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75 Days and PAWS back again

Old 03-15-2017, 04:42 AM
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75 Days and PAWS back again

Hi everyone, so 75 days again, after a terrible sleep woke up this morning to massive head ache and extreme nausea, was gradually getting better and better up to now. I know its the PAWS back again and happy knowing that my body is healing and have the knowledge about it thanks to SR. After breakfast and a 15 minute walk feeling much better. I did notice a full moon last night which seems to bring back the symptoms or am I going mad lol. Just venting here have a nice Day
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Old 03-15-2017, 08:30 AM
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Hang in there, carlingford, you're gonna make it!

I had days when it felt like an axe was sunk into the back of my neck, my hands were so shaky I couldn't write my name, I couldn't think my way out of a paper bag, and I couldn't remember anything. I had stretches lasting a week or more in which I couldn't sleep more than a couple of hours a night.

By 90 days I was noticing a significant improvement overall. By a year, I was having more good days than bad ones. By 2 or 3 years, it was pretty much faded entirely into the background noise.

Ultimately, it's a binary solution: don't drink, and things WILL get better -- you just may not get to choose the timetable to your liking. Drink, and things WILL get worse.

Keep up the good work!
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Old 03-15-2017, 08:37 AM
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Just to remind newcomers that most people get over withdrawal within a week or two, and those of us who experienced long-term effects are in the minority. Don't let the fear of a protracted withdrawal experience interfere with your plans to quit drinking!

Even though I was way out on the end of the curve as far as lingering withdrawal symptoms, I never for a moment regret toughing things out and following through with sobriety!
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Old 03-15-2017, 09:06 AM
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Originally Posted by Andante View Post
Just to remind newcomers that most people get over withdrawal within a week or two, and those of us who experienced long-term effects are in the minority. Don't let the fear of a protracted withdrawal experience interfere with your plans to quit drinking!

Even though I was way out on the end of the curve as far as lingering withdrawal symptoms, I never for a moment regret toughing things out and following through with sobriety!
I am on day 44 of no Opiates.
PAWS sucks. I thought I was losing my mind and had a brain tumor from all the short term memory loss and feelings like a dull knife.
I feel pretty good now that the stomach bloating is going away

Mark
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Old 03-15-2017, 09:23 AM
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Hi Heyw thanks for reply, you going good at 44, Congrats. Yeah the stomach at me today too, like there's a knot in my gut and my head is all over the place. Funny, I was okay last week and early this week, then bang this morning and felt crap. also have terrible fatigue, just feel malaise overall with no motivation. I am looking for a new job and do not want to start back until I am okay or as near to okay as I can get, so maybe another Month? Take care and keep up the good work.
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Old 03-15-2017, 09:58 AM
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Sober Day #39 after being dependent on wine, daily, for years.

Thank you for posting about this. I did not know about PAWS until coming to this site.
I had a bad anxiety attack about 3 weeks after quitting, and I now realize that that is what it was.
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Old 03-15-2017, 01:38 PM
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In my experience, if you supplement with the correct vitamins and minerals, PAWS is non- existent. From the moment I stopped drinking, a few days after self- detox, I felt better than I had in years whilst drinking. I'm now over six months and I feel fantastic, which I attribute to a vitamin and mineral regime, plus excercise and a reluctance to believe in PAWS - mind over matter is powerfully strong, think placebos!

In fact, I've probably not experienced PAWS because I've been too busy mopping up the destruction I'd caused whilst drinking excessively for so long! Action, action, action, is a great healer!
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Old 03-15-2017, 01:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Tatsy View Post
In my experience, if you supplement with the correct vitamins and minerals, PAWS is non- existent. From the moment I stopped drinking, a few days after self- detox, I felt better than I had in years whilst drinking. I'm now over six months and I feel fantastic, which I attribute to a vitamin and mineral regime and a reluctance to believe in PAWS - mind over matter is powerfully strong, think placebos!

In fact, I've probably not experienced PAWS because I've been too busy mopping up the destruction I'd caused whilst drinking excessively for so long! Action, action, action, is a great healer!
All due respect, PAWS is a real thing.

