Misc Alcohol Withdrawal

[Deadhead420]

I just want to know if this is mostly just in my head. I haven't been drinking that much at one time and I only drink at night not during the day but it's been almost every night for probably a couple months now. I don't really drink to get drunk, just a couple drinks to relax and help me sleep really. My last drink was about 48 hours ago and I killed a 750ml bottle of 80 proof whiskey in 4 days. I can hold my hand out steady without it shaking, which I thought would be a main symptom but it's not happening to me. Really I just feel anxious, my stomach doesn't feel quite right, and I have a headache. How long am I in for or is this mostly just in my head?

 

[Obiez]

Unless you feel pain in the joints, lower back, and you are not suffering from RLS or "the shakes" then you have nothing to worry about. Also as a recovering alcoholic I can tell you that drinking 750ml of a spirit in 4 days would not make me feel a buzz back in my boozing days. Now, what you are probably going through is mental since alcohol withdrawl is probably the second worst i have ever experienced(?) and it sets on quick, and it hits hard. All you need to do is get a good sweat going for a month and you'll be right as rain.

 

[Deadhead420]

I do have some pain in my joints and my back actually but no shakes. And yea that amount wasn't to get drunk, that was just to get a little buzz to relax. I've been through opiate withdrawal before and that was way worse than I'm feeling now.

 

[Obiez]

I do have some pain in my joints and my back actually but no shakes. And yea that amount wasn't to get drunk, that was just to get a little buzz to relax. I've been through opiate withdrawal before and that was way worse than I'm feeling now.

You got nothing to worry about. I don't know the extent of your opiate use but for me it was one to two grams of heroin a day (first time i detoxed) for about a year (not counting the year prior when i was just junking around without a daily necessity for it) and it was horrible, but not deadly (cold tukey). Alcoholics on the other hand need way more time to be serious drinkers before they ever get any feeling other then the mental "i need a drink now damn it", but once you become an alcoholic, or certified, you have about 2 days to get yourself to a hospital before something goes horribly wrong. So, unless you have been black out drunk everyday all day non-stop for a good 6 months, it's all mental. Yes you'll have some pains like you say, but unless you start feeling really, really sick (hallucinations, drastic change in cardiac and resperatory function, full body shakes, hot-cold shakes) then you will be absolutely fine within a few days of sweating the alcohol out of your system.

Remember, alcohol withdrawl is far worse then opiate withdrawl, so unless you feel like you're dying you are fine.

 

[pasha]

I just want to know if this is mostly just in my head. I haven't been drinking that much at one time and I only drink at night not during the day but it's been almost every night for probably a couple months now. I don't really drink to get drunk, just a couple drinks to relax and help me sleep really. My last drink was about 48 hours ago and I killed a 750ml bottle of 80 proof whiskey in 4 days. I can hold my hand out steady without it shaking, which I thought would be a main symptom but it's not happening to me. Really I just feel anxious, my stomach doesn't feel quite right, and I have a headache. How long am I in for or is this mostly just in my head?

If your symptoms are mostly phychological and less physiological then I would stop now. Your symptoms could easily flip into more physiological the longer you keep drinking and become dependent. Keep in mind also that alcohol is a highly toxic substance, that inflicts damage on nearly every major organ everytime you drink.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

If you were psychically dependent on alcohol, after 48 hours... you'd know it, because you'd be in rough shape. People are all different, but for the most part, it takes a very large amount of alcohol being consumed for a very long time daily to become psychically addicted. I went through a period where I drank about half a pint to a pint of bourbon every night for 7 or 8 months and just stopped, no problems.. That's not to say somebody else wouldn't have been in trouble, but I personally was fine.

That being said, you are clearly worried about your drinking and that shows that there is a problem. Cutting back or at least attempting to is probably a really good idea.

 

[Deadhead420]

If you were psychically dependent on alcohol, after 48 hours... you'd know it, because you'd be in rough shape. People are all different, but for the most part, it takes a very large amount of alcohol being consumed for a very long time daily to become psychically addicted. I went through a period where I drank about half a pint to a pint of bourbon every night for 7 or 8 months and just stopped, no problems.. That's not to say somebody else wouldn't have been in trouble, but I personally was fine.

That being said, you are clearly worried about your drinking and that shows that there is a problem. Cutting back or at least attempting to is probably a really good idea.

Wow you didn't feel sick or anxious at all? That makes me feel better... it's probably mostly in my head although I definitely feel like there was still a little bit of physical withdrawal present. I was finally able to get a little bit of sleep last night and I found some percocet (I know, maybe a bad idea but I've cut WAY back on my opiate use and have mostly only been drinking lately) that I took today so I'm feeling better but still slightly off.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Wow you didn't feel sick or anxious at all? That makes me feel better... it's probably mostly in my head although I definitely feel like there was still a little bit of physical withdrawal present. I was finally able to get a little bit of sleep last night and I found some percocet (I know, maybe a bad idea but I've cut WAY back on my opiate use and have mostly only been drinking lately) that I took today so I'm feeling better but still slightly off.

Nah, I didn't feel sick at all.. and I'm no stranger to withdrawal having gone through it with H many many times. The only thing I got was around 5:00, I'd start really craving a drink.. but simply psychologically.. If I didn't have one, I was psychically fine and even mentally, I'd just forget about it eventually.

A lot of us opiate addicts end up drinking way too much when we get clean or start reducing our opiate intake. You need to really be conscious of it and work to exhibit some control.. it sounds odd, being that we are addicts.. but a lot of us don't develop the love affair with booze we had with H.. we just do it because we are used to being able to change our mental state whenever we want to and booze is just easier to do it with when you're not using.. I mean, some people end up going full bore with the alcohol..where maybe they end up loving it even more than they did opiates, but that wasn't how it happened for me. Now, I drink socially... maybe a bit more than normal people, but certainly not to excess and nowhere near what I used to.