I am on day seven now, no meds, feeling ok, day two to four and I had some jaundice and was a bit shaky, lack of appetite, hard to concentrate. Now I feel fine, sleeping ok etc...
My step father years ago (dead now from chronic alcoholism) was sectioned under the mental health act. He was put on an 11 day forced detox, under lockdown and with meds and supervision. Heminevrin was used to stop him fitting etc.. He was a strong spirits drinker. I had a beer habbit avaraging 6 liters per day. I would say based on the U.K's section detox that an average person is therfore absent from physical dependency after 11 days. My fear was that if I consult my doctor then that gets recorded on my history and will/can effect future insurance and mortgages etc... Also I felt quite sure I could do this without meds. Of course I would say that everyone in doubt should consult their doctor. But not everyone has a serious physical dependency. If you can get through 24 hrs without shaking (the rattles) then you should be ok.

Just to put this into perspective.. Otherwise everyone will think they need professional detox with meds and that is absolutely not the case.

Welcome to the forum... I wanted to go to detox also but am unable to. I took a window of opportunity where I have 3 days off to "get it done", or you can use your vacation time.

If you must take some "sick days off" you are protected by law AFAIK, to go.

Helpless - welcome! It's wonderful to have you here. I was told you can't be fired for going into detox, but I'm not sure about the details.

Silly - very valuable share, thank you so much. When I decided to quit drinking abruptly my blood pressure spiked dangerously high & I had a time getting it back down. We just don't realize what we've done to our bodies with this poison.