All done. Help please.
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Join Date: Oct 2013
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All done. Help please.
I'm done. Please don't tell me to seek medical help, I won't unless I'm unconscious. If you can't or won't post here, please PM me.
I have been drinking a fifth of vodka a day. It is gone. Just had my last drop. I know tomorrow will be rough because I wake up with the shakes every single morning. I have a script of Xanax, i have a script for high BP, I have vitamins, I have soup, I need to just be done. Self moderation does not work for me,if I have one, I will have two...three...four...until I pass out.
NO, I will not see I doctor. YES, I will be miserable. Others have done it, I will do it too. If you have any advice, now is the time. Please. Please. I've abstained from alcohol before, but that was just wine, vodka tends to make me feel worse going off but is easier to hide, go figure. I will go to AA no problem there. But if there is any advice for the next few days I would very much appreciate it right now.
I have been drinking a fifth of vodka a day. It is gone. Just had my last drop. I know tomorrow will be rough because I wake up with the shakes every single morning. I have a script of Xanax, i have a script for high BP, I have vitamins, I have soup, I need to just be done. Self moderation does not work for me,if I have one, I will have two...three...four...until I pass out.
NO, I will not see I doctor. YES, I will be miserable. Others have done it, I will do it too. If you have any advice, now is the time. Please. Please. I've abstained from alcohol before, but that was just wine, vodka tends to make me feel worse going off but is easier to hide, go figure. I will go to AA no problem there. But if there is any advice for the next few days I would very much appreciate it right now.
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Welcome,
If you won't see a dr, that's fine, but it isn't about just being miserable or becoming unconscious. It's about staying alive. Detoxing from alcohol can kill you. It's unpredictable and dangerous.
I'm glad you have decided to stop drinking and that you are seeking support.
If you won't see a dr, that's fine, but it isn't about just being miserable or becoming unconscious. It's about staying alive. Detoxing from alcohol can kill you. It's unpredictable and dangerous.
I'm glad you have decided to stop drinking and that you are seeking support.
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: east coast
Posts: 1,711
welcome onthebrinj....you seem pretty set in your ways about how you are going to get started. My best advice to you is don't take that first drink no matter what and get yourself to an AA meeting asap. If you need a ride call the local AA hotline and someone will come pick you up. Face to face support was the only way I ended up being successful. Best wishes to you!
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 30
Im on Day 6 after quitting scotch... 14 years on... 6 days off. The first day was the worst. Nothing physical for me... but my mind was a wreck. Thought about it constantly. What has helped for me I guess if trying to keep myself busy doing something, anything. Go for a walk/jog... take a shower, cut the grass, vaccum the floors. Ive got a pot of tea on now... not sure if it will help...but Im doing something at least.
Im still figuring this whole thing out. Rough cravings for me tonight. Just my $.02. Hopefully others have some good practical suggestions.
Im still figuring this whole thing out. Rough cravings for me tonight. Just my $.02. Hopefully others have some good practical suggestions.
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 95
You know what I have to wonder, why is it that something that can kill you is LEGAL?? Pot is illegal (in most states anyway) yet you don't hear of people dying because they stop using. No, I don't do drugs, it's just a curiosity of mine that alcohol, which so many people struggle to break free from is legal but you never here of a stoner (sorry, 80s girl kicking in there) dying from quitting pot. Perhaps alcohol SHOULD be banned. Yes, that would **** a lot of people off but people don't die from pot withdrawals or cigarette withdrawal, please correct me if I'm wrong....yet alcohol is legal. Addictive. And can kill you.. Something is wrong here...
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Join Date: Oct 2013
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Thank you clones2, I am seriously looking for help but the bulk of this forum is GO TO THE DOCTOR. I can't. Period. I need to hear from people who have succeeded without a doctor and what helped.
If the people here TRULY want to help and KNOW the person canNOT go to a detox or doctor they should offer whatever wisdom they may have without scaring someone in to NOT quitting for fear of death or hospitalization. That is what has happened to me several times now, I want to quit, I read the forums and the net and I become AFRAID to quit.
I went to 6 AA meetings last year (not many I know) but not a single person there talked about detox and death like it's posted all over the net. It HAS to be possible and someone has to have ideas to help without going to the doctor, that's all I'm looking for. Support and ideas, like everyone else. I can't be the only one to detox without medical help.
If the people here TRULY want to help and KNOW the person canNOT go to a detox or doctor they should offer whatever wisdom they may have without scaring someone in to NOT quitting for fear of death or hospitalization. That is what has happened to me several times now, I want to quit, I read the forums and the net and I become AFRAID to quit.