I couldn't mind-over-matter the anxiety attacks. We aren't all alike, Tats. Some of us did more damage or did it over a longer period of time or with multiple substances or had serious trauma to process. Or perhaps we had genetic predisposition that you didn't. It takes time. I'm glad you were one of the lucky ones, but my symptoms were not psychological.

At about one year I felt settled. At six months I was still having some struggles.
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Old 03-15-2017, 02:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Tatsy View Post
In my experience, if you supplement with the correct vitamins and minerals, PAWS is non- existent. From the moment I stopped drinking, a few days after self- detox, I felt better than I had in years whilst drinking. I'm now over six months and I feel fantastic, which I attribute to a vitamin and mineral regime, plus excercise and a reluctance to believe in PAWS - mind over matter is powerfully strong, think placebos!

In fact, I've probably not experienced PAWS because I've been too busy mopping up the destruction I'd caused whilst drinking excessively for so long! Action, action, action, is a great healer!
This is like someone who's not allergic to bee stings saying: "Well, I never had a reaction like this to bee stings, so anyone who does is either imagining it, or they're not putting on enough baking soda when they get stung."

Or, it's like a non-alcoholic saying: "I never have a problem putting down the bottle when I've had enough, so there can't be any such thing as 'alcoholism' -- you just need to try harder to drink like a normal person and take more vitamins."
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Old 03-15-2017, 02:09 PM
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Bimini, I drank every day for over twenty years and the last five, the equivalent of a litre of vodka a day, so that's not particularly great. I have not disclosed how bad I was physically and mentally when I quit, on this site.

I decided to drag my bootstraps up and throw myself back into life after joining SR and learning RR/AVRT. Just a few weeks after stopping drinking (on my own, after a taper, of sorts) I spent all day down the deepest cave/mine system in the UK, where the other participants were mostly previous Olympic competitors at their leisure. I was Miss Blobby, thought I'd be refused entry; yet I completed the challenge, as well as them. It was gross stupidity on my part, but I was determined and the organisers allowed me to do it. It was do or die for me. That challenge epitomised my future non-drinking life. So I'm sorry if I sound hard-core, I'm not, but I was lost and basically, I'd consigned myself to an alcoholic death. Until I joined SR last year.

So please don't tell me that I was one of the lucky ones, in that I didn't experience PAWS. I was one of the lucky ones, in that I didn't die due to the abuse I inflicted upon my body by drinking alcohol, for so long and so hard. Therefore I view any PAWS like symtpoms as negligible, if they arise, because I feel so grateful to be alive! I hope that makes sense, I'm not trying to denigrate anybody. Mind over matter is medically proven (where there aren't genuine medical symptoms).

I too, have experienced anxiety attacks, so I use the no more than 8 to 10 breaths a minute, in order to engage the anxiety reducing system in my body/brain and I also 'detach' from the anxious thoughts, in the same way I use AVRT to detach from the desire to drink alcohol: also scientifically proven.

I'm not saying PAWS doesn't exist, I suppose I'm saying minimise it by the medical advice route, supplements and excercise. But for me, I welcomed any post-alcohol symptoms, as a sign I'd stopped drinking, which made a huge difference.
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Old 03-15-2017, 02:17 PM
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Hi, Carlingford, just want to say you're sounding great. I'm sorry if I caused your thread to be hijacked! PAWS symptoms are real, for sure - but if you change your mindset as I did and say 'there goes the PAWS, but thankfully I've got PAWS because I stopped drinking (yay!). together with supplements and an exercise regime, then, somehow, for me, the PAWS symptoms, dissipate.
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Old 03-15-2017, 02:37 PM
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It's a failure of empathy to assume that one's own experience can in any way define another person's experience. Other people's experiences are their own, just as yours are your own.

That said, it's true -- and I've said it before -- that making an effort to detach emotionally from PAWS symptoms, as well as taking action to relieve them, can be helpful.

However, the same can be said of any symptoms of any malady, and has nothing to do with how "real" the malady might be.

