Not sure what I need to do!
 

Hello Forum members!

Not really sure where to start here so here goes a little bit of info on me. Had a huge bad habbit a while ago that was not only drinking, but pain meds as well. I decided I needed to get off of one or both as things were really out of control, I think mostly due to the pills. So I decided to nix the pills. And with the support of a forum very similar to this, I was able to get it under control and beat it down to the ground and have been almost 2 months pill free now.

So now I am looking at my alcohol consumption and thinking of beating this habbit next. Do I drink alot, I suppose it is all relevant, what is alot to me, may not be alot to another, and vice-versa. Do I drink in excess...I do not think so, I would say I have enough beer and/or whiskey to get a nice feel, and usually leave it at that. Not every day, but I would say 4 or 5 out of 7 days. Again, not huge to many I am sure, but I am wanting to make a healthy change in my life again.

This all leads me to my question. I know the intense amount of suffering I went thorogh in my pill detox, 1 week of sheer he#$ on earth wanting to just die, and then another week of discomfort, so on and so forth though it all. If I am to stop drinking at this point what may lay ahead for me?

When I quit the pills many told me with out a Drs help, and/or going to meetings the odds were stacked against me to be successful. I also am not a meeting or group kind of guy, so it is just not my gig, but for many I do know NA/AA are a life saver. For me, I got myself in these messes, I will get myself out as well. It worked on one addiction, so I hope the same for this.

Sorry for the long winded intro....looking for ideas and support now, expectaions etc...

Later!

How much are you drinking? That'll affect how your withdrawal is.

Hey SS....I would say it would be 6-8 beers a day or 6-8 shots of JD. 1 or the other, very rarely more than that. Like I say, maybe not alot to many, but to me I am wanting to try and put this behind me as well.

Thanks for the reply.

I am not giving any medical advice... only my own personal experiance.

I had a gastric bypass about 6 years ago. I went from being able to drink ALOT to being totally trashed at 4-5 drinks. At my worest (only a few weeks ago...) I would drink a whole bottle of wine and maybe a couple of beers in one night.

Today is day six... and I the only true issues I have had ... is being unable to sleep 1 out of 5 nights. Other then that I haven't had the shakes, but, my biggest struggle has been control the urge to want to drink.

Hope it gets better for you.

Saliena

I think that's within the official guidelines of needing medical assistance to detox. I'll share my own experience, too. I drank that (and often more) for a long time and just had some sleeping issues when I quit (due to anxiety about the whole thing). I guess everyone's experience might be different though. Best of luck to you!

Hey Salenia....thanks for the words and your experience. I am hoping that will be the same case for me. As I said, I went through the most god aweful WDs I could ever imagine with the pills. Just trying to get a grasp on what I may be in store for here. I would have to say I do not thinking my drinking is over the top, just concerns me that it will turn into what the pills did before I realize it and I do not want to go down that path again, or have to dig myself out from such a dark place. I hope I have nipped this on in the bud and can get over it before it gets ahold of me.

Thanks!

Noone can tell you for sure what you will go through reddog - thats why I always recommend seeing a Dr. I didn't seek help and my last detox was a bad one, but it's of course your decision.

Here's a thread detailing a lot of our experiences

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html

D

Hi Reddit and welcome! I like your username because I have a red dog:-)

I think its great you are getting the jump on this...the standard info is to always consult your doctor...I was a heavy drinker and didn't even know to talk tobacco Dr when I quit...I was fine except for someaches and bad sleep coupled with nightsweats. Some are more sensitive...you only know when you are there.

I am not in any group or program outside of SR and I feel pretty good about my sobriety. The thing I think I have going for me is that I did a lot of "work" on myself before getting sober and I am continuing on that path now...I don't think working on yourself is something that only alcoholics have to do...I think it would benefit everyone.

Posting here is also a huge help:-)

Welcome to the family!:) I've gone thru w/d's too many times and only a few of those were with medical help, that is, with a few days of a sedative to quell the horrible anxiety and racing heart. The meds helped a lot and I didn't feel so stressed and sick the first couple days. Going cold turkey I always felt like I was dying, or wanted to die to stop the overwhelming anxiety, but after two or three days I started to feel half human again. I'd recommend seeing your doctor about it. All w/d's are different and some are dangerous. Be safe when you get sober.:hug:

Welcome to our recovery community....:wave:

Glad you found us....and are heading into a heathlier future.

