Hi all!
I'm currently doing a gradual reduction / detox but suffer really bad with Neuropathy (I believe it is) as it wakes me several times during the night. Can anybody recommend anything to help? I started taking a multi-vit & minerals at weekend with has the vit B, Thiamine & Folic Acid in but wondered if it will only help once the alcohol stops? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Many thanks
Hi Rachel, I'm going through the same thing, pins nd needles in feet and twitching, I've looked in to it apparently you need to stop drinking all together or it gets worse I stopped all together 5 days ago nd take thiamine prescribed by my gp nd other vitamins and not really any better, think it takes months to get better, don't think thiamine works of your still drinking??
Waking during the night is due to two things.
The physical things, such as cramps, muscle spasms, nausea etc, are down to your central nervous system. For example, when you wake up in the morning and have the shakes in your hand, that is your central nervous system acting up because it no longer has the alcohol in the system. Alcohol also inhibits the glutamate receptor--which is the cause of staggering, slurring, and general interference with muscular coordination.
The only way to deal with this, is to tough it out, or to get a benzo from your GP, such as diazepam. He'll probably tell you he can't prescribe it, but that's bull. They are told not to let anyone get hooked on it and try to keep prescriptions to only two weeks and no repeat prescriptions. One week is enough to last you through the period.
For the sake of a one week prescription and £8.40, many people have to tough it out.
The second is neural activity. The GABA receptor is enhanced by alcohol, the brain tries to overcome this calming effect by producing more adrenaline and other similar neurotransmitters. And I pinched this from a website, because I like the phrase. 'When the alcohol is completely taken away then this adrenaline and its cousins are left to run rampant in the brain.
Alcohol withdrawal syndrome is mediated by a variety of mechanisms. The brain maintains neurochemical balance through inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters. The main inhibitory neurotransmitter is γ-amino-butyric acid (GABA), which acts through the GABA-alpha (GABA-A) neuroreceptor. One of the major excitatory neurotransmitters is glutamate, which acts through the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) neuroreceptor.
Alcohol enhances the effect of GABA on GABA-A neuroreceptors, resulting in decreased overall brain excitability. Chronic exposure to alcohol results in a compensatory decrease of GABA-A neuroreceptor response to GABA, evidenced by increasing tolerance of the effects of alcohol.
Alcohol inhibits NMDA neuroreceptors, and chronic alcohol exposure results in up-regulation of these receptors. Abrupt cessation of alcohol exposure results in brain hyperexcitability, because receptors previously inhibited by alcohol are no longer inhibited. Brain hyperexcitability manifests clinically as anxiety, irritability, agitation, and tremors. Severe manifestations include alcohol withdrawal seizures and delirium tremens.
Translated into English. Imagine you are driving a car, with no clutch, just brake and gas pedal. You drink alcohol and the brake in your brain is applied, by the GABA on GABA-A. Glutamate on NMDA applies the gas to compensate and keep you up to speed. Long term heavy alcohol consumption inhibits the NDMA, the gas pedal doesn't seem to be working so well, so you push it right to the floor to compensate, for the brake seeming to be sticking on all the time.
Then you stop drinking/cut down by a lot. The brake has now been completely lifted off, but the gas pedal is still stuck to the floor and now you're hurtling along at 90mph. It takes a while for the brain and body to recognise this and in that period, before self rectification takes place, you have theose awful sleepless nights where your brain is doing 20 to the dozen, it just won't calm down, shut down and let you sleep.
You can of course drink and that will apply the brake, and you become stuck in a loop. It's why people try to give up, but can't. Again, a small amount of diazepam would sort this. It doesn't sort the long term problem/solution which is where nalmefene/natrexone/Campral come in.
Errors, typos and grammatical mistakes expected as I haven't proof read.
Anyone drinking large amounts of alcohol on an almost daily basis should be taking thiamine. It doesn't really help your central nervous system. It's main benefit is to stop alcoholic brain disease, memory and cognitive skills.
Constant alcohol drinking just washes vitamin B out of your system. Thiamine helps if you are still drinking. Don't expect a few vitamins to sort your problems out in a few days. It took a lot longer for them to manifest themselves.
However, if you manage to stop drinking for a time, do not underestimate the body's ability to repair itself.
Hi. I think a small dose of diazepam would help, but you may have difficulty getting your GP to prescribe it, because it is very addictive. You could ask for chlordiazepoxide (librium) which has similar effects but isn't so addictive.
I hope you'll have an understanding GP who wil help you.
Good luck on your journey.
You'll not get addicted with one week's worth, which is all it really takes and I'm talking from experience here. I just can't understand the whole reluctance by GPs, they know most of their patients, they know who may get addicted, but even so, I'd say it is nigh on impossible to get addicted to diazepam with 28 tablets taken over about 5 days.
But the difference it makes to someone trying to come off alcohol is the world. Librium is a benzo, so you would get the same answer.
Of all the people I have heard on this forum, I am one of the people you could count on one hand that has managed to get (I don't mean 10 - 15 years ago) diazepam or any benzo from his GP. But I have known him for 15 years, he has sent me to hospital when jaundised for suspected liver failure and when a year later I had a relapse, and the alcohol recovery centre refused to detox me for 2 - 3 months, he understood it was better than watching me drink myself to death.
But that has to be the sort of situation before you'll get prescribed it. The funny thing is, I have my hospital patient records from my prolonged stay for liver and stroke at the same time and reading through that (over 100 pages), they didn't spare the Librium then, I think they were pumping it into me 24/7 for days.
