Hey everyone ,
Today is my first day in a while with out alcohol. I just got off about a one week bender. About 12 or more per day. Normally I would brush off the excessive drinking as having a little fun and sober up a few days and be back to normal. However this time was different , I actually started to get physical symptoms of withdrawal after stopping.
I woke up about 4 or so in the morning after only sleeping an hour or so. This was the first bad sign. I started drinking as a way to help me sleep. I had a bad history of sleep disorders. The problem here is over the last week or so I noticed my dependency suddenly sky rocketed. In order to get a few hours of sleep I would need to down 6 beers or so. I would wake up soon as the alcohol lost effect and need to down more to get back to sleep. Ive tried to quit several times but when I do sometimes Ill go 2 or 3 days with just a few hours of sleep. Ive managed a couple times to develope a good sleeping pattern without the use of alcohol , but I would fall back into drinking to sleep after a stressful day at work or something. I also have some wierd sleeping problem where I would wake up in the middle of the night and be half asleep Id go into a very mild delirous state and start beleiving strange things , I would always be able to tell real from unreal but in these cases I have to stop and think real hard about everything.
The real kicker is after this last bender I had physical symptoms of withdrawal. Scared me so bad. I woke up about 5 in the morning sweating and anxious. I couldnt sit down I started pacing the floor rapidly. I couldnt think straight and felt awful. All I could think was I needed a drink. I had about 2 beers and laid down for a while , suddenly about 2 hours later when those beers effects wore off I started getting anxious. This time I was getting sick to my stomach. My mind was racing. I started seeing lines and my vision and little dots where appearing. A fee times I thought I seen some odd looking flakes falling. I couldnt tell if I was really seeing things or my mind was playing tricks on me. All I could think was how I needed to drink. About this time I realized I was having withdrawals from the alcohol. I never experienced this before and I was afraid. I went to the internet and started looking at some of the signs and withdrawal symptoms. Some of the storied made my anxiety worse they were storied of people going into shock etc... after trying to quit. I found one interesting theory among these stories. Some people where talking about quitting by tapering off. It seemed like a decent way to stop and take off the edge of most of the withdrawal. Personally I cant afford to go to a doctor and risk being locked up 3 days. I cant afford to miss work and possibly jeopardize my job.
Mu question here is what is the best way to taper off. Should I drink a certain amount each day and lessen the amount the next or should I have just the minimum to stave off the withdrawal then hold out longer each time until the next drink. My last drink was roughly about 7 this morning. Ive been about 15 hours without a drink. The first five hours where the worst. I couldnt eat , I was sweating and was so anxious I couldnt think straight. the anxiety has calmed down now , I feel ok if I eat something and Im not sweating for no reason. I was shocked by how fast I went into withdrawal amd I am hoping the worst is over. Now Im wondering if I should stay the course or start tapering down. Im a little scared and seems like the worst part is over but I keep hearing stories of how going cold turkey can be dangerous. Im also worried about how long I can run on very little sleep before I give up and go back to drinking to sleep. Im trying my best to build a normal sleep pattern with out alcohol. Any suggestions anyone.
Today is my first day in a while with out alcohol. I just got off about a one week bender. About 12 or more per day. Normally I would brush off the excessive drinking as having a little fun and sober up a few days and be back to normal. However this time was different , I actually started to get physical symptoms of withdrawal after stopping.
I woke up about 4 or so in the morning after only sleeping an hour or so. This was the first bad sign. I started drinking as a way to help me sleep. I had a bad history of sleep disorders. The problem here is over the last week or so I noticed my dependency suddenly sky rocketed. In order to get a few hours of sleep I would need to down 6 beers or so. I would wake up soon as the alcohol lost effect and need to down more to get back to sleep. Ive tried to quit several times but when I do sometimes Ill go 2 or 3 days with just a few hours of sleep. Ive managed a couple times to develope a good sleeping pattern without the use of alcohol , but I would fall back into drinking to sleep after a stressful day at work or something. I also have some wierd sleeping problem where I would wake up in the middle of the night and be half asleep Id go into a very mild delirous state and start beleiving strange things , I would always be able to tell real from unreal but in these cases I have to stop and think real hard about everything.
The real kicker is after this last bender I had physical symptoms of withdrawal. Scared me so bad. I woke up about 5 in the morning sweating and anxious. I couldnt sit down I started pacing the floor rapidly. I couldnt think straight and felt awful. All I could think was I needed a drink. I had about 2 beers and laid down for a while , suddenly about 2 hours later when those beers effects wore off I started getting anxious. This time I was getting sick to my stomach. My mind was racing. I started seeing lines and my vision and little dots where appearing. A fee times I thought I seen some odd looking flakes falling. I couldnt tell if I was really seeing things or my mind was playing tricks on me. All I could think was how I needed to drink. About this time I realized I was having withdrawals from the alcohol. I never experienced this before and I was afraid. I went to the internet and started looking at some of the signs and withdrawal symptoms. Some of the storied made my anxiety worse they were storied of people going into shock etc... after trying to quit. I found one interesting theory among these stories. Some people where talking about quitting by tapering off. It seemed like a decent way to stop and take off the edge of most of the withdrawal. Personally I cant afford to go to a doctor and risk being locked up 3 days. I cant afford to miss work and possibly jeopardize my job.
Mu question here is what is the best way to taper off. Should I drink a certain amount each day and lessen the amount the next or should I have just the minimum to stave off the withdrawal then hold out longer each time until the next drink. My last drink was roughly about 7 this morning. Ive been about 15 hours without a drink. The first five hours where the worst. I couldnt eat , I was sweating and was so anxious I couldnt think straight. the anxiety has calmed down now , I feel ok if I eat something and Im not sweating for no reason. I was shocked by how fast I went into withdrawal amd I am hoping the worst is over. Now Im wondering if I should stay the course or start tapering down. Im a little scared and seems like the worst part is over but I keep hearing stories of how going cold turkey can be dangerous. Im also worried about how long I can run on very little sleep before I give up and go back to drinking to sleep. Im trying my best to build a normal sleep pattern with out alcohol. Any suggestions anyone.
and keep us posted
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