Alcohol How long does it take to become physically addicted to alcohol ?

[dextroflicks]

I am a drinker i either drink beer or red wine, no mixing them. Its either 4 - 8 beers in a day or a bottle of red wine, on rarer ocasions i will drink some whiskey or vodka. This has been going on for about a year when i quit benzos. I started using alcohol to take the edge off and help me sleep after i had gone through withdrawl and it remained a habit, i am curious as to how long it would take to start being physically addicted to alcohol and how nasty would the withdrawl be compared to clonazepam withdrawl .... would it have the same seizure potential, also would it be as lengthy as clonazepam withdrawl ? i have tried not drinking for 2 days and i did not seem to be going through withdrawl .. maybe just a little more jittery than my usual anxious state but nothing terrible. Problem is i am starting to get regular liver pains and i dont want to fully destroy the thing so i thaught it would be a good idea to quit ... but then i would not get enough sleep ... its a vicious circle of idiotic dependencies.

if anyone could shed some light on the time-frame of alcohol addiction that would be of great help, thank you.

 

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

Not enough sleep is easier to fix than liver failure.
Quit the liquor for awhile man.
You might get physical withdrawals, it seems to be very different for everyone in regards to alcohol especially

 

[bunge]

With the amount and frequency of your drinking, i would say that your lucky not to be experiencing worse WD symptoms!
Alcohol WD is every bit and bad as benzo WD. Including all the really nasty symptoms like shakes, panic attacks, musclular pain and seizures.

 

[phactor]

You would very likely experience at least some withdrawal symptoms with that level and length of drinking. I would cut back over a few days at least before stopping.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I think Stress can cause addiction.

I don't mean normal life stress, but bad stress may help or may cause addiction,etc.

 

[hustlababy09]

Alcohol withdrawals can be extremely dangerous... if I were you I would cut down and "taper" yourself off of the alcohol very slowly. Stopping cold turkey could be dangerous and with the amount/frequency of your alcohol consumption I think it would be safe to assume you would have withdrawals.

 

[Corazon]

I am a drinker i either drink beer or red wine, no mixing them. Its either 4 - 8 beers in a day or a bottle of red wine, on rarer ocasions i will drink some whiskey or vodka. This has been going on for about a year when i quit benzos. I started using alcohol to take the edge off and help me sleep after i had gone through withdrawl and it remained a habit, i am curious as to how long it would take to start being physically addicted to alcohol and how nasty would the withdrawl be compared to clonazepam withdrawl .... would it have the same seizure potential, also would it be as lengthy as clonazepam withdrawl ? i have tried not drinking for 2 days and i did not seem to be going through withdrawl .. maybe just a little more jittery than my usual anxious state but nothing terrible. Problem is i am starting to get regular liver pains and i dont want to fully destroy the thing so i thaught it would be a good idea to quit ... but then i would not get enough sleep ... its a vicious circle of idiotic dependencies.

if anyone could shed some light on the time-frame of alcohol addiction that would be of great help, thank you.

Picture yourself at the top of the steps.
If you take a flying leap, you are going to break your fucking ankle and bump your head into the doorway.

Start with drinking roughly half of what you drink now. Instead of 8 beers a day, drink 4. Instead of drinking to get fucking smashed and relaxed, stop as soon as you feel a buzz. Instead of drinking fast to catch a buzz, sip/nurse/drink slowly. Stay off of the whiskey and wine.

Do that for a while and then keep reducing the beers down to zero.

You will feel uncomfortable, and you will get a strong urge to binge drink. However, you should be able to avoid severe symptoms.

Good luck.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

It is different for everyone. With alcohol, it usually take a long time of pretty heavy drinking to develop real withdrawal symptoms. The only way to know is to not drink one day and see how you feel... Keep in mind though, if you continue to drink every day at that level, it's going to happen. Maybe a month from now or maybe another year from now. Gain some control before that happens.

 

[phactor]

It is different for everyone. With alcohol, it usually take a long time of pretty heavy drinking to develop real withdrawal symptoms. The only way to know is to not drink one day and see how you feel... Keep in mind though, if you continue to drink every day at that level, it's going to happen. Maybe a month from now or maybe another year from now. Gain some control before that happens.

A year of drinking at the level of the OP will have most people feeling some withdrawal symptoms. I wouldn't stop drinking cold turkey after a year of drinking without some kind of backup (alcohol or benzo). Also, I think someone should at least try to taper a little bit when it comes to alcohol. Why suffer more?

OP can you switch to beer, stabalize on a certain amount and then drink one less every few days? This might require some additional work if you cannot control your intake when you do have beers. For example when going from something like 6 beer to 4, maybe buy two 24 ouncers or something like that. Also, keep ABV in mind.

I have a thread on TDS with some suggestions. But I will stress, alcohol withdrawal is nothing to fuck around with. If you are really struggling then get your ass to a doctor.

Anyways, I was where you are and trust me, it took me a long time and a lot of pain before I even was able to slightly get my drinking under control. I am still far from perfect and I am older now, so my body cannot handle it like it used to. When I first started drinking I hardly had any effects, now my hangovers can be downright horrendous.. which is a motivation to not get too crazy.

Finally, binge drinking really complicates the matter... if you have nights where you drink far more then your usual amount you are more likely to suffer WD effects.

 

[Elven Warriorr]

How long does a physical addiction to alcohol take to develop, if somebody is a moderate drinker?