The bottom line is that some brains and nervous systems heal more quickly in the aftermath of alcohol and opiate addiction than others. For a few of us, it takes a very long time indeed, and can be a frustrating and demoralizing experience to go through no matter how determined an attitude we have or what action we take to combat the symptoms. Allow those people the right to feel what they feel, OK? And they'll extend the same courtesy to you.
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Old 03-15-2017, 02:56 PM
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I'm sorry Andante, but being accused of "a failure of empathy" is a step too far and I don't accept the criticism. What would you want me to say? Oh dearie me, you'll feel better soon, hopefully. Instead, I was simply offering my experience to Carlingford, whether it was wanted or not; such is the forum.

Although I accept that PAWS is a real issue, I don't accept that it's a 'malady' i.e., a disease. It's an aftermath of heavy drinking, for a prolonged period of time, whilst the brain and body attempts to reach equilibrium, for want of a better word.

Perhaps you could've extended the same courtesy to me, that you're suggesting others extend. OK?
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Old 03-15-2017, 03:27 PM
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Of course! Have a great day!
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Old 03-15-2017, 03:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Andante View Post
Just to remind newcomers that most people get over withdrawal within a week or two, and those of us who experienced long-term effects are in the minority. Don't let the fear of a protracted withdrawal experience interfere with your plans to quit drinking!

Even though I was way out on the end of the curve as far as lingering withdrawal symptoms, I never for a moment regret toughing things out and following through with sobriety!
Exactly how is this different to my reply, where I said that it was mind over matter, or as you put it "toughing things out"?

Plus you say "most people get over withdrawals in a week or so" with no mention of PAWs. How empathetic is that post to Carlingford, considering you accused my post of being non- empathetic? Pot, kettle, black.

P. S. Just for future reference, sarcasm becomes nobody. This is a support forum.
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Old 03-15-2017, 03:30 PM
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Hi Tatsy, I understand where you are coming from, this is the place to let it all out and thanks all for your responses. I take B supplements, exercise every day and eat well which helps, I just had a blip of an off day after bad sleep with a lot on my mind as currently not working. No problem getting work but I have a mental/brain job and don't want to go back until I am mentally capable and ready to perform my job. I know that PAWS is stress sensitive and don't need the stress just yet. I am, I believe, within the recovery curve and return to work in mid April or beginning of May (around 120 day sober mark). Now enjoying school runs, sports with kids afterwards, homework, making lunches and fun times Getting better Day by Day, just had a bad day I believe as my body is recovering, Thanks all
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Old 03-15-2017, 03:47 PM
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Thank you Carlingford, oh my, you're doing so well! Don't get too used to those school runs, homework, lunches etc., soon you'll be raring to go and back to work and excercising some other parts of your brain, before you know it. Or should I say, appreciate those school runs etc., whilst you can! I'm sure your children are appreciating you now. PAWS is indeed stress sensitive, so I'm glad you're supplementing with B vitamins. Take care and hugs to you
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Old 03-15-2017, 05:36 PM
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Glad you're getting better Carlingford

Interesting to see the wide variety of PAWs experience (or non experience) too.

It illustrates the point that not everyone believes in it, not everyone gets it, and that for those that do, those experiences can often be short term and episodic in nature..

D
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Old 03-15-2017, 08:11 PM
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It took me quite awhile to truly get thru all of my PAWS symptoms- I was very sick when I quit. I noticed a shift in a lot of things mental, physical and emotional all around 100 days. Many people have told me they see a huge difference from six months to now at nearly 13 months. In between that 8 mo seemed to be another milestone.

Everyone has a different path and experience but for all of us, time takes time in all aspects of our recovery. Keep going and not drinking and you will keep healing.
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Old 03-16-2017, 03:39 AM
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Thanks Dee and August25, yes just riding the PAWS storm at the minute, just have to be patient with good living habits. The fact that I had a relapse at Christmas and is still so fresh in my mind it is kind off helping me, lessons learnt etc.. I believed that I could return to moderation during withdrawal, how stupid off me, its like pouring petrol on a smouldering fire !! Bang !! Anyway that's in the past and I learnt my lesson (but I had to try for myself) Onwards and upwards now, feeling positive. Happy Sober St. Patricks Day to all and Thank you SR
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