Hi
It seems u have done thorough study of various medicines. Not easy to get prescribed nd procured. Moreover not totally safe. Easy and best thing is to create will power, bear the shaking hands for few days, learn breathing exercises, try to sleep well without alcohols and with help of some sleeping pills, do some breathing exercises and meditation regularly. Morning walks are very helpful. I have benefitted and sure it will work. All the best. Rishi.
If you have ever done full blown cold turkey before (I have) you would not make that statement. Shaking hands I can deal with, but nausea, muscle spasm, cramp in the feet, being sick, sweating but cold like a bad flu, legs not functioning - having to use everything to try and stand up as you bounce from wall to bed to get to the toilet to be sick/wee, unable to even hold a cup to pour liquid into to rehydrate from the lost fluids.
Morning walks would involve falling down the stairs as all co-ordination is lost, you would never make it out the front door. Forget breathing exercises, your heart and blood pressure are racing, along with palpitations. In fact everything bar a full seizure and DTs.
If you are able to do all the things you claim to do, you are not alcohol dependent.
Hi RHGB,
I think everyone is different when it comes to stopping alcohol, I also take thiamine which I have been told by my gastrointologist your body loses all vimitamin minerals from Alcohol abuse, also I was in hospital for nearly 2 weeks without no shakes sweating I was fine in fact, I have been drinking 3 quarters of bottle of wine 13% every night for 30 odd years not proud of it still trying to get help, this is why I have chronic pancreatitis I've been told.It is such a hard addiction to stop
Emma
Hi. I'm with you on that one RHGB. But maybe the others persons comments could help others who haven't be to hell and back, yet?
I can't do anything but be in bed puking, shakes etc after a binge, for at least 3 days
It's ideal to use Benzodiazepines during withdrawal....willpower will not stop a life threatening seizure from coming on. As long as you don't drink while taking them there is no harm in using them for a week. Of course it is much easier to do this in medically supervised inpatient detox(assuming you want to wait forever)...but if you have a good doctor they will prescribe them for you to do it at home...
Emma, please take this in the way it is meant. 3/4 of a bottle of wine a night is nothing. I could drink three bottles of wine a night (I'd want 14% though) without batting an eyelid and still get up every day and do a job.
Your gastro is correct, you wash out all the vitamin B, you stop decrease production of Vitamin B and you don't eat well whilst drinking, thereby inhibiting new production of vitamin B by drinking too much alcohol on a daily basis. Thiamine will help your short term memory.
I'm not sure what you were in hospital for, but if it was alcohol related, they probably gave you a course of Librium. But even so, your drinking is not in the cold turkey division.
It is hard to stop, but if you get the right medication it is much easier to stop over a period of time.
I have lots of lovely scans & x-rays of my pancreas and all my organs on CD from when I was in hospital, along with my notes, the descriptions always usually said something like - enlarged.
Yes, I agree about short courses of benzos, as long as they ARE short courses. You've been very helpful to me on the other discussion about my husband's AUD and I would like to thank you for all the trouble you took to explain things which I did not understand. Things are much better now as I can empathise with what he's going through. Re - librium - he has had it many times, but not in a controlled setting - by which I mean that the GP has given him lots of them but my husband continued to drink while taking them, so a fat lot of good that was. Eventually he gave the bottle to me and as a long-standing benzo addict I was delighted. (This was about seven years ago)
I am now having treatment and very slowly tapering off.
Haven't had a ciggy for eleven days although I've had some strong cravings.
Husband seems to have calmed down, and I think it's because I've calmed down - you were very much a part of that - as I said, explaining what alcohol does and that it is a complex process to stop. I should have known, really, but I was very angry with him after a three day binge which ended up with him falling face-first against the corner of the radiator and sustaining a large gash to the head.
Anyway, you're right about the benzos helping people to come off alcohol and you definitely have to have a good GP to help with this.
Wishing you well and thanks again - and to all on this site struggling with addictions - don't give up. Keep trying. And use this forum to get support. it's the most useful I've ever done. Tess. x
Well said! Waiting forever? Yes, been there, done that. Also contacted a website who said they were there to support relatives of people addicted to alcohol but their final comment/suggestion was to book my husband into their £9,000 per week rehab. Which kind of ended the conversation!!!!
Maybe Rishi is becoming too dependent on alcohol so took those steps to help in controlling what could have turned into a very serious problem?
Good luck to everyone, by whatever method you use - becoming unaddicted is slow and difficult.
Rishi, I hope your doctor has been helping you with your problems. All the best.
Tess,I'm an alcoholic but so is my husband but he's sought no help.
About 2 months ago he was arrested for drunk driving and dangerous driving,will be convicted next month.I could absolutely kill him and I've wished him dead to be honest but hey ho ,life goes on and you have to deal with it.
People on here that know me prob don't know about this
So it was remarkably brave of you to write it in a public domain.
I'm sorry for what you're going through, truly I am. I doubt if I can be of any help to you but I always answer messages so if you want to get something off your chest, let me know.
It seems that we both want to kill our husbands at the moment. Not literally, but we are enraged with them. I'm an addict, too (valium) but I'm in treatment at last.
I hope you find a way to come off alcohol, Nicole. I cannot help except by replying to you when things are rubbish. |love Tess.
I'm sorry to hear that Nicole, not your fault but I bet it has been stressful and caused tension. The very sort of thing that pushes you into drinking more.
I'm glad that you and your husband have made 'peace' as it were. No doubt that will help with your addictions, with less stress. I know I used to use alcohol as a pressure relief or to blot out things.
'It seems that we both want to kill our husbands'
There's that Bunny Boiler gene shining through. 
'we are enraged with them'
I sense anger management issues.