Alcohol withdrawal- your exp?
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Central California
Posts: 83
Alcohol withdrawal- your exp?
Would anyone mind sharing your withdrawal experience with me? My first time just over day. My symptoms are mild to moderate according to clinic, but sure feels like hell! I was sent home with a weeks worth of light tranquilizers, Folic Acid and Thiamine. And told well, to stop drinking...thanks doc, will do, lol
Currently is my brain feels like mush, of course i need a toilet near by (that's fun). And of course the anxiety and depression and its friends have joined the party too.....I can't sleep to save my life. Generally, I just feel...well sick? Do you have anything (assuming you were treated at home) you did that helped some? Showers, A/C cranked down to -60 degrees for slight sweating, drinking water til you exploded. I cant seem to find good reprieve. Maybe it's just too early? I appreciate anything that may have helped worked for you. And not taking it as medical advise, but would love to know how you coped...because this S&^% sucks. I do feel a little better than say 12 hrs ago. But i look and feel like a wreck....
Ryan
Currently is my brain feels like mush, of course i need a toilet near by (that's fun). And of course the anxiety and depression and its friends have joined the party too.....I can't sleep to save my life. Generally, I just feel...well sick? Do you have anything (assuming you were treated at home) you did that helped some? Showers, A/C cranked down to -60 degrees for slight sweating, drinking water til you exploded. I cant seem to find good reprieve. Maybe it's just too early? I appreciate anything that may have helped worked for you. And not taking it as medical advise, but would love to know how you coped...because this S&^% sucks. I do feel a little better than say 12 hrs ago. But i look and feel like a wreck....
Ryan
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Location: Australia
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The best thing I can do is direct you to this thread:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html
I'm sure people will add their experiences here tho...
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html
I'm sure people will add their experiences here tho...
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Probably my living room. Maybe my bedroom if I'm feeling lazy
Posts: 1,085
I'm a bit hesitant to share mine because it is still painful to even think about.
We're talking worse case scenario. But I will share as a warning to those who underestimate how cunning, baffling and powerful alcohol is.
I wrote this in May. Looking back, it doesn't even scratch the surface of how bad it was.
My first post here on SR. Here's the main part:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ml#post3972448
We're talking worse case scenario. But I will share as a warning to those who underestimate how cunning, baffling and powerful alcohol is.
I wrote this in May. Looking back, it doesn't even scratch the surface of how bad it was.
My first post here on SR. Here's the main part:
I actually went through a similar situation myself. I was drinking a fifth of vodka every night after work for around 3 years. It was the withdrawals that got me. I had the DTs; I was hallucinating and throwing up dried blood. My family came to my apartment to find me on the floor because I couldn't even stand up. I ended up in the ICU, on a ventilator and in a coma. I had 6 blood transfusions, and 7 IV's, including a main line to my jugular for benzodiazapines to try to stabilize me. My family was told that I had basically a 0% chance of me pulling through, that I wouldn't make it past the fourth day, and to start planning my funeral.
But I woke up.
I ended up with alcoholic hepatitis (temporary) and aspiration pneumonia from all the vomiting and having a breathing tube down my throat for 4 days. When I was admitted, my liver panels were off the chart. I had to re-learn how to walk and talk again. But when I was discharged just a week later, my labs were almost back to normal and they are fine now. The doctors said they had never seen such a quick recovery and I am now a case study for liver function regeneration.
But I woke up.
I ended up with alcoholic hepatitis (temporary) and aspiration pneumonia from all the vomiting and having a breathing tube down my throat for 4 days. When I was admitted, my liver panels were off the chart. I had to re-learn how to walk and talk again. But when I was discharged just a week later, my labs were almost back to normal and they are fine now. The doctors said they had never seen such a quick recovery and I am now a case study for liver function regeneration.
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Probably my living room. Maybe my bedroom if I'm feeling lazy
Posts: 1,085
Originally Posted by Alphabet 
Oh my goodness digdug, that sounds terrifying. I'm so happy you pulled through <3
The PTSD is a killer though. The nightmares are getting less frequent, but I have to go back to the same hospital on Tuesday for an unrelated orthopedic issue. I am scared to death. But I joked with my friend, probably the best place to have a panic attack is the hospital.
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 465
I have gone throw withrawrals a number of times, some more severe than others. When I was first posting here I was going through them and could barely string together a coherent sentance; my mind was just not functioning. Uncontrolable shaking, labored breathing, vomiting, ocular difficulty, chest pains, the inability to even walk to the kitchen for a glass of water, constant lethargy yet the inability to sleep were all things I've experienced physically. It's never fun, and oftentimes very painful. Sometimes they've get so severe that I had no choice but to go to an inpatient detox facility, or at least to the ER to ensure I didn't have a seizure or go into cardiac arrest. Thankfully it has never come to that, but with the amount of alcohol I was consuming on a daily basis caused me enough worry to seek medical attention during the most difficult episodes.
