Withdrawal
When I quit drinking, I didn’t have withdrawal symptoms. Or if I did, I slept right through them. After all, I was two days unconscious from the time of my last drink. So by the time I awoke, I was feeling pretty OK.
Had I been conscious, things might not have been so peachy. Most people who drink as much as I did will suffer severe effects when they quit. If you have ever watched “Celebrity Rehab,” you get a first-hand look at withdrawal symptoms. They aren’t pretty.
There are several factors that determine the severity of withdrawal symptoms. How long have you been drinking? How much do you drink? How drunk are you at the time of your last drink? My answers were a) a long time, b) a lot, and c) way too much. So by all means, I should have experienced severe withdrawal symptoms. I believe I slept right through them.
Withdrawal symptoms range from mild to potentially fatal. Mild symptoms include shaking, headache, nausea, vomiting, sweating, tiredness, and difficulty in thinking. The more severe symptoms include confusion or hallucinations, severe shaking, convulsions, seizures, and blackouts. No one should attempt withdrawal on their own – ever – because of the potential of complications. If you are planning on quitting drinking, make sure you talk to a doctor and get people with experience in alcohol detoxification to help you. Remember that alcohol is a poison. You are “detoxing” – ridding your body of toxic material – this is serious business.
Actually, withdrawal lasts up at least two years so the possibility of you sleeping through it is unlikely. I am an alcoholic and I enrolled in the Army Substance Abuse Program and was given information on Post Acute Withdrawl. Your brain needs time to learn to function again without alcohol. Irritability and sleeping problems are also symptoms of withdrawal, which I experienced when I quit drinking for three weeks. I started sleeping all day and I was extremely moody and I felt the only way to get myself back to normal was to start drinking again. I will need some outside help if I wish to conquer this addiction.