Question regarding the DTs

General health and lifestyle
1

I have been a mantinence drinker for about 5 years.

i consumed allot more in the first fw years, quit cold turkey a few times with nothing more than anxiety and the shakes.

​i drink considerably less now, and the other day do to work, i was unable to have a drink for 24 hours.

​i have never been so terrified in my life, i was hearing vivid clear things that were not there, extremely confused and dissoriented.

​i thought bringing my consumption down would make the withdrawl allot easier. is this normal?

2

Yep, not because you've cut down though.

You can call yourself a maintenance drinker, whatever that is, but it isn't a light to moderate drinker. You are a regular heavy daily drinker, whether you wish to call yourself that are not.

You were and certainly are alcohol dependent, you now see what happens when you don't have your daily supply of alcohol. That fact that you used to get the shakes an anxiety years ago, means you were struggling to detox yourself back then.

You certainly have been drinking for longer than 5 years and it would help if you said how many years and how much daily, an honest figure, none of this stuff you tell the doctor where you give him half the real figure.

The reason it is worse is because you have repeatedly come off alcohol whilst dependent and that makes it worse for a lot of people.

I can't post links, but Google alcohol withdrawal kindling, kindling is the process that makes it harder for you each time.

Alcohol has changed your neural pathways and your central vervous system, hence the shakes and anxiety. You need to cut down, have some days where you don't drink at all. However, do not have another day without drinking as is. Even if you are staying away with work and nobody goes to the bar, take a couple of cans with you, so you can drink them in the room, if for no other reason than to keep alcohol in your system.

If you plan to detox, take a break, go see your GP and try and persuade him to prescribe some diazepam, that will stop the cold turkey symptoms.

3

Oh how I wish I'd taken you're advice, copy and paste😩😩😩 just written a lengthy reply to Bryan, basically saying the same as you, only not as well written as yours.

I am going to Spain on Saturday for a week, and will be having a few beers and cava. Your post explains why, after a great holiday, the week after, once home, I go on a binge sometimes.

i don't drink excessively when away, couple of beers at lunch, sangria late afternoon, vt before dinner and wine with meal.

Have I got this AWK, or just post holiday blues. I've certainly never had all those horrific things, voices, hallucinations etc. A friend on this forum (well I say friend, but don't know each other yet lol) described having the same experiences as Bryan, very scary

4

I meant kindling and AWK

5

I dunno, life's just one big jolly for you. 

It sounds more like ADE, Alcohol Depravation Effect. than kindling, kindling is the fact that detox becomes harder and harder the more times you do it. First time it is not so bad, after half a dozen times your body won't let go of alcohol so easily.

ADE is the following, taken from another forum, but moderation is getting so tight here, so I can't give them a mention.

'This means that the more an alcoholic is deprived of alcohol the

more he craves it. When they finally succumb to the craving it is usually

accompanied by drinking in a dangerous binge-like manner - this is when accidents and fatalities are likely to occur.

An alcoholic may consciously not want to drink but the wiring or mechanism (known as the opiodergic system in the brain) driving the addiction takes over and relapses. This happens to

about 85 % of all alcoholics who attempt to abstain. Their intentions are

good and at first the conscious will to abstain may keep them dry. However as time moves on the craving increases and the flood-gates open for the majority: they slip off the wagon.'

It means by abstaining for a short while, your system builds up a want for alcohol, a real driving thirst. Then by going on holiday, you're opening the flood gates and the brain/body does not want it to stop, so it holds on slightly tighter by its finger nails.

Every time you repeat the process, alccohol digs in ever harder and refuses to let go that little bit more. it's repetitive training. The only thing to do, once you have been hardened by alcohol over the years, is to find a balance and try and not go hi - lo.

Well, you're starting to think about your next holiday and I have my appointment with the gastro at the hospital tomorrow afternoon, very similar - not.

 

6

AWK, ADE,AWS, PAWS, alcohol dependant,plus AUD..it goes on and on and it's confusing. I am not stupid but all these labels are sending me mad. Am I this or am I that? Or am I all of these things or just 2 or 3 of them? 

Blumin eck..

 

7

Sorry 

8

Sorry bryan, the last message wasn't for you really. All I can say to help you is that I too have had hallucinations on a few occasions and they are terrifying, along with all the other symptoms, when you just stop drinking. All I can say, which you don't want to hear, is it gets worse. I really don't understand why some of us get them and others don't. Though that's life really, like some people are lucky enough to never experience depression when others suffer all their lives. 