Everyone is different; weight, age, and medications you may already be taken can also factor in.
I hope this helps, and I sincerely hope you feel better soon. The first 3 or so days can be brutal, but after that I've found my symptoms start to fade and I'm a functioning adult again.
We've all been there <3
Everyone is different; weight, age, and medications you may already be taken can also factor in.
I hope this helps, and I sincerely hope you feel better soon. The first 3 or so days can be brutal, but after that I've found my symptoms start to fade and I'm a functioning adult again.
We've all been there <3
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Ca
Posts: 20
I had some detoxing that I don't want to revisit. In between my water intake every couple hours I'd drink a cup of juice like v8 fusion and take a b-vitamin. Paced when I could stand then would just lay back down and try to watch tv to stop thinking about how horrible I felt. Then I would read posts on here like all night when I couldn't sleep. Helped with the anxiety a lot. Anyways I know it sucks but good luck. I hope you feel better soon.
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: London
Posts: 369
My feared going through alcohol withdrawal is what keeps me from going back to it. That and the damage I was inevitably going to do to my liver if I kept my binges up . In fact if alcohol did not produce such a horrific withdrawal syndrome I would probably have started drinking again by now....
I had alcoholic hallucinosis when coming off a binge. Physically I'd say my withdrawals were mild to moderate: my BP was within normal range but my heart rate was certainly faster than usually and occasionally palpitating and I had mild tremor but the hallucinations s ared me straight.
I hadn't eaten anything for two weeks save for two bags of crisps, two bowls of soup and a piece of toast. Aside from that nothing solid past my lips for those two weeks. I was also seriously sleep deprived as I was terrified of falling asleep and not waking up again. My eyes looked like I'd just smoked a ton of pot and I felt so weak I could barely walk to the shop to buy more booze, but I managed somehow...
My room was a disaster, with bottles of vodka littered all over the floor, my bathroom stunk of vomit and all my clothes were dirty. The day I tried to quit my bender I started hearing singing from outside my window - a beautiful melody which I assumed was either someone playing it from a radio or another student on campus singing. I realised it was white noise coming from the fan from my bathroom. I went online and read about withdrawal seizures and full blown DTs and, figuring that's where I was heading, I rang an ambulance. The paramedics took my BP and said it was fine but when I told them how much I was drinking and the hallucinations they took me to hospital. There I waited for about 3 hours for a nurse to see me. They clearly didn't think my situation was very serious, so I faked a panic attack in the waiting room... A nurse gave me a script of valium and I left the hospital with no money for a cab back to the university. It was 3am and the walk was an hour through the city and into countryside to the university. I started walking and in the way back was in a state if semis pyschosis, imagining that gangs if people were gonna come and attack me. I didn't actually see anyone the whole way back..
S there we are, my withdrawal experience... Haven't thought about it for a while because it was so utterly chaotic and out of character for me to be in a situation like that and it just fuels my anger against alcohol for doing that to me...
Don't ever get to be in my position... It was pure hell
I had alcoholic hallucinosis when coming off a binge. Physically I'd say my withdrawals were mild to moderate: my BP was within normal range but my heart rate was certainly faster than usually and occasionally palpitating and I had mild tremor but the hallucinations s ared me straight.
I hadn't eaten anything for two weeks save for two bags of crisps, two bowls of soup and a piece of toast. Aside from that nothing solid past my lips for those two weeks. I was also seriously sleep deprived as I was terrified of falling asleep and not waking up again. My eyes looked like I'd just smoked a ton of pot and I felt so weak I could barely walk to the shop to buy more booze, but I managed somehow...
My room was a disaster, with bottles of vodka littered all over the floor, my bathroom stunk of vomit and all my clothes were dirty. The day I tried to quit my bender I started hearing singing from outside my window - a beautiful melody which I assumed was either someone playing it from a radio or another student on campus singing. I realised it was white noise coming from the fan from my bathroom. I went online and read about withdrawal seizures and full blown DTs and, figuring that's where I was heading, I rang an ambulance. The paramedics took my BP and said it was fine but when I told them how much I was drinking and the hallucinations they took me to hospital. There I waited for about 3 hours for a nurse to see me. They clearly didn't think my situation was very serious, so I faked a panic attack in the waiting room... A nurse gave me a script of valium and I left the hospital with no money for a cab back to the university. It was 3am and the walk was an hour through the city and into countryside to the university. I started walking and in the way back was in a state if semis pyschosis, imagining that gangs if people were gonna come and attack me. I didn't actually see anyone the whole way back..
S there we are, my withdrawal experience... Haven't thought about it for a while because it was so utterly chaotic and out of character for me to be in a situation like that and it just fuels my anger against alcohol for doing that to me...
Don't ever get to be in my position... It was pure hell
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