ManiaMan

Hey guys, I am a 21 year old college student (Junior, 3rd year) and I've come to the realization that I need to stop drinking. I want to start of by saying I strictly drink beer and despise hard alcohol. I come from a family that has a history of alcoholism, including my own mother, and I was able to drink heavily for a few years now but I can't do it anymore.

The first two years of college I was able to drink heavily and have a hangover, but I could deal with it and just move on with my day. This past summer I had my first Delirious Tremens situation. I was in my car on the way to the grocery store after a night of drinking and I started to shake uncontrollably and I had this weird feeling in my chest along with a panic attack-like mind set. It lasted pretty much that entire day, easing every so slowly, but I figured I just had a really bad hangover and it would go away.

After a few weekends of heavy drinking and having this continued feeling I researched my symptoms and realize what I was suffering from. I kept drinking like an idiot, even now back at college, and they just get worse and worse. Lately, the day of my DT's, usually a Sunday, I can't go to bed. I've gotten to the point where I've accepted it and I just stay up watching TV all night long.

This morning I had my first hallucination of a spider and it scared the living **** out of me.

The worst part about my story is that nobody knows. I live in an apartment with 6 of my friends and I haven't told them of my morning hangover symptoms. I usually hide in my room when my DT's are occurring. If I drink heavily on a Thursday night or during the week it's effecting me because I'm in class with these symptoms, I have to get up and leave the room several times.

I'm done with drinking. I am fed up with all of this ******** I'm putting myself through just to have a good time a few nights out of the week. My tolerance is also getting insane, I can drink almost 20 beers in a night if I have the energy and pace myself. I know understand why people take binge drinking in college seriously. I used to just laugh at it because so many people binge drink so often. But I can be used as an example of why you shouldn't do it. I know I can do this if I dedicate myself to it. I quit smoking cigarettes cold turkey earlier this year and that was really tough. I know this will be harder because my roommates will be binge drinking all the time but I do have a sober roommate who I can hang out with when they do decide to binge drink.

Please leave any comments or advice that you have for me.

odaat

Glad you've found your way here MainaMan. You say you need to stop drinking. Have you thought about how you are going to do this?

GlassPrisoner

Welcome !

Alcohol is alcohol. Doesn't matter what it's mixed with.

It does sound like you're experiencing withdraw. Fun, ain't it ?!?!

Get out while you can. You're still young and strong. Alcohol is patient. It'll wait 'till your about 40 and then the train really starts to rock and roll.

As far as the smokes, good job ! But, a word of advice, quitting booze (and staying stopped) is a little harder.

ManiaMan

Just stopping all together. Quitting. Period. Working out more, leaving the house when my friends drink. I don't have withdrawl symptoms everyday I don't drink. It's just the day after my binge drinking I'm mentally insane. The next day I am back to normal. The thing about my drinking is, it is purely for the good time. I don't run around my apartment going "I need a drink!". I'm not trying to say like that is better or whatever, I'm just saying that my situation might be different in the aspect that I'm not a certified, drinking everyday heavily, alcoholic.

But if you have any advice for me I'd love to hear it.

Aysha

I agree with Glass. Stop while you still can. I am not a drinker but have many alcoholics in my family.It does get harder as you get older. If your that young going through those symtoms. TIME TO SERIOUSLY STOP!!!
I hope you do so.
Glad you are here.

Anna

Hi and Welcome,

Good decision!

And, I'm glad you have a roommate you can hang out with who doesn't drink. There is lots of support here, so keep posting.

Jersey Nonny

[b] "We're as sick as our secrets." Admitting to your alcoholism is a big step, and fessing up here at SR is a good beginning to recovery. That you have at least one friend to support you is great...maybe he'll go to some open AA meetings with you. You asked for advice, and that would be the best I have to offer.

ManiaMan

Jersey, I couldn't agree more. I have come to terms with it, I have been thinking about it in the back of my head for 2 months and shrugging it off. I'm sick of it, I'm starting to realize that ruining my body and acting like bafoon isn't worth it.

