letlifebegin

Hello everyone. This is my first post on the forum. I'll be two weeks sober tomorrow. I had been drinking a 12 pack a night for about 4 years and finally decided enough was enough. I actually quit a week before my third child was born. I never thought I had a problem because I was never mean, always at work on time and always was productive both at work and at home. I decided my kids shouldn't have to watch their dad do this in front of them so I quit. After my second day sober my blood pressure spiked and landed me in the hospital having a stroke test, EKG, cat scan and more. It was very scary. About a week later I tried having four beers and the next day my blood pressure spiked again. That time it scared me enough to never want to touch it. I am still having really bad anxiety and heart palpitations. How long should I expect these symptoms to last? The heart palpitation happen about 10 times a day. My anxiety is really bad at night and not so bad during the day as long as I'm busy. I'm kinda scared that I'll never be normal again and could really use some advice. At times I feel like my body got worse after quitting. By the way, I quit smoking at the same time. I really just hope that I can stay strong willed and move forward.

serious

welcome. it's good that you got checked out at the hospital.
if there were any serious complications, they would have let you know.

anxiety and many other feelings of discomfort (to put it mildly) are natural and will eventually get a lot better.

you are doing the right thing for your health, but your body and mind need to heal and adjust. stay around and read and post. you'll find a lot of us have gone through hell and back and hell and back to remain sober. as hard as it is now, it is worth it.

remember why you've decided to quit in the first place. sober life is better, especially to set the right example for your children.

LadyBlue0527

Welcome to SR, this is a great place where you'll get a lot of support!

Melina

Great job so far!

And quitting smoking at the same time? I really admire that. I smoke a lot and I haven't been able to get to that quitting point yet. Cheers to you on that and keep it up!!

I do think sometimes we get worse before we get better. In my case, I started breaking out a lot after quitting when I was expecting to have excellent skin, immediately. And my sleep has been screwy which I considered a cruel joke. And then I have these random times where I almost actually feel a little drunk momentarily, which I just chalk up to my brain dumping bad stuff out. My anxiety spiked as well, but has since calmed down. And my skin looks darn good now for an almost middle-aged lady!

There's a lot of weird physical stuff that goes on after quitting. It's different for everyone. See all the threads started about crazy dreams after quitting and you'll see what I mean.

All of it is worth being sober, and from what I gather, it's all temporary.

See your doctor if any symptoms continue or worry you. NO MEDICAL ADVICE ON SR is a biggie around here for very important reasons!

A lot of us become frustrated because we are rushing to get sober. I said in another thread today, it's like I'm not good with Day 2, I want it to be Day 2000 right away.

Give time to time. See a doctor even for peace of mind. It should help with the anxiety.

Hope this helps,
Melina

resolute50

Welcome to SR.

Congrats on 2 weeks.
I also went through some terrible high blood pressure spikes.
I didn't go to the hospital and it was a dumb move. But I think your anxiety will go away after another week or two at most. Everyone is different.
I'm almost 3 months now and feel pretty good these days.

flujays

Welcome to SR you are among friends. We're all here to help and support each other and it never ceases to amaze me the the wisdom, fortitude and intelligence of the people on this site. Alcoholism knows no boundaries, something I've found out along the way. I do hope you stick around and stay sober, your life depends on it. I have 3 young children myself and it was their love that carried me through the doors of AA for the first time this week. I know I've turned a corner in my journey to sobriety this week and I feel so happy to have found the support i need. Do you have a recovery plan? Have you considered AA in addition to SR? I wish you all the strength you can muster and look forward to chatting again.

FeenixxRising

Well done on 10 days. You should talk with your Dr. about the other issues.

Hevyn

Welcome letlifebegin! This is a great place to be as you start your sober life. It's good to be able to talk things over with people who truly understand.

For me, it took about a month to begin to heal physically. We've put our bodies through so much. I had heart palps & anxiety too - and everything got better. I agree with the others - your body is trying to adjust to the new you without alcohol & nicotine. It's a wonderful thing to be free - just be patient with yourself. Congratulations!

letlifebegin

Thank you all! I feel a lot better physically without alcohol. I wanted to quit both because I really only smoked when I drank, but did so every night for so long. I can tell it's going to be a long hard road. The first thing I started panicking about was the holidays, and how am I gonna make it... And trying to tell myself it'll be ok to have a few drinks on occasion. It was just me trying to find justification to drink. I hate the way I feel mentally right now but know what the long term goal is. I don't have a recovery plan so to speak. All I know at this point is that I want to quit for good and am going to look into meditation. I plan to start running eventually which should be easy because my whole family is all about that. I want to say I feel very blessed to have found this forum. It actually brought me to tears to know that I now have a non judgmental support group to turn to.

serious

SR family has been instrumental in helping many people recover.

in the mean time, while you are you reading and searching for a "plan" look up AVRT (google), you can learn about your addiction and how to deal with it on your own time and rather fast... from there you can figure out what to do and how to approach things to stay sober.

all your worries about the holidays, the "how am i going to live without drinking, etc.?" are similar to what most of us experience in the initial phase of recovery. this is a new life you are starting, sure is exciting and scary.

we're here to help and support. no judgments.

CaliButterfly

Hang in there, Letlifebegin. After a 12-pack a night for 4 years, your body is detoxing and your symptoms are normal. However, it can be dangerous to do it on your own, so I highly urge you talk to your doctor. There are detox meds that greatly help with the anxiety, insomnia, and blood pressure spikes. I was a LOT like you, in the respect that I was a very responsible drinker that didn't let it get in the way of daily responsibilities, nor were my emotions volatile. You were, like me, a functioning alcoholic. That makes the justification to drink so much easier, doesn't it? But I realized that it stole the clarity of my memories of the night before, made me shaky in the morning, and wasted precious money on the very thing that made me feel like hell and ashamed of myself for not being able to control it. Once you know it controls you and you can't "take it or leave it", occasional drinking is no longer an option. Believe me, I tried... lol You mentioned taking up meditation? I recently read a book by a lady by the name of Pema Chodron called "When Things Fall Apart". I highly recommend checking it out. Mind you, I am not Buddhist, and that's not what it's trying to teach, but it is based on some of those principles. It helped me greatly learn more about myself, how to be at peace within myself, and not use external sources to find happiness. It has a whole chapter on the basics of meditation. It can guide you to help find inner peace and happiness which has an amazing effect on wanting to stay sober...