I went to 6 AA meetings last year (not many I know) but not a single person there talked about detox and death like it's posted all over the net. It HAS to be possible and someone has to have ideas to help without going to the doctor, that's all I'm looking for. Support and ideas, like everyone else. I can't be the only one to detox without medical help.
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,393
Hi onthebrinj, welcome. If you already have the shakes every morning, I think you should taper for awhile. I tapered down from beer. I think the withdrawals will be too much to go cold turkey. That was my experience. Best wishes. Good decision to quit.
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Join Date: Jun 2013
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The rules of the forum state that no medical advice can be offered. The best that can be done is to let you know that detoxing can have serious consequences and no one can possibly know how you will be affected. This is why the no medical advice rule. It's nothing to play around with.
No one can stop you from making the decision not to go. The best that we can do is to be here for you. We can only tell you that it can be dangerous.
Have you made prior attempts and if so, when, and how long were you able to go without?
No one can stop you from making the decision not to go. The best that we can do is to be here for you. We can only tell you that it can be dangerous.
Have you made prior attempts and if so, when, and how long were you able to go without?
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 95
No insurance, $5 in the bank, a family to support, an extended family that already thinks I am a loser and doesn't need on more bullet to plug in me....I could list for days. I've stopped before but that was wine. Vodka is harder to stop in my opinion, at least for me the withdrawals are worse. Yet it is easier to hide. Typical alcoholic...
I have stopped drinking before (wine) and I will stop drinking again (positive thinking!) and I really don't mean to sound rude but it's almost as though most of the Internet tells you you can't do it without a doctor so essentially encourages you to keep drinking because you could die if you don't, yet in all the AA meetings I've attended, only one person ever spoke up of having gone to detox. And if you go to AA you know the MO is to talk about your lowest point and how you changed. I really want to change but I am getting very frustrated from being scared to change because of what I read online.
This is a VERY popular forum. There have to be some people here with ideas/suggestions for coping which is the reason behind my post. It really is not to upset or debate, I swear to God. It is an honest desire to quit. An inability to get medical care and a desire for knowledge that drive my questions.
I can be so helpful and am very compassionate and I am actually a nurse...so I know medical stats...but when I'm without alcohol my brain seems to short circuit and I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack, which clearly I'm not because the second I have a drink in me I'm perfectly okay. So it's a lot of mental I think too...
Gosh this is rambling. But maybe my ramblings will help someone else. And me too....
I have stopped drinking before (wine) and I will stop drinking again (positive thinking!) and I really don't mean to sound rude but it's almost as though most of the Internet tells you you can't do it without a doctor so essentially encourages you to keep drinking because you could die if you don't, yet in all the AA meetings I've attended, only one person ever spoke up of having gone to detox. And if you go to AA you know the MO is to talk about your lowest point and how you changed. I really want to change but I am getting very frustrated from being scared to change because of what I read online.
This is a VERY popular forum. There have to be some people here with ideas/suggestions for coping which is the reason behind my post. It really is not to upset or debate, I swear to God. It is an honest desire to quit. An inability to get medical care and a desire for knowledge that drive my questions.
I can be so helpful and am very compassionate and I am actually a nurse...so I know medical stats...but when I'm without alcohol my brain seems to short circuit and I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack, which clearly I'm not because the second I have a drink in me I'm perfectly okay. So it's a lot of mental I think too...
Gosh this is rambling. But maybe my ramblings will help someone else. And me too....
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Join Date: Sep 2013
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Every time I would get ready for the withdrawls, I would stock up on Gatorade, Vitamin B and Motrin PM. I would make sure try to make sure someone was around just in case and I would just stay busy.... walking, cleaning, reading, calling someone or just taking a long hot bath. It was always so scary, the high heart rate, the shakes were always really bad and seemed to never stop and of course the horrible anxiety. It would always take at least two weeks before I really started to feel better. Now at 7 1/2 months I actually feel almost normal after four horrible years~ Best of luck to you!!
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Join Date: Jun 2013
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If you're a nurse then you must understand that not one person on this board is going to tell you that it's ok for you to go or not to go to a doctor. No one can diagnose you nor offer suggestions as to how to detox on your own. It just isn't going to happen.
As I said though, we can't make you go, that's up to you. We are all here but again, no medical advice.
As I said though, we can't make you go, that's up to you. We are all here but again, no medical advice.
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But LadyBlue...is it medical advice to say what helped you cope through your first days without alcohol? That's all I'm asking for...
