Coming off the booze

Hello Vicky. Great plan! Medication is often best. Perhaps see yr gp if you ready to tell everything. Tricky situation and delirium tremens must be horrific. Your body is craving booze and it will take quite some time before you feel better. Keep trying since you will gradually feel better. Robin

How many units were you consuming a day for how long?

Hi Vicky

Have seen my Husband go through dts and seizures, so awful and life threatening.

Chlordiazpoxide (Librium) does bring you down safely, but our Gp would never prescribe it because you will need to have someone with you as it will make you very drowsy and confused. Also you will not be able to drive or go to work.

We always had to be referred to our local detox team at the hospital.

Hope everything is ok for you

Kind Regards

Julie Anne

Anxiety and insomnia are normal when coming off alcohol. Alcohol acts like a relaxant for the brain, thereby stopping anxiety. Alcohol also acts like a brake on the brain, so when you stop taking it, your brain accelerates for a few days before it settles down. This very active brain is what is causing you sleepless nights. By tomorrow these effects should begin to subside.

Librium would of course help, for both the anxiety and insomnia.

That is what I am frightened of.  So I have tapered slowly down.  I felt groggy at first as did a 50% reduction in one go and it was too much.  But now each day is better, feel more calm.  My doc gave me Diazepam but I have not used any.  I was fine  tapering.

Hi vicky 

             coming off drink is possibly one of the hardest things you can do .. however luckily modern healthcare has realised the widespread alcohol problem so there plenty of support avalible 

             the DT,s are scary,however the severety depends on two factors .. these are 

1) how long you have been drinking and 

2) what you have been drinking ( eg cider,wine or spirits like whisky or vodka ) 

             i say this as ive been through numerous detox,s and the last one ( around 17 years ago ) i was drinking 15ltrs of white cider a day .. i was informed to expect the worse during detox however i was fairly calm through the detox with the help of librium 

             however ive known people with a severe vodka addiction who have had seizures and bad dt,s .... however its impossible to determine if you will get the dt,s as we are all different and some brains are more sensetive than others ... like i said there many factors ( mainly the 2 above ) but someone with existing high blood pressure or diabetes may have problems with dt,s 

           no gp or councillor should condone cestation of drinking .. you need to slowly reduce your alcohol consumption ( much like a codeine addict would reduce the amount of tablets they take ) ...this would 

1) reduce any side effects 

2) make any detox much easier and safer 

           i allways look at addictions like "cushions" ... these addictions allow us to cope with life slightly easier however take the cushion away and life becomes much harder ... however this is only temporary ... life does become easier again but instead of relying of drink you need to develop a coping mechanism .....and one of the best is simple exersize .... going to the gym or even running .. this promotes the release of endorphines which are the bodys natural "feel good" chemicals ...

          i apologise if im sounding too much "to the point" but you need to be honest when talking about quitting alcohol .... and more important you need to be doing it for the right reasons ... if you do it to please someone else then its more likely to fail .. however if you are doing it because you "want" to then your going to be more succesfull

           i wish you all the best vicky and hope you succeed 

               bri xx