As meantioned on this forum there are ways to help you conquer this, which I am doing now, with the help of Joanna, Paul and others. 

My theory is, if you are worried about your drinking and post on this site, then you know you have a problem. 

I truely hope you find a method to move forward and don't continue to lose your life. Best wishes to you..

9

Paper hi

why can't we just say 'drink problem' lol!

you sound as if you're doing ok, pleased for you. Perhaps we may find a time when we are both in a good place 😄😄

10

Naltrexone is available OTC in Spain, btw...

11

Glad you posted, Bryan. Stick with us and we'll do our best to help you get to a solution. 

12

Vickylou has the ticket, Paper!

13

Hi bryan

welcome to this forum. 

You will not be judged by anyone here. If you want honest, truthful advice, then you will get it.

RHGB has given you an excellent answer and explained what's happening to your body. I too, think that you are drinking more than you like to admit. Remember the saying 'you can't kid a kidder' that is so true. Been there. Done it and got the t.shirt.

i would reiterate what RHGB said about the cans in your room. It's really dangerous to go cold turkey. You may have got away with it before, but it gets harder each time.

please give us some more information, you've nothing to lose if you want to stop.

14

if you have drunk a lot for a long time, it will be hard to withdraw and you will get headaches and other side effects but if you can cut down and maintain a lower intake then that is a start. If you can give it up then that is one better.

rich

15

all agreed...honesty is the way forward and half the solution.

16

Thanks. I stocked up a few weeks ago when last over. I have a bathroom cabinet full of otc medications which I couldn't get in the uk. I've got campral, naltrexone (although not taken any) and 5 & 10mg diazapam. I could even open a shop lol! Will be getting more next week.

17

Many thanks for that interesting and factual post.

you know far more than these 'key workers' in alcohol services. No way am I going back to any of them again.

good luck with your appointment tomorrow. Is that to do with ascities?

18

That's agenda point 7) of 17). I have my patient records from Coventry as well now (100 pages) and I forwarded the gastro the list via email to forwarn him. So he brought the meeting forward by a couple of hours to allocate enough time for it.

I asked my GP to for this referral, I should not have had to do that, it should have automatically been done. There are so many things that should have been followed up by now. From simple things like, it will be two years next month since I was released from hospital and I am still taking the same eight medications daily. I can't believe that I still need to take vit B compound, thiamine and folic acid, but if I don't speak up, I'll end up taking them for years.

To more complicated things, like I should have a liver scan every six months (ultrasound), OGD (camera down the throat) to check oesophegeal varices for bleeding etc. and suspected haemochromoatosis which should be treated not just ignored. I could go on. And that is just on the alcohol side, their is the stroke/neuro side of things and some other things, and they also are not being deallt with.

So instead of waiting for things to (not) happen, I am now in the driving seat and pushing them. As always I have everything documented and evidence to back up all questions, so when they say, 'oh don't worry about that' - I go, 'well it says here in my hospital patient notes, that I am at risk and it is imperative that it is monitored on a six monthly basis' and then follow that up with 'of course if you disagree, I'll write to the consultant at the hospital and ask him if he has made a mistake and it wasn't so important'.

At that point, their face is usually a picture, with the thought of me writing to a consultant saying you must have got it all wrong because this consultant says so. I don't like doing things like that, but sometimes you meet the same sort of brick wall mentality that you do with alcohol recovery centres and it is the only language they understand.

I suspect I am going to be there between one and two hours and that is a long time with a hospital consultant.

19

Oh how I would love to be a fly on the wall! I worked in a hospital for years. You do realise consultants are like god don't you? Even ward rounds are done in a pecking order. Consultant followed by senior reg, then reg, SHO, and finally the poor HO! You can't critisise them at all!

They obviously realise something is amiss, hence you being allocated so much time.

please do a full report after your appointment, and I hope you get some answers and explanations. Good luck

20

I realise that in the hospital hierachy they are god, especially if they are a professor or a Mr. I had a professor as my gastro when in hospital and a Mr. at the rehab hospital.

I only have to read the letters between departments about me. The junior person 'advises' of something, the senior person 'requests' something to be done. Oh so subtle, but it is definetly there.

But I've worked in middle management for years and I am used to dealing with people like this, they are all just doctors to me, some good ones and some bad ones, I hold them in no awe.

Many years in management, many years honing the skills and so many senior training courses.

I will of course give you an update after the meeting.