 

[crazycatman]

Depends on how you define moderate drinker. A beer or two per day shouldn't cause physical addiction, don't know if you consider this moderate or light.

 

[Elven Warriorr]

Depends on how you define moderate drinker. A beer or two per day shouldn't cause physical addiction, don't know if you consider this moderate or light.

If somebody has a genetic predisposition to alcoholism, even a beer or two a day can lead to physical addiction.

 

[Dawglaw]

It really depends on the person.

In college, I drank 4-6 nights a week. Now I drink 1-2 nights a week. I have had absolutely no withdrawal or any negative effects outside a hangover on sunday morning. Nor have I had any problems with taking a 4 month break from everything

 

[itsALLfake]

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20040526/researchers-identify-alcoholism-gene

 

[twotoomany]

Elven,

Why do you ask questions, just so you can try to refute the answers you're given? Let it go, hombre.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Elven,

Why do you ask questions, just so you can try to refute the answers you're given? Let it go, hombre.

Don't even bother with him. He had a whole thread in Drug Culture of people with actual experience refuting his "researched" claims and was still like a dog with a bone. Do what I do.. ignore.

 

[dextroflicks]

have not replied because i had a terribly stressful week, causing even more drinking actually ... just got to read the responses now.
First of all i want to thank you for all your responses and state that i drink this amount of beer per total from waking up to going to sleep, is this worse than drinking all that amount of alcohol just before going to bed ? its not like i get smashed and get hangovers ... i just open up a beer and sip on it for a hour then i take a few hours break and so on until its time for bed, and then i usually drink 3 beers to be able to sleep. I will continue this until i pass some idiotic situation i am in ... should be about half a month, then i am moving away from my current location anyway, so i can use that as a fresh start and maybe get a benzo script going to taper off my drinking. Are benzodiazepines harder on the body than alcohol ? my only worry is not being able to control my drinking and starting up with benzos also, 2 gaba agonist addictions would be a pain on my sanity. I will eventually get through with this tho like i have before, i will taper until i feel ok to start using dxm, dissociation always helped me get my mind off sedation. Cheers

 

[dankplantgrower]

I wouldnt worry about 4-8 beers, your withdrawals will be minimal. Youll probably have anxiety and trouble sleeping for the next week at least. You are nowhere near the amount to cause serious trouble, like seizures and substantial DTs, be thankful for this. Taper to help ween yourself if you must, but I highly doubt it is medically necessary. As for how long it takes the body to become addicted, Ive suffered WDs in as little as 2 months after jumping back onto the booze wagon, though my first ever bout with physical dependence took me about 1.5 years to manifest. The 2 things that drive dependence are morning drinking, and liquor consumption to a degree.

If you start drinking in the AM daily, especially first thing in the morning, and stay intoxicated until you sleep, you will become dependent on alcohol much quicker than a person who just drinks in the evening. Constantly drinking hard liquor seems to speed up the process and increase the severity of WD in my experiences. At least opposed to fairly weak ABV beer, though drinking beer can do it too.

I wouldnt pick up another benzo habit just to drop booze, that would be quite foolish. You dont drink anywhere near enough to warrant a benzo schedule, you are in effect just a beer sipper. Besides a period of sleep disruption and sobriety anxiety, you should have no real withdrawals to fight. Melatonin is a wonder sleep remedy and diphenhydramine can be easily bought OTC if that doesnt help. I am glad that your habit is manageable right now, it will be easy.

Easy, in the sense that you dont have to deal with the severe shakiness, hallucinations, and malaise that accompany severe alcoholism. Its gonna be an obstacle but Im confident that you can overcome it. Please dont become dependent on benzos again, if possible, benzo WDs are gonna be worse than your minor alcohol habit man. Just my two cents from my decade of severe booze abuse and someone who has kicked benzos. Good luck.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

It's different for everyone. I would drink daily even in large amounts for a long period of time and yet I had no physical withdrawal symptoms when I'd stop or on the rare day I wouldn't drink at all since I would wake up still drunk and have a horrible hangover. However, I knew alcohol isn't something you just stop immediately so I just slowly decreased the amount I drank daily, and then stopped.

I have no idea why I do not get withdrawal from alcohol even though I was drinking in large amounts daily at the time but I asked my doctor and other medical professionals and they said it's because I have excellent genes.

If it's really bad go to a dextox/treatment center where there are medical professionals. DO NOT mix benzos and alcohol, and don't try to substitute benzos, opiates, or other CNS depressants for booze as it's just replacing one drug with another. Good luck.

 

[bennyZA]

I was a massive drinker. One of the few people I know that was truly addicted to alcohol. When I didn't drink for a day I would get delirium tremens, which can be fatal.

The amount of alcohol the OP is drinking is unhealthy, and not drinking might have some uncomfortable side effects, but it is no where near the amount that causes true alcohol withdrawal. First, if you were truly "addicted" 8 beers is nothing. If the OP were in fact addicted to alcohol, then 8 beers wouldn't be enough to stave off withdrawals. It takes hard alcohol, and lots of it, to get truly "addicted."

The problem with all that I just said is that addiction is a subjective term. In this case though, I take it to mean that if sudden cessation occurs you will get DT's, or you will have seizures, etc.

Oh it might be worth going to a doctor and getting your liver tested out for fat deposits. A large amount of fat deposits in the liver is a sign that you are beginning your journey towards liver failure.