ArcticSA

I was just thinking about something......I have a genuinely curious question.
When I quit January 8th of last year the first few days were HELL-ish. Anxiety attacks, panic, "heart attacks", irratibility, rage, insomnia,etc. For at least a week.
I relapsed July 3rd and had a whole bottle of wine. The headache was BAD but once that was over the past few days have been normal and fine, I feel good and sober.
So my question is, Why do we have such terrible withdrawal quitting the first time, but after my last drinking episode there was nothing of the sort?
Does alcohol "build up" in our systems? Do our brains "forget" we are addicted?
Or is it more of a habit that hasn't re-formed?

doggonecarl

I don't know. Count your blessings and don't risk drinking again.

Kevin78

Hey Arctic.

I would imagine over time our bodies repair some of the damage caused. However, continuing to drink again would quickly reverse this. I was sober for over 2 years and I don't remember the withdrawals as bad at 1st.

Edit: This led to even bigger binges as I thought I could cope. Bad idea.

Mizzuno

A question that seems like there could be a multitude of answers depending on who you talk too. Im leaving this one up to the gods

Kevin78

Thats my thoughts on a lot of threads lol

ScottFromWI

It varies from person to person. Some return to drinking and immediately have withdrawals as bad as before, or sometimes even worse. I'd be much more worried about why you drank again personally and what you can do to prevent it - and consider yourself lucky you didn't go on a major binge.

ArcticSA

Well I'm guessing there is some scientific explanation. Off to Google I go I guess!

PurpleKnight

The body becomes dependant on alcohol, so it needs time to adjust to not having what it has always had, the dependence though is stronger/weaker based on factors such as time the body has had a substance and the quantity of that substance, plus the overall efficiency of the body to bounce back, as Scott mentioned it's different for everyone, age, body mass, general fitness are variables.

So when I first quit the body had to adjust to always having alcohol in large quantities every day for the last 5 years, if I had a bottle of wine tonight after being Sober for a period of time, and then stopped consuming alcohol again the body would have less to adjust to.

In the same way generally trying 1 cigarette or 1 line of cocaine would rarely cause a person to become addicted to it (I wouldn't test it out though) as the body hasn't had any time to create a dependence on it, whereas if I quit caffeine and my morning coffee tomorrow morning I'm sure I'd have a few headaches and withdrawal symptoms from consuming it almost every day for the last 15 years!!

Nuudawn

I'm going to make a metabolic analogy. In working with people (or even myself) who have followed good, healthy diets (and exercise) in terms of weight loss for an extended period of time...they have in essence repaired their metabolism that was once in disrepair. The fire in the furnace is burning hot again..
Soooo...when they get off track and overeat it is not as damaging as it once was. In truth, this is the beginning of the slippery slope and how most people start gaining back. The initial off course eating doesn't show up as it once did...so they keep slipping...and slipping...and slipping.
All the good work in metabolic repair slides away...the furnace starts to cool...
Eventually they are right back where they were
or worse.

ArcticSA

That makes sense. What I found was that withdrawal is "an interruption in constant use".
I can see how its the same with dieting. It's kind of like when I hit a certain number on the scale, I think "Oh! I lost weight! I can eat a bunch now!" Doesn't make sense.
I can't do that. As of right now, I can't even IMAGINE sliding back into oblivion, but I know it could happen! If I let my guard down.... Lots of fear in this quit, lots and lots of fear.

ReadyAtLast

I know for me when I went back to drinking after a few weeks sober I 'only' had a few glasses/ a bottle and felt ok. Whilst I was a bit annoyed about relapsing I thought it was good as I didn't feel THAT bad and nowhere near as bad as when I originally quit. I suppose it just hadn't built up in my system or something. The problem was,because I didn't feel too bad I carried on drinking. It didn't take long till i did get bad again and it seemed harder to stop next time. The critical thing for me was to focus on why I picked up again and stop it happening again

jezza

I find when I have stopped for a few days & start again the hangover/withdrawal is bearable but if I continue say 5 days binging the withdrawal gets worse each morning but hey we are all different..

chickippo

each time i've relapsed the withdrawals have been worse. the last time very nearly killed me. consider yourself lucky that you're not there...yet.

ScottFromWI

I have to say your "research" into this sounds very much like justification for your recent drinking. You mention above that you can't let your guard down...you already did when you drank. Rather than worrying about why you didn't have withrawals, perhaps you could do some reflection and look back on why you drank..and what you can do to strengthen your plan so it doesn't happen again?

ArcticSA

Justification? haha, no. Far from it. I'm not trying to justify it, there is nothing to justify.
I just noticed how different the first days after abruptly stopping drinking were this time around, and was wondering why. I think I know now, since several good explanations were given.