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Hello everyone. My name is Sean and I'm trying to quit drinking. I'm 42 years old and have been drinking almost every day for about 4 years. The interesting thing is that I rarely get drunk. It's just a daily 6-10 light beers and occasionally wine or some hard liquor. It's taken me a while, but I've finally admitted to myself that I have a drinking problem. I never thought it would happen to me but it did. Today I sat my wife down and said the words I never thought I would say. I am an alcoholic. I grew up with alcoholism in my family but I never thought after all these years that it would hit me. At any rate, I tried to quit drinking in early Feb. I made it about a day and a half and got a bad headache, then my hands started shaking. I became really anxious and thought to myself, "Mind over matter". No big deal right? I'm bigger than this right? I was wrong.

On the second afternoon, my hands shook a bit worse and I got so scared that I drank. The shakes went away. But my I replaced my shakes with drinking. That scared the living daylights out of me (and it still does).

I'm going to try to see my doctor tomorrow and talk about what the next step is. I know that mentally and spiritually I'm strong enough to quit. I'm afraid that something really bad is going to happen to me if I ignore the shakes and headaches.

I'd appreciate any input/advice on where I go from here. Are there drugs I can take to manage the withdrawal?

Thanks for reading.

Welcome slim! Good for you, taking action before things progress too far. Great that you're seeing your doctor. I know there are things you can take to help with withdrawal & maybe he'll recommend something. I white-knuckled it and do not suggest anyone go that way.

Glad you're with us - you aren't alone in this. :)

Welcome to SR Sean; its a good place with lots of support. Talking to your doc is a really good idea.

See you on the boards~~~~

best of luck Sean ;)

Welcome Sean! SR is great for support! Best wishes.

welcome slim...on day 7 sober myself and feeling much better...went cold turkey, the shakes n headaches are normal for withdrawal, they (and the nervous sweets, sleepless nights n crawling skin etc) subsided on about day 4 for me...you can do it mate, just remember it does pass, and it will! im living proof of that right now :)

Welcome Sean, and I'm glad you found us.

Welcome slim...Talk to your Doctor and be totally HONEST about your drinking...He may want you to do an inpatient detox where they can keep an eye on you....He may give you something and have you do it at home...He can't give you the right answer if you lie about your drinking. I'd recommend following up with a program for support when you get done cleaning up...You say you are spritually strong...AA is a program that worked for me and it will strengthen that sprituality...You sound like a good fit. You can start with going to meetings...Meeting recovering alcoholics...Getting a sponsor and going through the 12 steps. There are a lot of people on this site and on this planet that have recovered with AA...You should at least try it...The Big Book is the text of the program...If you want to take a look at it...Here you go...Best of luck to you...This is a great site for continued support as well...

The text of Alcoholics Anonymous

Welcome Slim!

The best bet is to see what your Dr suggests - they'll have a better idea of your situation than any of us here would :)

Glad you found us tho - good to have you with us - you'll find a lot of support here :)

D

You sound a lot like me.

I remember how freaked out I was when I had withdrawal symptoms...how pathetic is that, thought I. It is normal though, and it doesn't last too long. See your doctor to be on the safe side though.

You can do this. I'm 9 months free now and you can do the same thing.

Welcome Slim, good luck and remember, Alcoholics Anonymous is full of people like us.

Here is a link for you -

Northern California Alcoholics Anonymous Fellowship

Hi Slim,
There are meds to ease the withdrawal symptoms (doctor prescribed). I wish I had gone that route as I have white-knuckled it a couple times without knowing any better.

Hi Slim,
I am 45 and went through the same thing you are describing...definitely go to the doctor.