Not what drugs helped you...just how you felt those first days, what made it easier? Soup? Meditation? Did you curl up in bed for 5 days? Were you anxious? How much did you drink? Did you stop cold turkey without a doctor? What was that like?
I know, I know, MO here "Go to the doctor" and I agree with that if at all possible. But I cannot be the only person to google, end up here, quit and not see a doctor. I just want to know what their experiences were. How they coped. I don't consider that medical advice, speaking as an RN.
Not what drugs helped you...just how you felt those first days, what made it easier? Soup? Meditation? Did you curl up in bed for 5 days? Were you anxious? How much did you drink? Did you stop cold turkey without a doctor? What was that like?
I know, I know, MO here "Go to the doctor" and I agree with that if at all possible. But I cannot be the only person to google, end up here, quit and not see a doctor. I just want to know what their experiences were. How they coped. I don't consider that medical advice, speaking as an RN.
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Join Date: Jun 2013
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I hope that you understand what I'm saying. I do understand your end. No, I'm not saying that no one has ever come on this board and detoxed that should have gone to a doctor. The fact that there is little to no information on your situation which could be potentially dangerous makes it a bit scary. Withdrawal from alcohol can be life threatening. The fact that you are scared is a tell.
You start your post with the fact that you won't go to a doctor unless you are unconscious, the fact that you are on Xanax, and blood pressure meds is a great cause for concern.
Those facts are extremely concerning.
You start your post with the fact that you won't go to a doctor unless you are unconscious, the fact that you are on Xanax, and blood pressure meds is a great cause for concern.
Those facts are extremely concerning.
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
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I detoxes on my own twice. I ended up in the ER once and should have the other time. If your body is physically dependent on alcohol, no one can predict what will happen. The best recommendation I could give is to make sure someone knows you are doing this so they can get you to the hospital if necessary.
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Join Date: Apr 2008
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The things Charliee posted are good; especially the part about having someone stay with you who can contact 911 if you go into seizure. Make sure that person can monitor your blood pressure and heart rate every couple of hours.
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Getting out my AA book of numbers and making some calls...this is a forum and I hope more advice will come my way. We are all anonymous, no one is going to sue you for saying what helped you get through your first withdrawal days. If your answer was you went to the doctor and he prescribed meds, then, that is your answer. But I don't believe that is what the majority of the people here have done. Still, I am in need of immediate support so I am posting looking for it...not looking to upset anyone. So I will call some of the names from my AA book and if anyone is willing to share their experiences I will most certainly welcome and listen to them.
I started my post saying that I am not going to a doctor because this is my second cry for help here and most of what I heard was go to a doctor. That is not an option for me so I want to hear from people who did not have that option either or for what ever reason did it on their own Again, NOT looking for medical advice, just looking to hear how others in my situation dealt with it. And what their outcome was.
I started my post saying that I am not going to a doctor because this is my second cry for help here and most of what I heard was go to a doctor. That is not an option for me so I want to hear from people who did not have that option either or for what ever reason did it on their own Again, NOT looking for medical advice, just looking to hear how others in my situation dealt with it. And what their outcome was.
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Join Date: Sep 2011
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First, good for you for quitting and taking it seriously.
As an RN, you know the medical side so I'm not going to address that. It's your personal decision how you detox and I have a healthy respect for that.
For me, I detoxed in secret too. No one knew what I was going through. I had heart rate elevation, sugar cravings, and generally felt horrible for a few days. Then I was tired for like 3 months. But I did it and I didn't die. I'm not planning to try it that way again (and have no intention of EVER drinking again) but I got through it. I slept a lot, ate whatever I wanted and slept some more. I'd say that's what helped me most. And keeping busy with work and the like.
I wish you the best - and sounds like there are people around you in case of life threatening emergency so just be willing to let them take you if necessary. Otherwise, keep hydrated and be kind to your body as it rids of the toxins.
As an RN, you know the medical side so I'm not going to address that. It's your personal decision how you detox and I have a healthy respect for that.
For me, I detoxed in secret too. No one knew what I was going through. I had heart rate elevation, sugar cravings, and generally felt horrible for a few days. Then I was tired for like 3 months. But I did it and I didn't die. I'm not planning to try it that way again (and have no intention of EVER drinking again) but I got through it. I slept a lot, ate whatever I wanted and slept some more. I'd say that's what helped me most. And keeping busy with work and the like.
I wish you the best - and sounds like there are people around you in case of life threatening emergency so just be willing to let them take you if necessary. Otherwise, keep hydrated and be kind to your body as it rids of the toxins.
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