Alcohol Withdrawal
The symptoms of alcohol withdrawal are exceptionally unpleasant, as I’m sure you know. There are physical symptoms and emotional ones. Let’s start with the most extreme to get it out of the way - death.
Yes, if you’re sufficiently dependent on alcohol, then a sudden withdrawal as opposed to a gradual detox can actually kill you, usually via a seizure. But lets hope you’re not quite that bad just yet (if you are, then at least try to cut down gradually, or better than that - see a doctor). Heart palpitations are the milder form of this.
On to the less fatal withdrawal symptoms then, we have hallucinations (usually unpleasant - spiders or snakes are common), the shakes, nausea and vomiting, oh and diarrhoea of course. Particularly unpleasant is waking in the middle of the night soaked in cold sweat, or alternatively, your own piss. It’s not sounding like a party exactly, is it?
Then you might have a splitting headache, often from severe dehydration and dilation of blood vessels. Basically the brain shrinks away from the lining of the skull. Ouch!
Hypoglycaemia, caused by the inability of the liver to metabolize sugar, can then leave you feeling irritable, nervous or aggressive, and weak.
You might end up with a few more emotional effects too, like mood swings, depression or confusion. Basically feeling like the lowest form of life on the planet.
So how can you make alcohol withdrawal easier?
- Electrolyte replacement might help (the sachets you can get for diarrhoea are the best), along with plenty of liquids.
- Complex carbohydrates (like brown rice, wholemeal bread, wholegrain cereals etc.) will help to slowly stabilize your blood sugar levels.
- Eggs contain Cysteine, which can help the liver to metabolize Acetaldehyde (the toxic by-product of alcohol).
- B-vitamin supplements are essential, as they help your nerve cells to recover from the damage you’ve inflicted.
- We all know about the healing powers of caffeine - this constricts the blood vessels and can therefore alleviate the headache.
The other ones are obvious - don’t mix your drinks, and don’t drink too much in the first place!
After reading this i realized that i have a problem. I have decided a couple of days ago that i really need to slow down drinking due to the fact that i have to start my new job on sept 15th. So here is the story... Since i lost my job two months ago i got depressed and ended up drinking nearly a 12 pack of beer a day, sometimes more. But now that i think of it i have actually been drinking a lot in the past couple years, almost daily.
There have been times that i would get a cold and get cold sweats and the buggy feeling. I didn't put 2 and 2 together. Hell i thought it was cause i was just sick. Then a couple of weeks ago it happened again. Of course i didn't drink for a couple of days.
Now that i have thought about it i had decided yesterday morning that instead of going through a 12pack a day to only drink a 40oz a day after 3pm. May seem like that it's still a lot to drink, but if you do the math a 12pack a day is equal to a 144oz. Can you imagine a girl weighing 120lbs and only 4'11" tall can consume that much beer? Hell i can't even consume that much in water. haha.
Yesterday was my first day experimenting this theory. Last night i did have cold sweats, the icky creepy feeling of bugs all over me, and then this morning i had the shakes. So to get to the bottom of it i researched online that it could be very dangerous to just stop... that it could even be deadly. Well after that i took it upon myself to go into forums and got responses that i need to go the hospital to detox safely. Once i read that i called a counselor and he gave me the same advice.
But here is the issue with that 1# i don't have insurance, 2# we don't have the money, and 3# it can takes or even weeks. That's definitly not an option. What if i go into detox and they don't release me until after training starts, then what?
At this point, i'm going to stick to my plan. only instead of a 40 i'm just going to drink a 32 after 3pm. i'm also taking multi-vitamins to help with the organs and drinking plenty of water to flush it out. We are even going to test my will power tonight by having our friends coming over to drink, while i just have gatoraid.
i'm positive i could do this by myself without medical help. it's like i told myself this morning if i was able to quit meth after a year being on it without assistance i can definitly do this.
