Fantastic Voyage Generic Graphics Updated Nov 2023

I’m an alcoholic who recently visited the hospital for pneumonia and stayed in the hospital for 3 days. I have often prayed that God would take this away from me and I think he has I have not desired a drink since Thanksgiving. What type of problems should I expect as a sign of withdrawal from my alcoholism?

The signs and symptoms of withdrawal are in this article above. But, if you have NOT had a drink of alcohol since Thanksgiving, you are past the point that we would see withdrawal. This could be different if you take sleeping pills or sedatives or muscle relaxants.

The long term effects of your alcohol use may still show themselves. You could have brain damage with memory loss, heart damage, liver damage, or problems with your blood pressure. Please see your doctor for an examination to make sure you are OK. You may also have craving that comes back and want to have a plan in place to deal with the desire to drink. I suggest you check out AA.

Is there a placebo alcohol beverage?

No. There are low alcohol content beers, but I do not recommend that an alcoholic who is trying to stop drinking use them.

Does this include wine?

NO.

Q: I don’t drink throughout the week (Mon-Thurs.) but I’ll  have several drinks on the weekends. (3-4 each day) I do have high blood pressure, & Type 2 diabetes. I take medicine to control both, have changed my eating habits, and exercise. My mother, who does not drink, also has high blood pressure and diabetes. Are my symptoms from heritage or alcohol?

They could be from both working against the medication you take to control your diseases and the long-term health effects of them both. Please consider stopping to see if you can get better control over both diabetes and your blood pressure. If you can’t stop without help, it could be a sign that the alcohol is more important to you than you think.

Is it possible to get almost deathly ill from one drink of alcohol at age 40?

Yes. There are two ways. There are some people who lack a chemical in their body to destroy the alcohol and when trying to break it down. A very toxic chemical stays in the blood stream. This chemical can cause flushing, high blood pressure, heart rhythm problems and death! People generally know if they have this problem, because a small sip of alcohol causes them to flush and get hot.

The second way is because of chronic alcohol exposure that has led to a problem with the liver and an inability to handle a drink.

A different possibility comes from something other than the alcohol. A person who drinks alcohol laced with something else can get very ill from the drink. This is why we recommend being careful to guard your drink in a public drinking place (a bar) to avoid being poisoned with the “date rape drug” or other contaminants.

How do you know if you’re having withdrawal and not a hangover? What are the symptoms of withdrawal?

A hangover occurs after a night of drinking and is caused by being sick from taking a lot of alcohol during one episode of drinking.It is defined by the headache, body ache, stomach upset, and general feeling of being tired, weak, and confused.

The hangover can be addressed with rest and anti- inflammatory medication (aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, etc.) for the headache. Sometimes putting something in the stomach can calm it. Be careful with taking aspirin, because it can make the stomach upset worse or irritate the lining of the stomach and cause ulcers or bleeding in the person who uses a lot of alcohol.

Part of the hangover is also due to being dehydrated. Alcohol causes you to increase your urine and you can get dry or dehydrated while drinking, since you will urinate more than you are taking in. It is important to drink a glass of water for every cocktail, glass of wine, bottle of beer during the night and re-hydrate with a balanced water the next morning. But the MOST important thing to pay attention to is to NOT drink too much in one setting so that you can avoid the hangover in the first place.

Having hangovers the morning after drinking is a sign that you are drinking too much and you are at risk for more health problems due to your drinking. We recommend no more than 3 drinks per episode for a woman and 5 for a man over as many hours. We also recommend no more than three drinking nights a week.

As to withdrawal: When a person is dependent upon alcohol, an alcoholic, the body gets accustomed to having the alcohol in the blood stream and gets used to having it there and has to make adjustments to your drinking. When the person stops drinking, the body detects this as a deficiency and reacts to it causing both mental and physical problems which can be mild or serious and life-threatening.

Since alcohol acts like a depressant in the system, slowing down the brain for example, when it is withdrawn it causes an opposite effect. This is because the brain works hard to keep a certain level of activity or alertness in the presence of alcohol. The adjustment to stay up or activated lasts past the last drink and the brain is activated, hyperactive in a sense. How hyperactive the brain and body are after the last drink depends upon how much you have been drinking over what period of time.

The problems that arrive after you stop drinking if you are an alcoholic come on about six (6) hours after the last drink for most. If you have a severe problem with alcohol you can actually have withdrawal when you reduce the amount you drink.

Most people are aware the alcohol withdrawal can cause seizures which are due to extreme activity of the brain without a purpose. This is a serious sign and NO ONE should be allowed to have seizures from alcohol withdrawal as brain cells die off and the patient can die too! If you are shaky when you stop drinking, see a doctor for medication assisted or managed withdrawal.

The most severe form of withdrawal is seizures with hallucinations- seeing things, feeling things, or hearing things- call delirium tremendous (DTs). Olfactory hallucinations- smelling things that are not there- are a very serious sign too. Do not wait to call 911 when your loved one complains of any of these kinds of hallucinations.

A very small percentage of people get DTs now, since most withdrawal is treated with medications.

Do not let alcohol withdrawal progress to these end stage forms of withdrawal- anxiety, pacing, craving, and high blood pressure and hear rate are warming signs to get medical care.

People who have had seizures once are more prone to get them again and high blood pressure and heart rate can cause stroke or heart attacks. The older the person and the more heart and lung problems he has, the more serious and life-threatening the withdrawal.

Head to the next page for more about identifying alcoholic behavior and what AA treatment is like. 

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