egok

hey,

I'm 26 year old guy, I have been drinking since I was 16. At high-school in Scotland I was very nervous socially, then one day I got drunk and bam, social nervousness gone.

By 20 I was having 8 beers a day on average, weekends heavy alcohol like vodka or whiskey.

I'm at the point where I don't want this demon in my life, because it takes such a toll on your body and mind. I'm 6'1 tall and after a week long binge of hard drinks I ended up 65kg, for me that is emaciated. I've also lost a lot of opportunities, friends, even years of my life because of alcohol.

I'm trying to 'taper off' by just having beer (no vodka/whiskey etc) and only enough to stop me from shaking.

Is that the way to go?

PS: I've tried to quit before, if I go just half a day/day without any alcohol my hands/legs start to tremble really bad. My heart palpitates, my mind races and I can't sleep. I would say I am alcohol dependent. Drinking just beer doesn't make me drunk, I think because i have built up a very high tolerance. A weekend ago I went all out and had 6 beers and an entire bottle of Smirnoff vodka in a night without eating that day. I spent three years drinking half a bottle of vodka a day between 22-25. I bought a BAC Breathalyzer a while ago and i blew a 0.91 bac that night. I don't get hangovers, but if I don't drink I get very bad shaking and just can't function.

Cc77

Hi egok I am new to this site but not at all new to the drinking war!! The vicious cycle I continued to allow myself to go through and I knOw that quitting without medical help or advice was hard for me. Please do your own research for all of us are different. I'm proud if you for wanting to quit so young. I am 41 and just admitted to myself that I am truly an alcoholic. I have lost ALOT due to this disease and I wish you the best!!!!!!

Coldfusion

Welcome Berea, OH!

My experience was to go through a detox program for a few days. That way, a doctor helped me with the withdrawal symptoms.

I drank for 34 years, only had a couple hangovers the first few times I got drunk. But I needed to get away to get me through the first few days, it was a lot easier to be totally distracted yet comfortable.

bunny44

Hi egok!

I'm new to the sober thing, have been drinking for 20 something years. The last 5 or so in huge quantities. Like .5 to a liter a day of vodka most days. About a month and a half ago, I realized I didn't like the way getting alcohol into my body had been an all consuming thought. Morning, noon and night I drank or thought about drinking or went to get more to drink. I went cold turkey. And it was tough. I didn't have hallucinations or anything, but the shaking, sweating, stink coming out of my pores, it was bad. I vomited for the first couple days, then felt queasy for several more. My mind raced, I couldn't focus. I couldn't even zone out watching tv or anything. I found this site and have read others with the same issues and realized I wasn't alone in my misery with the horrors of my past.

My advice is check in with a doctor if you can. Don't be afraid. They have heard more people with this story than you think, and they are not going to lock you up for wanting to get a hold of your life. With the shakes that bad, you might need help getting back to normal.

Also as I have read around he site, moderation is one of those things everyone thinks they can do, you know "now that I'm better and can handle it". Not one person in the last 43 days I have been reading has been able to make that work. That includes the old timers here on the board.

Go for it. It could take a few weeks till you don't shake and all the other crappy things you go through while healing. But then you'll have the rest of your life back.

Odelle

Hi egok, I agree with Bunny44, it is always best to check with your doctor before going cold turkey, if possible. There are meds that can be prescribed to help you through the detox. Good for you in acknowledging your problem with alcohol and taking the first steps to get your life back. You can do this! Keep reading these threads for support and inspiration.

instant

Sounds to me that medical detox is the way to go. They put you on pills so that you come of it slowly and the risk of fits etc is minimised.

Getting sober is the way to go

Viperidae

Yes, agree with everyone. The doctor will understand completely and can help you stop with meds that will make withdrawal very tolerable. If you have a good guy that you trust, just go in there and confess. They have seen so much worse, it won't phase them.

If you get bad shakes you could get much more dangerous and deadly side effects by quitting cold turkey. Just obey your doctors directions exactly. Or, the best case scenario is check in to the hospital. I think your loved ones will be happy you did.

Do yourself a favor, stop at 26. It only gets worse and harder to recover. At 26 you can bounce back faster(you don't want to be trying this again at 43 like me, it is terrible), and you have your whole life ahead of you. You are so young that you can do or be whatever you want. Life does not have to be the hell you are in now. In a few months, I'd think, your outlook, and your physical health will improve dramatically. Please do not keep pushing your body like this, you'll ruin it. My guess is your young enough to come out of it clean. Then go for your dreams. You can do this. It's hard, but you're tough.

For me a BOTTLE of wine is just an appetizer. Most people drink a small glass. We are not those people.

llastchance8

Hello Egok,, It is really great to see that you have realized the gravity of situation.. We were in the same situation. From your post, it is very clear that you have a very high tolerance . As others have advised, a safe medical detox is the best way to address this.

From my experience , tapering is not the solution and might cause serious problems ,if you are not under safe detox and medical supervision. You might be able to taper and control the amounts but the chance of success ,is rare. You are just 26 . Please do not waste precious years of your life to learn ,what others have already learned. There are many many better things in the life to do, other than drinking.. wish you all the best.