Tazman53

Welcome to SR, I would highly reccommend you take this test http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/....cfm?PageID=71

If you are having withdrawals, in particualr DT's then you need to see a doctor before you try and stop drinking.

Check out alcohol withdrawals, withdrawal can kill you, every time one goes through withdrawals it is worse then the last time.

Alcoholism is a progressive disease, it gets worse with every drink and NEVER gets better! If you stopped today and did not touch another drop of booze for 10 years and started drinking again the disease will pick up right where it left off.

See the doctor first, then if you find you can not stay stopped on your own please check out long term recovery programs like AA. I can assure you there is at least one AA group that meets on your campus, check it out, it makes a huge difference knowing that you are not alone.

Why fight the beast alone when there are people willing to help you in the battle?

parentrecovers

nice to meet you, maniaman. is there a counseling center on your campus? they should be able to offer you some confidential info on support groups and aa in your area, if you're interested.

my daughter was your age when she decided to work towards recovery, so i understand where you're coming from.

keep posting - there's actually quite a few young folks posting here right now.

blessings, k

ManiaMan

Do you mean that literally? As in you can literally die if you are a heavy drinker and then stop drinking?

Tazman53

YES!!!!! When I went through detox my blood pressure was through the roof even though they were trying to control it with meds, this can cause heart attack and stroke.

DT's can do all kinds of things, siezures being a killer, they had me pumped full of anti-siezure meds for over 3 days.

The bad stuff usually does not start to kick in until the 2nd day, but every one is different, for some it can set in the first day, for others the 3rd.

It can and does literally kill people!

GlassPrisoner

Yup, during my last de-tox , my BP was 210/160. I almost blew a gasket.

ManiaMan

My DT's last the day after I drink. I usually have a 3-4 day hiatus where I don't drink after Sunday. I drink Thursday-Sunday and have horrible DT's on that day after but Monday-Thursday I feel pretty good without any alcohol in my system. When you say DT's last several days...I've really only had them last a full day at the most.

Afraid2Succeed

hey maniaman, welcome to SR!

i can relate, when i was in college i used to black out every nite. guess i lucked out and didn't get the DT's like you. listen to your body and treat it right. you'll find most people after leaving college cut back drastically and lead healthy lives. it's hard to lead a teetotal lifestyle in school, but thousands do. come over to the dark side, my friend!

ManiaMan

Thanks and I can relate to what you just said. I have a roommate that probably drinks more than I do and he doesn't even get that hungover. 3 nights in a row binge drinking for me and i feel like I should be in a mental institution.

I have found out that working out during a DT session seems to lessen the severity and also gets my mind off of it. Is that dangerous or is there any legitimacy to that?

Tazman53

Maniaman Everyone is different, I did not mean the DT's will last for days at first, but everything gets worse and longer the more often one detoxes.

There is a huge difference between blacking out and withdrawals, they are not even related to each other. I had black outs every evening for years, rarely did I ever get the shakes, of course if you are drinking every day the shakes stay away along with withdrawals.

Tazman53

I am not going to give you medical advice, I will only speak from my first hand knowledge of my alcoholism.

When I was with drawing from alcohol my blood pressure was through the roof even being given medication for my blood pressure by a doctor.

Now using common sense extreme exercise combined with blood pressure through the roof equals what?

Go see a doctor before you wind up killing your self. This is like playing russian roulette, which withdrawal is going to kill you? Do you keep pulling the trigger until the gun goes off or do you see a doctor.

ManiaMan

Yeah I definately will TazMan

Jersey Nonny

Good advice, MM...since no one here is medically qualified, we can only offer suggestions based on our own experiences, or those of folks we have seen go through withdrawal and/or DT's.

I had my share of "lost nights"...never knew they were "black-outs" until I heard about them in the rooms of AA. When I got sober, we used to kid that doctors back then really didn't know enough about alcoholism, and just thought we had a "librium defficiency". That was the drug I was given in detox. Made me feel like a walking zombie, and I hated it; but, that was the prescribed med the first day or two...in order to prevent the DT's.

I knew a guy who fell off the bed in the throws of the DT's and broke his back. Didn't stop him from drinking, though...body cast and all. Talk about insanity!