alcohol almost killed me
All this advice about the use of benzos to ease the pain of the detox is not good. I am glad you are recognizing your problem early and want to stop. I wasn't so lucky....
I am 28 and was a heavy drinker since I was around 20. I started experiencing some problems when I was 27 that I should have read as warning signs to slow down, such as: shakes, decreased appetite, stomach cramps, cold sweats. I never really got hangovers, but I was having those problems on and off for about a year. One day I got very sick, ccnstant puking, and the most incredible intense stomach pain I have ever experienced. I went to the emergency room that night, and by this time I could hardly stay conscious from the pain. The doctor gave me 2mg of dilaudid; that did nothing, he gave me 2 more, nothing, 2 more, nothing, 2 more, nothing.(I have a very high tolerance for pain and drugs) finally he gave me ativan and I passed out. The doctors didn't know what was wrong at first, they suspected an ulcer or kidney stones, they even told my mother that I would probably be discharged. Then the CAT scan results came in.... Necrotized Pancreatitis!! The chief of surgery told my mother that this was the worst case they had ever seen.
*For those of you unfamiliar with the Pancreas, it produces digestive enzymes and hormones, as well as insulin. Pancreatitis produces toxic enzymes that attack major organs like the liver and kidneys eventually causing complete organ failure.
Over 80% of Pancreatitis is alcohol related.*
Now here is the icing on the cake... Aside from the pancreatitis, I began to detox off alcohol! This presented a serious problem for the doctors, because my fever went to 105.7, and started to have seizures. I fell into a coma, my stomach was triple its normal size, and I was dying fast. My family was told that unless I was operated on I would die in less than 72 hours, and because of the severity of the condition coupled with the fever they said my chances of survival were around 10%. Due to such negative odds no doctor was willing to operate; my mother then went to the hospital administrator and pleaded for my life basically and begged them to operate. Finally one surgeon agreed to operate..Dr. IYER.. I'll never forget that name. With the odds at less than 10% he saved my life.
Two months later I woke up from the coma with no idea what happened, the last thing I remembered was being in the ER screaming at the doctor for more pain meds. All my family from all over the country were in the room; I had a beard. (That freaked me out the most) I couldn't talk because they had to put a trach tube in my throat; I tried writing on a pad but nothing made sense because I had to regain my motor functions; I lost over 60 pounds; My hair fell out because of all the antibiotics; and obviously I was in severe pain because of the surgery obviously.
Its been six months since I'm home from the hospital(I was like a celebrity there "The miracle kid) and now I feel like I'm starting my life all over again. I have to completely change careers,(I was a consultant to new restaurants designing beverage programs and training bartenders; I created original cocktail recipes for moet hennessy's marketing firm.
I know it was a long story, but to anyone out there that is a heavy drinker and mixes pills every once and a while, eventually it will catch up to you. When you start feeling things changing with your body DO NOT IGNORE the symptoms!!!
I kept blowing it off and it almost killed me.
I've been around the block with just about everything and am more than willing to help anyone out in any way I can with advice or just an opinion.
"Either get busy living or get busy dying"