Alcohol withdrawal maybe???

[ditchdj]

For the past day or so I've been feeling like I've been going through a withdrawal. I've been going through periods of feeling nervous and restless. Now it's really strong as I type this and I feel really fatigued, not sleepy tired. I NEVER feel this way if I'm truly sick, but I felt this way when I went through nicotine withdrawal when I quit smoking.

That's why I'm suspecting it's alcohol withdrawal because this weekend I drank a lot, and I felt pretty sober when I went to bed. Saturday, I had five beers and a pineapple drink with about a quarter of a bottle of rum in it. Last night I had four beers.

Ironically, I only drink on the weekends because alcoholism runs in my family and I've seen what alcoholism does to people. I won't touch a drop of it during the week. I only drink Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.

Anyone think this is withdrawal, even though I don't pound back every night??? Because if I AM going through withdrawal then I'm not drinking anymore.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Well, if you're overdoing it every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night...that could still be a problem...

Can't really tell you from withdrawal; I'm not a big drinker.

[Whiskey]

Binge drinking is still a form of alcoholism. Just because you contain it to the weekends doesn't make it any less of a problem. If you feel youre having a withdrawl, and not a hangover, I'd say its time to talk to a professional.

[bean]

Yup, sounds like moderate alcohol withdrawal.

Even though you're a weekend binge drinker, you can still get into nasty withdrawal pretty quick. Normally it'll start anywhere from 12 hours to 72 hours after your last drink.

If you start feeling really, really bad - like the feeling of your heart trying to pound its way out of your chest, or hallucinations, it's ER time. Otherwise, put on some relaxing music, if you have something with diphenhydramine (active ingredient in benadryl and most OTC sleep meds), try taking 50mg to help you get to sleep. Melatonin may work too. But it's very difficult to sleep without some kind of help when you're going through this.

Feel free to hit me up on AIM (lifeofbean) or MSN (awfulbean@hotmail.com) if you want. I've been through DT's before (the worst form of alcohol w/d, 4 days in ICU).

[TheMike]

occasional binge drinker that I am, yes sounds familiar. drink lots of water eat something starchy (whole wheat bread) and try some green tea. this is usually a sign it's time to slow down a while.

[trailerparkmedic]

In my experience, if you have to ask if you're drinking too much, you're drinking too much. Good luck.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

I'm not going to go into the amount you drank-- because I don't know anything about your particular physiology or genetics or other determining factors.
But-- it does sound like you need to cut back, and if you can, ask a professional about your lifestyle with alcohol. Fortunately, every post so far has had good advice, imo. ... You enjoy alcohol (right?), so hopefully you won't have to stop completely... but you might have to. Alcoholism runs on both sides of my family, as far back as anyone remembers family history, so I have an idea of where you're coming from-- "I don't want my life ruined," "It's so tasty tho...," "I want to hang out with the guys at the bar..." the like.
Best of luck, no matter what happens, dj.

[ditchdj]

Wow!

I didnt know you could get withdrawal just from drinking too much on the weekend!

Too bad, because my wife and I had some rum mixed with pineapple juice at homoe Saturday night and it was freakin' awesome!

A couple weekends I was mixing some vodka with Minute Maid fruit juice. Good shit.

Normally I'll just have three or four beers on a given night (a doctor once told me three beers is enough in one night), enough to take the edge off and relax after a long week.

I'm feeling better today, but I'm still going through occasional waves of withdrawal, nothing like the hallucinations or things that Bean mentioned earlier. Just a general feeling of restlessness and nervousness. But I'll just ride it out and if I'm still feeling like this by Friday I'll just stop drinking altogether.

Kinda sucks, but it's not worth all that.

[Solumina]

A lot of people don't know that yes you can essentially have a weekend addiction; if it gets out of control it will start to creep over into the week. Also just the occasional binge can do a lot of harm to your body even if you don't do it regularly. This isn't to say that you need to stop all together, just be more aware of the amounts that you are drinking. That being said if you know that you are the type that isn't going to stop after 2-3 drinks (glasses of beer or wine, shots of harder stuff, not 3 long islands) then yeah it may be time to stop.

Keep in mind that it takes your body a full hour to process 1 shot, that may help you prevent future damage to your body, mostly your brain and liver, you'll want those to stay in good shape.

[ditchdj]

If anyone's interested I didn't have any withdrawals today. Needless to say this was a wake-up call to me.

I'm gonna try to just stick with my doctor's recommendation of a limit to three beers a night this weekend.

[Magpie]

I hope it goes well this weekend, I'd wish you luck but I'll stick with "good success" on you resolution to cut back.

[Whiskey]

nothing like the hallucinations

If you're having hallucinations, I would look into AA or some similar program. It takes some serious binge drinking to induce an alcohol withdrawal severe enough to cause hallucinations.

Since you've already experienced hallucinations, the next possible thing that can happen is delirium tremens. If anything like this happens, call 911 because its very possible you could die.

#


# The most dangerous stage of alcohol withdrawal is called delirium tremens (DTs). About 5% of people withdrawing from alcohol experience DTs. This condition occurs about 48-72 hours after drinking stops. The hallmark of this stage is profound delirium (confusion). People are awake, but thoroughly confused. This is accompanied by agitation, delusions, sweating, hallucinations, rapid heart rate, and high blood pressure. This is a true emergency. Studies have shown that death will occur in about 35% of these people if they are not treated promptly. Even with appropriate medical treatment, this condition is associated with a high death rate.

Binge drinking alcholism is just as fatal as regular "old fashioned, drink every night" alcoholism.