Hey All...sorry for the lack of updates and posts on my end, just very busy right now. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I am going to continue to post here and read here for a bit and then make a decesion as to how I will procede in the near future. The one thing that is in the back of my mind right now is this. I mentioned I had given up pain meds and suffered miserably and made it out the other side. For 2 weeks, I had no alcohol during that detox and was OK. Well despite the misery I did go through, but I went without then, so this should be no different for me. More to follow, and agin...thanks for the warm welcome.

Later!:tyou

Hey red! Maybe the reason your pain Med withdrawal was so bad was because you were going through alcohol detox??? Just a thought...I don't know anything about pain meds:-)

Please keep us posted:-)

Hey La.....I was on so many pain meds it was insane. But yes indeed that could of been an additional variable that got thrown in by accident. But hey, if it was only part of it, then that means when I am ready to stop, I can make it through no problems. I can take a detox of only half as bad as last time easily! LOL!

Hello Forum....well I do believe right now that today is the day to work on beating this thing down. Will work on going with the flow of it all and take it one minute at a time, one hour, one day...whatever it takes.

Question yet again for those here. I beat down a pain med addiction as I have mentioned before. It was heavy duty, and I did it by doing a CT jump off of everything but 1 type of pill. Suffered for some time with the WDs and then tapered off the final pill to ease on out and mitigate symptoms. Worked like a charm for me do to my will power to want off the meds. I am at the same point with drinking now and want out. I was wondering is there such a thing as an "alcohol taper" that could work the same way a drug taper does? Allow myself a few beers every other day, and work on droping the amount each week again to try and mitigate the WD symptoms. I know I am strong enough to work this to my advantage if it will. Has anyone every heard of such a thing, or been successful at something similar.

Later

I can't advise you what to do--medical supervision is certainly safest.

Some people can "taper" and some can't. Tapering over several weeks would not have worked for me, as my resolve would have "tapered" over the same period of time.

What I personally did was allow myself one drink every four hours for three days. When I had the last one, I felt crappy for a couple of days, but nothing dramatic. Again, though, everyone is different.

Hey Lexie,

Thanks for sharing. I am going to give a "taper" a attempt. I only ever have alcohol after work when I get home. Nothing at all until then. So I may go with 2 beers or 2 shots a day for a bit, then down to 1 a day. I will be sure to let you all know how my plan works out and how I feel during it all.

Hi Reddog,

I sincerely wish you well with the taper, but it never worked for me. I would go down and then right back up.

Please keep us posted on how you're doing.

Hey reddog,

I've been averaging 1.5-2 bottles of red wine 2-3 times a week. I'm an every third/fourth day drinker. It knocks me on my ass for two-three days ... when I feel good again I beat it back down with another binge of wine.

I've read about people drinking more than I do and less than I do. I guess what really matters is how it affects you personally. For me it's been physically kicking my butt and I am fed up and scared that I won't be as physically active as I want to be in 10 years from now.

EmbraceChange10
Your story is exactly like mine, except I don't smoke. The people on here are so great. So many of them have helped me understand it's not always how much you drink, it's what you do after that first drink - can you then stay in control? - and that the secret is not to have that first drink ... because that first drink can last many long and pain-filled years. How true.
Solidarity, EmbraceChange10!

Okay here goes, I began seeing a pain management Dr. because when I was 15 I was shot in the face, I began to to get severe migraine headaches, then my ex husband held me over a balcony with one hand and broke a vertebrae in my neck. Which made the headaches much worse I couldn't function like a normal person at this point. Therefore, the doctor about a year ago put me on 5mg of morphine and 10mg of oxycodone. I made the decision that I did not want to take this medication because it really dulled my personality. So I stopped them and it has been 7 weeks I am still experiencing withdraw symptoms. I feel like a crazy person. Any advice?