Alcohol Withdrawals

[happyhour1979]

This is probably gonna be a little long so please bear with me. I'm an alcoholic, probably have been since I started drinking at 18 (I'm 26 now) but it's never been as serious of a problem as it has become over the past 6 months or so. Prior to that, I would drink probably a 6-pack or a little less on a nightly basis (minus brief stints of self-imposed sobriety - probably my longest running stretch was 7 days during which time I experienced no physical withdrawal symptoms). About 6 months ago, I broke some bones in my foot which led to me losing my job (I was waitressing at the time). I was basically housebound during the month or so it took my foot to heal and during that time I began drinking throughout the day - I'm not talking getting absolutely wasted because I was usually drinking beer with a fairly low ABV, but I would start drinking shortly after waking up and continue throughout the day: my memories of that time are a little fuzzy at this point but I would guess I was drinking about 8-10 drinks a day. This continued after my foot healed and I found a new job - I wasn't drinking in the morning on days I worked but I would start drinking as soon as I got off work and continue to drink until I went to sleep (still averaging about 8-10 drinks a day). Fast forward to the present and I am probably averaging between 10-12 drinks a day. I consider it an "achievement" if I can hold off drinking until 5 P.M., and on days when I have no obligations I typically get started earlier.

This is obviously not good and I really do want to stop; however, this is the first time I have felt genuinely UNABLE to make myself stop, even for a few days. I have underlying issues with anxiety/panic disorder and these have reared their heads in a big way over the course of my 6-month bender. Generally, the world is a scary place for me when I am sober now. I know that a cold turkey self-detox poses certain risks (SEIZURES being my main concern) and the fear of that keeps me trotting back to the store for more beer every time I think about quitting on my own. I have a small amount of Klonopin (6 doses of .5 mgs), which I know is an anticonvulsant and a long-acting benzo. I have a week off after New Year's and my plan right now is to use that time to detox at home using the Klonopin - probably starting out with .5 mgs the first day and taking more if withdrawal symptoms present themselves. Everything I've been reading seems to indicate that the biggest risk of seizures hovers around the 48-72 hour mark after the last drink. Is that amount of Klonopin enough to get me safely through that period of time? (Side note: I do not have a tolerance to Klonopin and only take it several times a month for panic attacks). It's very hard for me to discern between what's actually going on and what's just my anxiety chiming in right now, so the thought of lying around FREAKING OUT about having a seizure for three days is almost as bad to me as the thought of ACTUALLY having a seizure - which the Klonopin will hopefully help with as well.

I've debated going to my doctor but I really don't want to get this slapped on my medical chart for the rest of my life. I also had to fib heavily about how much I drink to get the Klonopin prescribed in the first place so I'd be kissing that one goodbye, too. Again - I'm averaging about 10-12 drinks a day, almost always beer. This has been going on for about 6 months. I am a 5"8, 145-pound female in otherwise decent physical condition. Is it a bad idea to attempt this at home the way I have described? Would I be better off tapering down with alcohol itself? How quickly would I be able to do that? I apologize again for the length of this post, and for being an idiot and getting myself into this ridiculous situation in the first place.

 

[unknown_man]

Is it a bad idea to attempt this at home the way I have described? Would I be better off tapering down with alcohol itself? How quickly would I be able to do that? I apologize again for the length of this post, and for being an idiot and getting myself into this ridiculous situation in the first place.

Thanks for posting and congrats on your free-will to consider quit drinking.

First, I will be the first to tell you that I am not a doctor and cannot advise you medically because there are risks that you are already aware of and I don't want to be held liable for anything bad happening to you. But I can give you some advice based on my experience. Also, I am post 48 hours without a single drop of alcohol after successfully tapering alcohol with alcohol. Now that we got that out of the way.

Yes, you CAN use alcohol to taper down to being completely abstinent from alcohol. You NEED to be strong tho and REALLY want to quit for good. I was drinking close to 4 beers a night, then on the weekends I'd mix beer with liquor, totaling sometimes beyond 15 drinks a night. On the weekdays, I would stay at 4-5 beers a night, then sometimes an entire 6 pack. This went on for roughly 9 months. However, I've suffered a major alcohol addiction a few years ago where I was drinking a handle of Captain Morgan a day. I actually didn't know I was addicted to alcohol until I went to the ER where I found my liver enzymes were through the roof. The doctor stated that if I continued on this path then I would certainly have cirrhosis of the liver within the next year. I decided to go through a medical detox for that because of the amount of liquor I was consuming. That was a 5 day detox with Librium and I don't remember much because I was in a comatose the entire time. When I left detox, I felt reborn and completely healed.

Now, this time around I wasn't drinking nearly as much as I was the first time around. But I can tell you that my hangover were so much more sever than previously. This is because I withdrawaled once before and each time the withdrawals get worse and worse, including the hangovers (even off 3 beers). So, here is what I did to taper off alcohol:

I found my baseline of what would actually get me a buzz without being drunk. That was 4 beers, so then I knew it would be safe for me to drink 3 beers without catching a buzz and that would be my baseline. I drank 3 beers a night for 2 weeks in a row. I strongly stuck to that schedule. Then, I dropped down to 2 beers a day for 2 weeks. This was a very slow taper, but I was giving my body time to adjust and rebalance itself without feeling any euphoric effects from the alcohol.

