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I am trying very hard...

Posted , 12 users are following.

sue08
sue08

to stop drinking again.... BUT I cant sleep. I have slleping pills from the doc they worked for a short while.. right now I am going on 10 hours sleep in 4 days. Makes it hard to go to work and now to buy some wine sad

2 likes, 25 replies

25 Replies

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  • fep906
    fep906 sue08

    Posted

    In the past 2 months, I went to the ER 3X, solely because of heavy drinking 2 day binges, and sever heart papitations.  I get the anxiety bad. They finally got me on Clonazepam and something called Metoprolol. These calm me down, problem is, I then drink over the top of them anyway, but they do help lower the heart rate, and calm the nervous system. This Metoprolol says dont stop taking this drug suddenly because chest pain and heart attack can occur.  Thats kinda scary...
    • sue08
      sue08 fep906

      Posted

      You be that's scary, with that kind of medication though you dont want to just quit taking it with out talking to your doctor and really shouldnt be taking it with alcohol. What I have been on is just a very low dose sleeping pill. I dont take it on a regular basis it waas to be only taken as needed. Be careful with what your taking and how

      Good luck

  • sue08
    sue08

    Posted

    I don't take the sleeping pills on a regular basis, the doc gave them to me over 3 months ago (30 tabs) and I still have some leftI dont mix them with alcohol. 

    I want to thank everyone for the comments and advise smile

  • ADEfree
    ADEfree sue08

    Posted

    Sue08 -

    You might want to look into L-Theanine.

    One of the things that alcohol does is to stimulate your GABA receptors (the brain's brake pedal) and antagonize your Glutimate receptors (the brain's gas pedal). When you stop drinking, it takes awhile for those receptors to normalize. L-Theanine is a GABA precursor; your body is able to turn it into GABA. This can lend a calming effect. Have a look for it on Amazon and check the reviews, some use it for clarity, some use it for calming and some use it to improve sleep. I had a look at Amazon and it seems the Just Vitamins brand has the most reviews to read. I'd be careful about getting something too complex with 5-htp, etc, etc, maybe start with plain L-Theanine and see how you do. Lemon Balm might help too, if you can find some for a reasonable price. Valerian root is fairly well respected for help with sleep too, but L-Theanine seems to help with anxiety and stress as well, so a good daytime supplement as well as helping with sleep. There you go, have a look and see what you think! 

    • Robin2015
      Robin2015 ADEfree

      Posted

      HI Adefree. An amazing reply. Are you a Doctor or professionally trained I wonder. This is what is good about this Forum: different replies from different types of people. Great. Thanks. Robin

       

    • ADEfree
      ADEfree Robin2015

      Posted

      Thanks, Robin! 

      No, I'm neither a doctor nor professionally trained. I've been looking at the effects of alcohol on the body and brain as I have some (ahem) personal interest in the matter.

      Now, you are right to ask if I'm a professional, as anybody can (and will) say anything on the internet, but I think if you check it out yourself (and take the sites that have something to sell with a healthy skepticism), then you will come to a similar conclusion. WRT GABA, Glutimate, alcohol and the brain, there are plenty of references and studies out there (that have nothing to sell) that will confirm. There's much more to learn about alcohol and the body and there's a lot of misinformation that lead to outdated practices even among professionals that specialize in this field. For instance, Selincro, which is a great drug for controlling alcohol intake for most people, was introduced in 2014, but many clinics in the UK don't know how to educate the patient as how to use it. Well, we advance one step at at time. 

      To your health -

      ADEFree 

    • vickylou
      vickylou ADEfree

      Posted

      ADEfree

      whilst I am willing to research anything that might help me, I would discuss it with my dr first. They're can be some drugs which don't go together, I.e. St. John's Wort and antidepressants, and valerian and certain sleeping tablets

    • ADEfree
      ADEfree patricia44773

      Posted

      Yes Patricia, I should have noted that it's always best to discuss such things with your doctor. 
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