail your relationship with alcohol.

BanAlcohol

nez

What does knowing that do for you?

I am 6'1". I have a friend that is 6'7". We work in the same kitchen. I bump my head. He does not. I learned to watch my head and not bump it.

BanAlcohol

Obladi

I eat ice cream every day and I'm fine. If my diabetic friend ate ice cream every day, he would not be fine.

Stayingsassy

I thought you were keto! I was going to see how it panned out for you.

(Sugar addiction is also the devil).

least

I'd suggest seeing your doctor to get some temporary meds to reduce the withdrawal anxiety and possibility of seizures. Tapering rarely works. Just see the doctor and get meds and go cold turkey. After a few days the w/d anxiety is gone and you can learn to live a sober life.

August252015

Ban....(guess where I am about to go)
If you're dead, it doesn't matter why or how much or what kind or what your friend did....alcohol killed you.

You're doing an experiment with your life that I did for a long time. As I said before I was 12 yrs older than you are now when I finally quit. I also experienced most of the things you have told us about on top of my drinking - and I refused to believe people who told me that they were either connected to my obscene level of drinking, or could ONLY be addressed and treated if I got the alcohol out of my system.

I hope you update us that somehow, some way, some tiny part of you grabs onto something one of us says - and stops drinking.

nez

Possibly because he hasn't reduced his consumption. I was very similar to your friend. Higher consumption than other alcoholics I knew with no outward signs. Wake up fine next day and do it all over again. And again. And again. Physical reactions didn't show up for me until I reduced or stopped my consumption. When I did that, my body let me know that things were different. Things aren't normal. Alert! Alert! Alert! Body needs alcohol to continue functioning like it was before consumption changed. Alert! Alert! Meltdown imminent!

Obladi

I was speaking metaphorically, not literally. As in, it doesn't make any sense to wonder why someone who is not me doesn't have the same physical (or psychological) response to changed physical stimuli. My mom has very little tolerance for medication of any kind while others in our family don't seem to be touched by the same medication. We can wonder why until the cows come home, but the answer is, "Who knows? There's probably a scientific reason for this, but basically we're just all different from each other."

Same thing August says - maybe one of us can say something that can help Ban see that the "why" doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is acting on one's own reality.

ScottFromWI

That's actually your addictive mind talking. You are an alcoholic and bad things will happen to you if you keep drinking. What happens to other people when they drink is completely irrelevant in that regard.

Your addiction will try to find any possible excuse to keep drinking - and since you are still essentially binge drinking every day, it's pretty easy to convince you to keep doing it.

Quitting completely is the only solution that will work for you regardless of what will work for others.

nez

If you don't think alcohol use is causing your symptoms, it would be highly recommended to get a work up by a doctor, which is never a bad idea anyway. Prevention is always better than correction.