dig12

Long story short, had two periods of sobriety in the last 4-5 years. One stint was about a month and the other about 2.5 weeks. Both times no withdrawal symptoms other than irritability and battling hard against the cravings. Fast forward, I'm now a father of three and a husband and of course there is the career. I'm off work right now due to depression, anxiety and panic disorder and yes alcohol use disorder.

My issue (excuse?) - I am so scared of withdrawal that I'm somehow unwilling to even try and just trying to slug along. I have a fam doctor, psychiatrist and therapist to help me along.

My test - I went a full 24 hours. No seizures. No headaches. No trembles. Nothing out of the ordinary really except the worry and the fear. Some confidence restored in my crazy mind.

My question - Anyone with a similar situation or experience? I guess really I'm searching for some good resources to take the leap and battle through the early days? I'm tired of finding click-bait webpages.

Ghostlight1

I don't think it's a bad idea to 'test' for withdrawal.
Thing is, as I understand, it can last three or more days. I've had friends who wound up in the hospital from withdrawal. Very heavy hitters, though.
Great idea on having support from a doctor while doing it. I would ask him/her what to expect.

Me? I sweated it out for three days alone, which I don't recommend. It was a nightmare. I was drinking probably sixteen drinks a day.
Best to you, and remember, if you do it once, you never have to do it again.

Fearlessat50

My physical withdrawals weren’t too bad. I did have anxiety, depression and insomnia. My symptoms were more emotional and lasted several months. I am so happy that is all behind me and I love being sober! Good luck on your journey!

MindfulMan

Everyone is different. During my final days as a drinker (about 2 months) I was drinking 5-6 bottles of wine a day, around the clock, and 3mg of Lunesta (sleep aid) on top of it, as well as trazodone (sleep) and OTC sleep meds. I required medical detox or I would have had seizures or possibly worse. They did a valium taper and it worked wonderfully, lasted about 10 days. I'd also been drinking for a number of years off and on, mostly on, and chased it at times with benzos and cocaine. Some could slug through withdrawal from that level of drinking with a few sweaty, trembly nights. Other have those kind of withdrawal symptoms for far less alcohol over a shorter period of time.

Sounds like you have resources if things take a turn. There's really nothing to fear in that case. Withdrawal can be fairly easily medically managed.

It's the staying sober part that's tough. What's your plan?

Dee74

Not only is everyone different but I was different at various points of my drinking career too. That's why I generally suggest folks see a Dr, but I can't enforce that

What I can say is have that medical support option there if you start to feel concerned

D

August252015

I firmly believe that it's a cr*pshoot what withdrawal will be like any time you quit again, and it generally doesn't get easier.

My one and only time, when I was finally done drinking, was justifiably horrific and frankly, I could have died from doing it cold turkey- or with medical assistance.

A fear of what was in the other side of drinking was just one excuse I used to keep going .... and all I can say from my experience is that what I went through, horrible as it was, wasn't nearly as bad as a death by drinking which was what I would have faced.

Everyone is different and plenty of people have much more hangover like experiences. Regardless, we each have to go through whatever it is if we want to get sober. And not drink again if we don't want to gamble on what another try might mean...if we get one, as I am quite adamant that we just don't get infinite chances to quit and never know which will be our last.

dig12

My plan. I'm up and running with and not screwing around with my medication anymore (I used to just go on and off as I felt needed, which of course never works when you're dealing with depression, anxiety and panic), so really I did this "test" to make sure I'd be okay. So I'm going to pick a date. I'm off work so I do have the time to power through 72 hours. So pick a date and be on SR and I'm working through something my therapist gave me called the "Stages of Change" - I like to write so I thought documenting my change might be a nice pillar.

August252015

Today is the best date.

Wastinglife

The first time I experienced alcohol withdrawal was by far my worst. I had been drinking a minimum of a fifth of vodka daily, more on weekends, for about 2 years. I woke up on Boxing Day morning after drinking heavily all Christmas season and just decided to park myself on the sofa all day to recover. Liquor store was closed so I had no way to buy booze.

As the day wore on and into evening, I felt really bad. I was sweating profusely at first and felt dizzy. I thought I had the flu. By midnight, I was having auditory and visual hallucinations. I kept seeing shadows in the corners of the room. Spiders on the ceiling. My hands were shaking and I was in full panic. This lasted for 24 hours before I felt some relief. Not a wink of sleep or a morsel of food. These are considered severe symptoms of withdrawal and medical attention was definitely warranted. Of course, I had no idea what was happening so just spent 3 days going crazy in my apartment.

I stopped drinking vodka after that and made the genious decision to switch to beer instead. Beer caused less problems for me but I was still an alcoholic. Never had such a bad withdrawal again but I was so terrified of withdrawal after that first experience that I would go to the ER during subsequent attempts to detox. Waste of time because beer never caused those symptoms like vodka did.

Dee74

I agree today is the best date

D

Cobber3

Dig, you described me to a T when I was on the verge of quitting. Several times, hell, probably 100x i would want to quit but i was too afraid of what was going to hapen if i did. Any then some nights id make it to 11:00 without a sip and i wasnt shaking, or any of the horror stories you would hear about. This cycle went on for years off and on. I finally just said f**k it and pulled the trigger and was so ungodly scared of what the first 72 hours had in store for me. It was a whole lot of anxiousness, stress, all that for something that didnt kill me. Do not get me wrong, it wasnt the most pleasant experience but for me, when i was done, i was done. I guess for reference, i was drinking anywhere from 12-16 beers a night for 8 years. Once you rip the bandaid off leave that ****** off man. Hit me up if i can be of any help to you.

Dee74

how it going dig?

D

Spider

I am not a doctor, but it seems manageable...but for me that has often meant an invitation to drink more. I eventually got to the point described by other posters here in your thread. I too have the resources you list, and they have been extremely helpful (and patient) with me. Hope you're doing well these last couple of days.

thomas11

Fear can work both ways. Right now you are fearful of withdrawal. That's understandable. Once you get through this (and you will) you can use that fear to avoid drinking as to not go through this again.

I've been through a fair amount of crap in my life and I can say that alcohol withdrawal is one of the worst if not the worst condition of all.

Jules714

It's really ill advised to do it without medical supervision. A seizure can happen after 24-hours. Heroin addicts may feel like they might die during withdrawl, alcoholics can.
Today is the best day.
You've got this. It's gonna be rough, that's ok if you are medically safe...you will remember this and it will help you stay sober. Nobody ever wants to do it again.
Jules

FlawedNFntastic

I read somewhere that if you're wondering if it's safe to detox without medical supervision, you probably shouldn't. That said, of course I did it alone, even though I was faintly wondering if I'd survive.

D122y

Dig,

Until I was really ready to quit it was not happening.

The hell of normalizing was too insidiously mind bending to make it through to the other side.

I was deeply kindled from years of stopping for a week, then daily drinking, stopping for 3 months, then drinking 24/7. I was a mental wreck.

The suffering wasn't painful physically as much as tormenting spatial disorientation and anxiety. This lasted on and off for about 2.5 years.

That was my personal hell. I didn't talk about it, but it showed through.

The initial few months were horrid and the first year or so was trigger battles.

After that I let my guard down and tried to start drinking. Sr saved me.

Everyone is different except that we are all the same in that we will get better, in our own way, if we never drink booze again.

All the other issues are important to each of us, in our world, and are variables.

I just don't drink anymore. Lifestyle decision.

Thanks.

Dee74

dig? hows it going?

D

Outonthetiles

Cowboy up and do it.