ReadyAtLast

Hi egok,welcome to SR

I agree,seeing your GP is a good idea. I saw mine recently and he was really understanding-they've seen it all before.I'm in the UK too. I went coldturkey and my GP said that was really dangerous and if I drank again and wanted to stop to see him for a supervised quit.

Eventide

Hi Egok,

I found it helped to understand what was physically happening in the body - the book 'Under the Influence' by Milam & Ketcham describes the physical changes which alcohol causes, how some people are more susceptible than others (call them 'alcoholics'), and also deals with the importance of good and appropriate nutrition. Alcoholics all suffer malnutrition in some way or another, and putting that right can definitely help.

You can read quotes from the book in the 'Alcoholism' section of SR - the thread is at the top of the list of posts and is titled 'Excerpts from Under the Influence'. You can also buy the book, Amazon has it.

Start tackling the problem now, dont wait another 30 years like me!

Panache

Hi egok,

I'm around your age and have been drinking since I was 20 and I wish I'd have quit then!

Welcome to SR! This site has been an absolute lifeline to me. Read the threads, post and ask question everyone is full of brilliant advice and support.

All the best on your journey to sobriety glad you've joined us

ACT10Npack

Daily heavy drinker for that long of a time will have the shakes or withdrawal from the alcohol. Tapping down is a really hard thing to do and not always the safest way. Better off seeing a detox treatment center to get some medical advice and see if they can do the work for you.

Good luck!

Spinach

Hi, speak to your GP there more than likely to be really helpfully,they may try you out as a home detox or look into hospital , but one thing is almost certain they would rather know than not , medically and psychologically support can be given.
Stick around here and gain support, it's good that your attempting now most people have years of destruction befor they change . Stick at giving up its not always the first go, but keep on . I can promise you once your over withdrawal and focus on enjoying your new life , work, social money life slots into place and it just gets slowly better.
John.

Dee74

Hi EgoK

as others have said tapering is hard to do...I never managed it. Keep in mind that beer is alcohol too, and you may not be tapering that much, if at all.

put me down as another vote to see the Dr

D

egok

Thanks for all the messages of support!

I'm currently living in China, there isn't to my knowledge any kind of detox facility/program here and if you did check in, you'd quickly have your visa revoked if the doctor reported you. You're not allowed to be a foreigner here if you have any physical illness, mental illness or addiction.

So I don't really have a choice but to do it alone. There isn't an equivalent of a GP here, even for a cold people go directly to hospital. I'm in Shanghai, city of at least 25 million people and there's no viable options, not just for expats but for the locals either.

I did have the opportunity to enter detox once, was 23 yo and living in Holland. Ended up in hospital after a bottle of whiskey and half a bottle of vodka and 200 paracetamol pills blended into a milk shake. Was found on the floor of my home by gf 30 minutes later, which was lucky because she wasn't supposed to be coming around.

On that occasion I was released from hospital after a couple of days of intensive care and after talking to 3 psychiatrists but they did say 'would you like to enter a detox program'. At the time I didn't care about living etc so of course I had no interest in detox. Had liver damage from that episode but a year ago I did a full liver check and all levels were normal. I don't know why but one of the doctors paid for my hospital bill including ambulance, maybe out of pity i'll never know. I'm sure we all have stories about what horrible things we did after being really drunk, but I have a such a long list and some of the stories are too shameful to tell.

Last few days i have been on around 5 beers a day, which is a decrease from normal especially since it is now the weekend. I'm the kind of 'drunk' that can hide being drunk, but at a certain tipping point of around 0.8 BAC i suddenly lose control and a torrent of anger and bad emotions come out and i'm suddenly not myself. Feel really alone here.

deeker

[QUOTE=egok;3889350]Thanks for all the messages of support!
There isn't an equivalent of a GP here, even for a cold people go directly to hospital.QUOTE]




http://www.parkwayhealth.cn/doctors/mok-sally.php- Maybe see if they can give you meds to aid in withdrawals. She's a general practitioner in a new health care system.


This is a support hotline to call for support of any kind. Number at bottom of page.
Support proves a lifeline in Shanghai - Telegraph

egok

Thanks for looking that up,

I've been to parkwayhealth before, but it's tad expensive, around 250 British pounds for the first time consultation. That's where I got my liver function tests done last year. Added up to around 500 pounds for a few blood tests. I told the Australian/Chinese doctor 'casually' that I drink too much and he wrote 'alcohol abuse' clearly on my medical papers. A bit disconcerting because I don't know how 'private' those records are.

It's nice in that you can literally walk in with no waiting times and see an expat doctor, but it's just a facade as all testing/prescriptions etc just get sent to the 'national' owned hospitals that everyone else goes to. Without 'proper' full insurance which I don't have it isn't an option.

egok

Just to see, i just sent off an email to parkwayhealth here, they replied sorry, we don't have that kind of service here.

Dee74

Hi Egok - I'm not familiar with the system in China but I know several people here are - I hope you'll hear from them with some more ideas

D

egok

Thanks Dee74, that would be very helpful. I think I need all the help I can get, there's mitigating factors involved that aren't alcohol.