robc

Hi all,

I have been a pretty heavy drinker for a long time. I have had my concerns, but recently my health is being affected. I don't know exactly where I am at with my recovery so just taking the first step and taking it one day at a time.

I know there is suppose to be no medical advice so I will just describe my situations and find out if anyone else has experienced them. In the past I have had bad hangovers, but about 7 months ago I experienced my first scare. I had been drinking vodka everyday for about a week and I woke up with the chills, sweats, and felt like I had to concentrate to breath. I went to the doctor and he said the breathing was fine and just gave me some valium for anxiety. I ended up having several days of uncomfortable side effects like itching etc and stopped drinking for at least a week or two. In December after about two weeks of drinking everyday, I felt some wierd pain. After four days of chest pain near my ribs, extreme bloating, and having that hard to breath feeling, I went to the Hospital. They said I had dehydration and my liver function test came back bad.

That really scared me so I stopped drinking for three weeks. I got my liver tested and it was fine so I started drinking beer moderately. I just spent the last five days drinking beer all day long. Yesterday I noticed tightness in my chest, severe bloating, trouble breathing (psychological) due to bloating, and pain near my liver. I did not sleep all night last night due to thinking I could not breathe. This really freaked me out and made me realize my liver just can't handle drinking anymore. I figure I am suffering from dehydration again, but could not go to the doctor due to trying to get health insurance and not wanting it on my record. I only drank 6 beers yesterday before realizing I was having issues. I have not drank today at all and have been drinking Pedialyte all day long. I am not having withdrawals or anything but my stomach is still very bloated.

I am hoping that hydrating myself and not drinking will be enough so that I don't have to go to the doctor. At this point, I plan on not drinking, but at some point I need to look at this as more of a long term fix and not something that is short term. I must say that dehydration and the syptoms to the liver not working well are very scary. I hope to come on here and say that I am feeling better. I have a feeling it will be several days. I would love to hear other's experiences with symptoms they had when they stopped drinking and how they handled dehydration.

Thanks,

Rob

coffeenut

Welcome to SR, rob. Please make sure to hang around and post often. There is a lot of valuable info, here.

Detoxing can be VERY dangerous. Most people will tell you to be honest with your dr. They can help.

BTW, sobriety Rocks! Good Luck!

1_day@_a_time

glad you are here, takes courage to ask for help!!

If you would like, send me a PM & I will be happy to talk with you.

Thomas

jsml1234

Hi Rob. I have spent a lot of time viewing and posting on this site. It has helped and encouraged me beyond my expectations and I know it will do the same for you.

Alcohol is poison and we have been slowly poisoning ourselves, some faster than others. Our body is amazingly resilient, but can only take so much.

Could be wrong...but I'm almost certain there are other problems, other than physical ones, caused by your drinking.

C23

HI Rob and welcome to our SR family. Take it from a guy who was hospitalized for 5 days due to Alcohol Induced Pancreasitis, the booze can really hurt you. I am glad you are taking the first step and please continue to post. We are all here for each other.

robc

Yeah, I would have to agree that alcohol causes more problems than just physical. I tend to be pretty good about staying away from alcohol for several days or weeks. Unfortunately, I just get into these stretches of drinking too much.

I don't know much about detoxing and don't know if I currently am doing so. I went at least a week before drinking on friday through yesterday. I would say I averaged about 15 beers over the entire day. I am pretty convinced I am dehydrated and not feeling too bad except for the bloating and pain in the rib and back area. I'm just curious how I would know if I needed medical attention? I feel better than I did last time and all they said I had last time was dehydration and an abnormal liver funtion test. I am hoping I can just not drink and feel better. I can go a couple of weeks with out drinking with out a problem. My challenge will be in a couple of weeks when I want to have a casual beer at dinner.

yeahgr8

Hi there

This is a great place to read and post!

Do you think this scared you enough to do something about your drinking? I always paid lip service to all of this without much action when i was drinking. Never went to the docs though as it was pretty obvious it was alcohol related, much the same symptoms peridoically as you posted. When i first went to my counseller last year and she started going through a list of physical problems drinking caused i laughed and stopped her, I told her i knew all the problems that it could cause as i had spent ages googling it and reading horror stories and it was pointless her trying to scare me to stop drinking as if i was honest with myself i didn't really care, i thought that by voicing to my concerns and doing research then that would be cure enough and by being aware of symptoms i would not end up being the one who got ill.

