• H&R Moderators: VerbalTruist

alcoholism (oh fuck)

I Care Because You Do

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 6, 2003
Messages
160
Location
Seattle, WA
hi everybody - ill preface this by saying that i dont visit these boards often and i really dont feel like sifting through the search engine, so sorry if a similar topic has already been discussed.

i have a little worry. i'm a vegan, and have been for about 4 years, but i consider myself a healthy vegan. i eat well, though not too often (work makes it hard to eat meals during the day), take a mulit-vitamin and b-12 supplement daily, am constantly active, etc etc etc. but i drink a lot. like, a lot. just about every week day, i start in the afternoon when i get off work and dont stop until i go to bed. on the weekends, i generally start drinking a whole fuckin lot earlier than that.

yeah, i know, not good. dont have to tell me that. however, it's only been like that for maybe 2 years at the most. anyways, i get the shakes during the day. like, pretty fuckin shakey. i always assumed it was cuz i was hungry and hadnt eaten, or had some sort of vitamin deficiency. so i was asking a friend what he thought it might be, and he said those two reasons, and he also asked "well, does it stop when you have your first beer?" and i was like, well..im not sure. ive never paid attention.

so i started paying attention. and im pretty sure it's right after ive had a beer or two that my shakes stop. (i dont really drink hard alcohol often at all)

so basically im wondering: ive only been drinking heavily for 2 years or so.. honestly, probably a little less than that. is it possible to have symptoms of alcoholism this early? or do my shakes stop because alcohol relaxes me? kind of a chicken-egg situation. i dont ever CRAVE a drink, other than just thinking "id like to have a beer now.." not like ready to kill someone for a pabst or anything.

yeah i dont like the amount i drink, and im really not looking for advice per say, just wondering if alcohol is the cause or the (albeit temporary and not healthy) cure to my shakey hands?

thanks in advance...
 
"yeah i dont like the amount i drink, and im really not looking for advice per say, just wondering if alcohol is the cause or the (albeit temporary and not healthy) cure to my shakey hands?"
 
sorry, i just felt obligated to warn you....


and it seems your excessive drinking and your addiction is causing the physical side-effect of the shakes.

W/Ds, if you will.
 
Cut back a bit, and eat foods that contain acetic acid (vinegar), like pickles. Or even drink a ounce of vinegar a day if you can stand it. A number of supplements like acetyl-carnitine and acetyl-cysteine can help too with both cravings and w/d's from alcohol, and even more complex acetics like aspirin and melatonin, anything to reduce the your acetaldehyde levels and up your acetaldehyde hydrogenase enzymes levels can help, I know from experience.
 
I Care Because You Do said:
is it possible to have symptoms of alcoholism this early?

yes. you binge drink daily. over the course of a year or two this could definitely cause some major problems. the shakes you're getting are a symptom of physical withdrawal from alcohol. you could develop this after several months of the kind of continuous drinking you've been doing. obviously it would help to slowly cut back on your alcohol intake. you might also find that the shakes are less pronounced if you eat more food. something with sugars would probably be most helpful. try to hydrate as well. dehydration may very well be intensifying the shakes.
 
i appreciate it. i was just weondering if it was more my diet or whatnot... and like i said it doesnt feel like an addiction, cause i never really NEED to drink. i just like it. eh i guess thats not too good either
 
@lterEgo said:
yes. you binge drink daily. over the course of a year or two this could definitely cause some major problems. the shakes you're getting are a symptom of physical withdrawal from alcohol. you could develop this after several months of the kind of continuous drinking you've been doing. obviously it would help to slowly cut back on your alcohol intake. you might also find that the shakes are less pronounced if you eat more food. something with sugars would probably be most helpful. try to hydrate as well. dehydration may very well be intensifying the shakes.

thanks i really appreciate it.
 
I Care Because You Do said:
i appreciate it. i was just weondering if it was more my diet or whatnot... and like i said it doesnt feel like an addiction, cause i never really NEED to drink. i just like it. eh i guess thats not too good either
Sorry to tell it to you mate, but getting withdrawals when not administering a drug = addiction. Not accepting the fact that you are addicted to a drug is a normal reaction, but the sooner you validate the fact that you may have a problem with alcohol, the faster you'll get rid of the shakes by taking appropriate measures.

