Moderate drinking and depression

[Mary Anne]

Moderate drinking and depression

wow

I can't believe there are so many of us! I haven't logged on for a day or two it seems, but I am grateful for this site, thanks for all your feedback CJ:thanks:

Love and hugs,

Tke care and luck to us all:h

Mary Anne

[cjback]

Moderate drinking and depression

Headless, I am no "expert" by any means, but, once you're through the detox of alcohol you should be ok. The problem being is the w/d symptoms are anxiety and depression to name a few... so like I, thought hmm, if maybe I could just calm down a bit with a few beers instead of taking any benzo?...well, that went on throughout the last 5 months and only made things worse!!! They say a glass or two here and there shouldn't be an issue, but for me, one or two is just a "tease". Even getting down to 4 beers made things horrific towards the ending of my w/d. We all have to find our own way, I'm stubborn and think to "rationalize" everything! Well, when we're dealing with chemicals, one's "rationizing" is worthless!! The brain only knows what its fed...I'm on a mission to prove to myself that all my health issues for so---many yrs were med related!!! sure, stress played a huge role, but giving the body more stress with meds and alcohol only aggravated the mess. Any drug we put into our bodies is a "foreign" substance, that stresses our natural defense to diseases and emotional issues. So when we think we're helping to "calm" ourselves in fact we are only making it all worse!! It's a horrible realization, especially when we know no other "coping' skills! The key is to find other pleasures, escapes and let the body heal, then the sleep comes back, the ideas, the true emotions, memory etc etc. I'm just starting to "feel" again, memory is shot! these drugs take all that away!! I've done a lot of research in desperation to regain my sanity, w/o any support from the medical field or family. So if you have support it will be that much easier!!! The reward is getting the life back that you want, knowing you're thoughts and emotions are not being altered any more!!! I'm just so greatful I found the web sites with people that knew all this first hand, they saved my life! Take care and good luck!!! hugs, cj

[headless1]

Moderate drinking and depression

CJ--It's a pleasure to converse with you. It makes it easier when you know you are not the only one struggling. I am tall and relatively strong so people always look at me like I am in control and can take anything. Truth is it's a hard burden to carry. You are supposed to take everything in stride and not crack. Inside I am like everone else. Surely with all the years of abuse I am deficient in many ways that others are not even remotely aware of. --Like today, I am in physical therapy for recent back surgery and this other guy who I see there often comes in ahead of me. He's had neck surgery,has on a neck brace and has a fused wrist. He's limping and tells me he was out on the deck last nite and his son accidentally moved a very heavy chair and smashed his big toe.
He had to have the nail drilled and cut partially off to remove swelling. Point is that I was feeling sorry for myself with all my aches and pains. Then after talking to this poor guy I thought everything is relative. So it is with this problem. Not that I need or want other people to be in worse shape than myself but it wakes you up and you think 'things could always be worse'. It helps to be aware of other people's suffering so you don't get so lost on your own situation
.----Anyway day 3 no booze, heading into the weekend with the wind at my back, time will tell.
headless

[Isabella2]

Moderate drinking and depression

I am flipped!!! Thank god I stumbled unto this particular thread and found you all!

All day I've been trying to deceid how I got to this place I'm at ...too much wine, too much stress,sure i was taking the Ativan to calm down, 100 Topo for drinking( not working) and Ambien Cr to sleep( not working) but my doc was saying this would help eliviate these symtoms of anxiety, after all she was the doctor. So now I'm in this mess of chemical confusion and I've been rationalizing my condition for days thinking I knew what was going on until i read your thread. I feel like such an idiot.... what was i thinking of ...how much crap did i have to ram down my throat before i woke up .I have nevar heard of the Ashton Manual , but believe me i will check it out.
Now I 'm wondering how long a perion of weeningi'll need to go through to get off all this sh..
scary any advise would be helpful ...there is also a dose of Prosac thrown in the mix ...I guess i was a chemical experiment.

[cjback]

Moderate drinking and depression

Hugs and Faith to all of you!!! Try to relax a bit and be thankful you are on the right track now. Knowledge is power, Doctors are not perfect. They were only trying to relieve our "symptoms". But, these drugs are VERY powerful and addicting, even taken as "prescribed". Just anyone taking benzo's do NOT STOP COLD TURKEY, not even too slow, like a few wks, as many doctors will say. When I was on Paxil I missed a couple doses and bang! head zaps etc very sick! Any drug alters our brain chemicals and we can not expect the chemicals to quickly regain firing again correctly too fast. Coming off these chemicals produce worse anxiety and insomnia etc making us think we need them! Yes, its true, we do need them to stop the w/d, but a slow taper will make it much easier. For me, I had to stop. I was having horrid stomach issues, jaw tightness, high bp, pain, adrenaline feelings running thru my body etc. I even loss my eye sight several times. I just knew something wasn't right and all the lab blood work sd I was OK! so why was I so sick? its called "tolerance" meaning even though we take these pills they are no longer working so w/d starts even on them! Gather all the information you can, read how other's got off, focus on the good results! I was shocked when I read the benzo support groups stories, like reading my life through others! But nobody should make you stop, only if you truly feel its not working and are strong enough to tough it out. Whatever you decide make sure you have some support!!!! Health and happiness to you all, hugs, cj