Do you have a plan for quitting drinking?

robc

I don't have a plan yet. I have always admitted to having a problem, but never really let it get in the way of my life. I have always considered myself a very functioning alcoholic. Now, I would concede that things have changed. I do not want to have to deal with these health issues again. In all honesty, I would like to be able to drink in moderation every once in a while, but am guessing that is what most folks try to do. I am able to just have a beer or two and stop, but the problem is when I tell myself it is ok to go on a binge. I knew what I was doing this last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. I never really got hammered because I just drank slowly though out the day. But, ingesting that much alchohol is just bad. I think I will just check out this site on a daily basis and see where things go. I can tell you that I don't plan on drinking tomorrow or even next week. I guess I am still in the denial phase where I want to keep my options open.

yeahgr8

That's cool as long as you keep coming back and posting and reading. You know deep down it is a serious situation that will only get worse and does require serious action on your part at some point. It will get worse the longer you leave it, I was a functioning alchie 6 fig salary, living abroad, doing what i want when i want etc. Doesn't mean anything im afraid it was still a living hell! I spent 10 years of my life in the denial and trying to control stage before finally getting sober last year at 37!

Well done for coming here and trying to find out more, it is a great place for support!

ADayAtATime

I just wanted to say Welcome to the SR community and I'm glad your here.
You will find a lot of support and advice here.
I can't offer much advice for I haven't been through the symptoms that you are experiencing...except for a little discomfort in my kidneys (on occasions) after a night of indulging, then the dehydration in the morning.
Keep coming back.
Hugs to you :ghug3
XOXO

Katie09

Well, Rob, I really think you are in the right place. I do agree that those symptoms are very scary, and no one is a Dr. here (that I know of). I remember many years ago them saying that my liver enzymes were elevated for my age. I also know I had a great physical in December. In spite of this, I have deteriorated. So...IOW, this is nothing to mess around with. At all. What I would suggest you do is to stick around here and post and try to not drink. I am no one to talk, but have committed to a rehab for 90 days to save my life. Yup, it comes to that - unfortunately. I have always been cavalier about this issue, but here I sit twitching at 1:30 a.m. not about to sleep anytime soon. I say welcome.

least

In the Alcoholism forum there is a 'sticky' at the top of the page titled Quitting, what to expect, what we did - it gives personal experience of quitting drinking. Take a look, lots of good info there.

Welcome!:ghug3

Here is a link to that sticky http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html

December15

Thanks for your interesting post robc. I suffered quite bad indigestion when I drank. I kept putting it down to stress, but part of me knew it was the alcohol agitating my stomach. Well, 61 days sober and the indigestion has improved greatly. Also I no longer wake up with a pounding migraine and a shaky body. The other thing is that I sleep through the night; when I was drinking I would wake up at 4 am and not be able to get back to sleep. The moderate drinking goal sounds good - I wish I could do it but for some reason the first drink leads straight back to daily binges.

CarolD

Welcome ...

Here is a link I hope you will read

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html

the more you understand about alcoholism....the better.

hope you will quit drinking a toxic liquid...
It's poison for everyone...not only alcoholics.

robc

I checked out both links and they were extremely informative. It really is amazing how much alcohol damages the body. I wish I could find out if I had an alcoholic liver.

DeepBlue

Hi Robc - and welcome. I really hope that this forum will help you to focus on what you need to do and that you get all the help and support that you need.

I was very much like you - a "functioning" alcoholic with short periods of sobriety. To be honest, I just got sick and tired of worrying all the time about how drinking was affecting me. So now I have made a pledge to just stop drinking. Remember what t was like when you were a child - you didn't have to drink then to have a normal life. And you don't need to now. Try reading the posts of those who have managed lengthy periods of sobriety - they are fine, but all of them have made a true commitment to themselves.

I am not sure why you are anxious about going to the doctor or getting more liver tests etc. Getting tested won't change whether or not you have damaged yourself, and might open the door to some more help. The hard fact is that alcohol will hurt you, but you already know this from your symptoms. Indeed, it can kill you. But here is the good news - your body has a great ability to heal itself, and whatever damage has been done can often reverse itself if you really want to live a healthy life.

We all have different symptoms. Mine have been less physical - but have suffered lots of anxiety and panic attacks in my life.

If you make a decision about alcohol - and a commitment to yourself - then you will begin to feel better sooner than you think. Everyone here will help you and support you.

Deep Blue

1_day@_a_time

my experience:

very functioning alcoholic, an oxymoron, my mind told me I was......

able to drink in moderation, I never could, tried for nearly 30 yrs.

I am still in the denial phase, yep!

It seems, we don't think we want to stop, because what will we do for fun? What will become of our lives?

I'm living proof it gets better. MUCH better......

I have posted some info about my life currently in Newcomers if you care to see how dramatically I've changed.

Thomas