This is where thing got a bit slippery. After 2 weeks of drinking 2 beers a night I decided I was going to stop altogether. I felt great and slept great for 2 days in a row. I thought, "WOW, it was just that easy?!". Nope. I was wrong. 56 hours into my abstinence I started feeling that buzzing/ electrical feeling in my brain. I was becoming disoriented and had really bad pressure in my head that caused severe headaches. Then, I was trying to sleep and I thought I was seeing shadows out of the corner of my eyes. Then, the anxiety kicked in. At that point I knew the withdrawal was getting serious and I needed to act before I brought on a seizure. Would I have actually seized if I did nothing? I honestly don't know, but I certainly didn't want to find out. So, I opened a beer and drank it faster than anything I've ever swallowed in my life. After about 15-20 minutes I felt a huge zap in my brain, my body jolted, then I got this extreme rush of heat through my entire body. I was feeling better at that point. That kept the withdrawals away. This was 56 hours after my last beer.

This is where I knew a longer, but quick taper schedule was needed. So, I did the following:

Day 1: Nothing
Day 2: Nothing
Day 3: 1 beer in 8hr intervals for a total of 3 beers a day (still felt anxiety, head pressure, brain zaps, brain fog)
Day 4: 1 beer in 8hr intervals for a total of 3 beers a day (This was the worst day! Still felt anxiety, head pressure, brain zaps, brain fog, but thought I was going to seize out, but it could've been extreme anxiety)
Day 5: 1 beer every 12 hours for a total of 2 beers a day (Feeling a bit better, slight anxiety, but still have head pressure, brain fog, and some brain zaps)
Day 6: 1 beer every 12 hours for a total of 2 beers a day (Feeling a bit better, slight anxiety, but still have head pressure, brain fog, and some brain zaps)
Day 7: .5 beer every 12 hours for a total of 1 beer a day (started a multivitamin... Feel MUCH better! Some anxiety but only a few times throughout the day then would leave. Brain zaps are gone, but slight brain fog)
Day 8: .5 beer in a 24 hour period for a total of a .5 beer a day (took multivitamin.... appetite returned with a vengeance... just slight brain fog but feel 100x better)
Day 9: No beer at all (took multivitamin.... feel great but still have some light brain fog. Nothing crazy)
Day 10: No beer at all (took multivitamin... feel great but still have some slight brain fog. Nothing crazy)

This is where I am at right now. I'm going on 3 days with no alcohol in my system and it feels great. The game changer up above, and what I would recommend to you, is to start taking a multivitamin or a B-Complex (I didn't take B-Complex because of the extreme amount of vitamin B12 which can cause extreme anxiety) early on in your taper to help your body rebalance at a much faster rate. Alcohol will deplete your body of key vitamins (mainly B vitamins which are responsible for nervous system functions, metabolism, etc) and make your withdrawal experience much worse. Eating and taking vitamins are vital to recovery, along with staying hydrated and keeping your electrolytes in balance (lots of water, herbal tea, and gatorade).

Keep in mind that I was able to sleep every single night for a full 8 hours (also important to recovery). Keep in mind that you will NOT feel 100% going through your taper and that you will feel very minimal withdrawal effects, but at least you'll know that a seizure would be unlikely since you are tapering with alcohol. And each day that passes gets better and better. You need to be disciplined, have the strength to NOT drink more, and keep your eyes on the end goal.

When I got to day 4, which was my worst, I didn't think I was going to make it. Because it has to get a little worse in order to get much better. But once you get over that bell curve, which was day 5 for me, then you will feel excited and have an optimistic outlook that things are going to get better. Just don't give up or give in NO MATTER WHAT! Once you find your baseline, then buy no more alcohol than necessary to put in your fridge on a daily basis.

Now, when I drive by my local beer/ liquor store I give the peach sign and know I'll be having that much more money in my pocket than having alcohol in my system. And now I wakeup hangover free and a new life to start living.

This is my experience. I truly hope you have the strength and free-will to do this! You won't regret it. I promise!

 

[aihfl]

DO NOT COLD TURKEY OFF ALCOHOL! Ideally, you should seek medical attention. The imagined stigma of having it on your medical chart is nothing close to the alternative dangers that alcohol withdrawal poses. That said, if you insist on doing a self-taper, you can find information on how to do that safely here: http://hams.cc/taper. I've done it too when push comes to shove, but again, the safest thing is to go and get medically detoxed somewhere.

Librium or Valium are the benzos of choice when it comes to alcohol detox due to their long half life, but Kpins also have a fairly long half life. It is not in any of the tables listed in this article: http://www.aafp.org/afp/1999/0915/p1175.html, but you can use this tool to calculate the equivalent doses of Klonopin from the dosages provided in the tables for Librium, Ativan and Serax.

 

[Mafioso]

I agree with aihfl. It is possible, but there are serious dangers involved. It's not a matter of will power or lack of, there are serious side effects that impact both mind and body.

Be safe, take care of yourself.

 

[happyhour1979]

Thanks for the replies. I know better than to shoot off on a cold turkey detox but after doing some more research I think I will be OK cutting down by two drinks a day until I am at zero (should take less than a week).

 

[mrburns86]

totally relate to your story. I wish you the best!