Need4Change

Hi everyone

I'm on day four now and still no cravings but I DO have the following alcohol withdrawal symptoms...

* Personality/Mood changes (I feel like that guy on "Psycho" and have been acting like him too!)
* Combative/argumentative/irritable/angry (bordering on rage at times with violent thoughts at one point)
* Insomnia
* Anxiety/panic attacks
* Totally spaced out/brain fog
* Scatterbrained and really screwed up in the head at times
* I'm on a hair-trigger and very snappy/rude
* Easily stressed out (over almost everything)
* This is really scaring me because I feel like I'm losing my mind!.

I wasn't this bad yesterday. It's not the cravings that get me drinking again, it's these horrible feelings I just described above and the only way I've EVER been able to get rid of them is by drinking (that's why I keep relapsing). I can guarantee you that if I drank a few beers, these feeling would all go away and I would be just as "lovey-dovey" as I could be but then I'd face the huge hangover I'd have tomorrow morning and be right back at square one again (SIGH!).

Man does this ever suck but maybe this is just part of the whole "withdrawal experience"??.

Thanks for listening to a broken down old man with an alcohol problem.

- Need4change

dystopia

Hang on in there....it does get better, honest. I felt the same in withdrawal, but now feel much better (and it was only last week).

chimineria

Need4Change
I think it must be -- I am one week and one day in and I have been
given a ticket to the same crazy rollercoaster you seem to be on.
Folks here
assure me it is normal and it does get better ... so hang on and keep
posting.

-P

cali

Day 4 is wonderful N4C--I know it doesn't feel so wonderful. If I may say, you are right where you should be. I cringed when I heard that the many times I was on day 4-but it's true.
I know today that I don't have to do a day 4 again if I do the next right thing, stay connected to the program, and "not drink no matter what"----I have a great shot at staying sober today. Glad you are here!!!

Aysha

That is normal.
As crazy as that sounds.
You just have stay strong enough to get through it.
You have already made it 4 days.
Your gonna have these feelings.
I went through it last week too.
I was ready to run back to the hood or knock somebody out.
But after that week. I got better.
It helped to address it and deal with it the best way I could.
I am still having my moments. But I am more aware of what I need to do to try and calm those feelings.
This is a hard thing to do.
But just hang tough and it will get better.
You dont want to keep starting over.
So might as well get this over with.
Keep postin.
I posted this in the dont quit thread.
But I think you need to see it.

Lollipop

Stay strong......

It will get easier, just remember, once you get through it this time, you dont have to do it again!!!!!!!!


Your doing great!!!!!!

BBQBOY

I've ridden that rollercoaster so often that I' m qualified to say "DITTO" all of the above posters. And stick with it, it gets a little easier after about day 5 or 6, with noticeable improvement 1-2 wks. Stay busy, take walks and eat(even if your not hungry) you will feel better......Don't give in, don't waste your effort from the last 4 days....you"re almost over that hump....Take Care....Ned

Jules62

Day 4 was really hard for me also.This is my 10th day and every day is different.It does pass though-like others here have said. I really understand about drinking to quiet those feelings-I used to do it too but I have found if I get up and do something-go for a walk, clean my kitchen-anything physical-the feelings and the craving pass or lessen.I would hate to go back to day 4 again and it's something I remind myself of when the feelings kick in.

Cherish how far you've come-despite the restlessness.You can get through this, you're almost there. I'll be thinking of you,

Rose.

Need4Change

Thank you all so much for the words of encouragement and for making me feel not alone. I regret to say that I didn't make it past day four. The feelings I described in my initial post just became too unbearable for me and I drank 9 beers last night.

Needless to say I woke up this morning staggering around, loads of anxiety, sore eyes, heart palps, feeling completely zoned out and like a huge failure. I let everyone on this board down. I let my family and friends down and I let myself down.

Why oh why is it so difficult for some of us to quit and yet others seem to be able to do it?. Day 1,2 and 3 were not bad at all. Day 4 was a killer though and no matter what I did, I just couldn't shake the horrible feelings.

I don't know what else to say. I feel like I'm being punished by a higher power for my sins sometimes. Maybe this alcoholism is a curse that I must endure. I really wonder about that sometimes.

I'll try again but history always seems to have a way of repeating itself and the thought of relapsing again is something I dread.

- Need4Change

Dee74

I tried almost weekly for 15 years...now I'm two months+ sober and hope to be forever more...

you have to break the cycle...it's not easy...but you have to take those thoughts and those horrible feelings that tell you stuff like 'the only way I've EVER been able to get rid of them is by drinking', and recognise them for the self-perpetuating lies they are...

they're lies that will keep you where you right where you are now, for good.

D

Rusty Zipper

dee need4, sad to hear you gave in to the Rat... so be it...

this is where a power "Greater then"
need4 might have to come into use...

wish'n you another shot need4, i know it blows...

xxoo, rz

Dee74

yeah sorry need4...forgot to add my best wishes and 'good luck' this time, man
this thing can be beaten !
D