Alcohol Alcohol: how quickly do things get bad?

[rules]

Hey guys, haven't posted in these forums in forever because it made me anxious to talk about drugs. I was an IV speedball user so discussions about heroin make me rather anxious and uncomfortable. Anyways, I went to detox, rehab, halfway house...the whole nine yards and I've maintained that marijuana is honestly the key for me not going batshit crazy. I've been doing that for awhile but after going to court for something I'd been running away from for awhile I find myself on two years probation.
This brings me to my quandary. I have to lay off the weed obviously and I also just turned 21 and been using it kind of daily since my birthday (been two weeks now). I don't feel withdrawals or anything in the morning but I drink like a pint of vodka a day and I realize it's not healthy but I'm hellbent on replacing one habit for another in lieu of probation. Now...I know it really depends person to person but has anyone else had experience with alcohol withdrawal? How fast does it start happening? Does it creep up on you? Is a pint of vodka a day even really considered heavy drinking?
Any info on this would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[Rybee]

Yes, a pint of vodka a day is a horrific habit.

 

[CaveBear]

depends on the person, but for me withdrawal starts 6-24 hours after my last drink. ( Ive also been the drunk with the shakes when i wake up and need a drink immediately.) anyway, mine starts with an increase in my pulse, the a little tremor in the hands, then full blown shakes, sweats, pulse just flying like when you're on blow. Ive been so bad ive had full blown DT's. It all depends on the person, underlying health problems, how much, how long.....there is no one way to tell how bad its going to be.

I will say that a pint a day for 2 weeks, I wouldnt expect anything other than minor shakes, if that even.

But the longer you drink the worse it can/could get....

 

[rules]

man...not sure what I should do. continue smoking and I go to jail for something so stupid. keep drinking and i risk my own health long term. don't do either and i might find myself back in my usual grind of heroin to be honest with you. this sucks.

 

[weekend addiction]

Assuming your otherwise healthy a pint of day for a couple weeks\months won't effect your health in a noticeable way. But you may find it hard to quit depending on your personality. Do you have lots of alcoholics in your family? Cause if so I recommend talking to them before getting yourself too deep. They can help give you some perspective.

 

[rules]

i actually have ZERO history of any drug abuse or alcoholism going all the way up to my grand parents on either side. at least that i know of. however, i have no doubt that i have serious dependency issues. someone wouldn't go through the trouble of risking jail or going back to the hell of heroin addiction just to avoid being sober. there is obviously something wrong with me.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Alcohol dependency usually takes quite a while to set in at first for most people. When I was sober for a year or so, I was drinking a pint-two pints of bourbon a day for the whole year, and then just stopped with no issues.

It's very common for people, especially opiate addicts, to switch to booze when they get clean... but, as you are seeing.. it can get out of hand very fast. If you keep drinking that way, not only are you going to destroy your body, but you will eventually become dependent. Everyones body is different so it could be 2 years, 1 year, or 3 months.. point is, it will happen if you keep drinking everyday.

You need to figure out, maybe with the help of some more treatment or something/meetings if that's your thing, why you need to be intoxicated by something at all times. As far as the psychical tole on your body, you switched a bad addiction for an even worse one. Alcohol is horrible in that way.

Good luck. Try and lay off the booze, man. If you think kicking dope was bad, wait till you end up having a seizure from alcohol withdrawal.

 

[Eveleivibe]

As others have said it depends on the person. I went through a phase of drinking heavily every evening for a few months: bottle of vodka, gin, 2-3 bottles of wine depending on mood but never really had withdrawals. From personal experience I think it takes a while to get dependent/WDs (have a few alcoholics in the family) so my advice would be to seek help before you end up with another addiction.
As you know there's lots of support here n we're here to help you through this if that's what you want.
All the best,

Evey

 

[Jabberwocky]

HOLY COW !!!!
A PINT OF VODKA.

dude, I rarely drink a shot of vodka and that's bad.

now of course you should enjoy yourself, but look dude if you continue to drink a pint of vodka each day you will end up dead very quick,addiction back again,etc,etc.
limit yourself brah.

 

[Jabberwocky]

if you keep smoking weed you will turn into a lazy crackpot, up to you.

 

[Cyanoide]

I have.

I can relate to the pint of vodka. I initially drank mostly beer, usually around 20 pints a day, but got so severe diarrhea from it (plus it was expensive as hell), I switched to vodka.

Usually I'd start experiencing WD's ~12 hours after the last drink. Tremors, heart palpitations, panic attacks, severe anxiety and confusion. Also an intense uncomfortable fear that something bad is happening (well, obviously something bad IS happening but thoughts like going crazy, losing my sanity) etc. I was actually tapering from Diazepam at the same time and obviously this made everything worse.

The "good" news about alcohol though is that it takes some time to actually get physically addicted to it, it's usually at least some months of continuous drinking. In some cases years. Just be careful with benzos; the usually sooner or later also step in the picture (not least because they're so extensively used in detox), partly because they are so extremely effective for alcohol WD, but also because they work for more protracted symptoms like anxiety, insomnia etc. which can last for much longer than the acute WD phase. It's a quite common story to switch addiction from alcohol to benzos (which, I guess, isn't necessarily a bad thing if you have to choose between the two, alcohol being more destructive, but the physical addiction is quite equally bad).