Just ask yourself: if what you are going through is not alcoholism then what exactly is alcoholism? Describe it.

Hope you don't take this the wrong way... I'm only trying to make you aware of a potentially life threatening condition.
 
Last edited:
no no not taken the wrong way at all. i have never had a drug problem other than this i suppose...never really had the time or money or connections. i dont have a problem admitting i might be addicted to alcohol; basically i was just wondering if in fact i was? i know that sounds weird but like i said before i dont get cravings like i thought most people addicted to any drug do. but yes thanks for your replies i think i will be cutting back and see how that works. either way, it cant be bad to cut back
 
I Care Because You Do said:
no no not taken the wrong way at all. i have never had a drug problem other than this i suppose...never really had the time or money or connections. i dont have a problem admitting i might be addicted to alcohol; basically i was just wondering if in fact i was? i know that sounds weird but like i said before i dont get cravings like i thought most people addicted to any drug do. but yes thanks for your replies i think i will be cutting back and see how that works. either way, it cant be bad to cut back
If you don't get cravings then maybe you're not impulsively addicted aka getting cravings, just physically dependent. That's a VERY good thing because the physical withdrawal can be dealt with. It's the cravings that make it very difficult to control. No matter what you chose to do next, do NOT try fix this by yourself going cold turkey for example since it can actually be very dangerous. What I'd recommend is to go see a specialist, but of course, this is your call since I'm no expert on this matter and maybe other more experienced BL-ers may have better advices. I hope you'll solve your issue with a minimum of, or why not, inexistent negative repercussions. Good luck!
 
Yes, never quit drinking all at once, cut back or switch to light beer or mix your drinks weaker. Cold turkey can be very dangerous.
 
^It is extremely difficult to effectively taper with alcohol. If somebody is physically addicted the safest way to detox is under medical supervision with benzos.
 
True, but being self-employed in the US, where only a celebrity or a welfare mom can afford such luxuries, I've found its quite possible to do at home with watered-wine coolers and kava kava too.
 
your body is physically addicted to alcohol
try to quit for a week and tell me you don't get cravings
 
Stp04 said:
^It is extremely difficult to effectively taper with alcohol. If somebody is physically addicted the safest way to detox is under medical supervision with benzos.

Not disagreeing, but this is more of an issue with cravings throwing off a taper scedule than with the physical mechanisms of alcohol itsself, yes?
 
Cravings could throw off your taper schedule with alcohol, but that is applicable to tapering from all drugs. The primary reasons it is difficult to taper from alcohol are:
-Short half-life requiring frequent redosing to keep BAC high enough to manage withdrawal
-Difficult to measure out and dose precicely in accordance with a taper schedule.
-longterm, chronic alcohol use will impair liver function which will further compicate keeping an adeqate BAC. Lorazepam, while not long acting, is easier on the liver and will effectively treat withdrawal symptoms

Overall using a benzo that is long acting will make the taper a smoother, safer, and more comfortable process than using alcohol.
 
i'm not sure how much you drink, but if you're shaking then its enough to warrant some benzo's to taper with.

if i understand correctly you shake because alcohol suppresses the CNS when in full force, when it subsides your nervous system kind of rebounds and goes into overdrive.

i am an alcoholic. i cut back to one or two beers a night.

i was using it to fight anxiety and any sort of thought process. it just got out of hand.

good luck.
 
I think sometimes we like to throw around these words like alcoholism and alcoholic a bit too much, and it tends to scare people, crank up their anxiety levels to the point where they feel the urge to drink more and more too. Alcohol is addictive, ir commands a dependence through both its metabolite acetaldehyde which is quite toxic, but displaced in the body by more alcohol as well as increased anxiety from rebound GABA activity. This is of course a good reason to not drink every day, but its getting past the hair on the dog hangover cure that is usually the problem for most people. Benzos (as is kava or phenibut, if you have no rx access) are great, but they solve only half the problem, the increased GABA activity. You also have to deal with the acetaldehyde in your blood. In my last post in this thread I detailed some ways to deal with that (here). .
 
What kind of alcohol do you drink?

And, I guess it's unnecessary to say that but: stop drinking NOW. It's an awful addiction.
 
Top