After many years of drinking far to much, i have decided to take control of my alcohol intake.
I'd like to know if anyone else that has given up alcohol has had any side effects?
I try to only have a few drinks on a Saturday night now, after drinking every night. But when i'm not drinking i have real problems sleeping and really bad night sweats.
Most nights i wake up and it's like i have just stepped out of the shower, it's got to the point where i can't sleep in the same bed as my partner.
Is this a common side effect? And is it just my body getting rid of all the toxins?
Many thanks.
Lee.
highviz Fri 25/07/08 14:03
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Sounds like you've had a bit of a problem in the past. The fact that you recognise you drink too much is pretty much most of the problem solved.
TBH I dont know much about the side effects but well done on cutting down and wish you all best, it sounds like you're really giving it a good go.
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sounds to me like your body is detoxifying. stick with your decision to stay off the alcohol. you'll be back to normal.
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Question Author
Thanks for the answer and kind words Booldawg, i've had a few problems, but because i've never been the type of drinker that has woken up needing a drink or drank during the day, i convinced myself that i didn't have a problem and only needed a drink to sleep. Now i know better.
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Good Luck for a start.
Doesnt seem like you had a major problem or else you would have had the DT's and perhaps seizures.
I wasnt a heavy drinker but gave up one day last September and didnt touch a drop for say 5 months -had to for personal reasons not health -but I havent felt so well -brilliant sleeps and it didnt bother me at all.Think the night sweats could be a side affect -cant remember much myself cos I was having flushes anyway.
However I now allow myself a social drink now that things have calmed to a certain extent -my problem was I didnt want to have any alcohol at all in my blood so i could jump in the car at whatever time as was necessary.
Try -taking Geeen Tea antioxidents (Tescos) and Milk Thistle (good for your liver) -I take them all the time as well as other supplements and they definitely have helped me enormously.
Good for you taking control-give yourself a few months off and then you'll find that you are controlling it and not the other way -doesnt appear to me that you would have to give up completely -maybe wrong -you may want to -but I dont think your problem was mega serious.
Stick in -you'll lose weight and have a brilliant complexion -o drink loads and loads of water as well -that'll help with your sweats !!!
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Good luck. I hope you suceed.
Personally I first gave up for about 8 months and thought I could handle social drinking and found out 6 months later that I couldn't.
I think that's a common story. If you can keep it to a few on a Saturday that's great but I think you'll be in the minority.
It was about 18 months later I gave it up and I've been dry for 7 years.
I didn't have those side effects but it was getting to my stomach. A packet of Rennies was never far from my side.
It certainly sounds as if your body's adapting to the change. Have you got a good GP? They should be pretty supportive and may be able to help with things like the sweats.
By the way, although you probably know this already, the biggest challenge is probably your drinking buddies.
They'll tell you that you don't really have a problem and that alcoholics are bums in the street not people like you - just stick to your guns
Think of the money you're saving too - that helps!
Oh and it does get easier - it doesn't go away though - I can still walk down a supermarket aisle and taste all the different bottles in my mind - tend to avoid doing so though
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I was an alcoholic and gave up everything but the odd social drink ten years ago, which worked very well until last year when I spectacularly fell off the wagon. I got a grip on myself again about a month or so ago and now I'm back to managing very well just having the odd half here and there or what have you.
What you are experiencing is very normal, as the others say just keep at what you're doing and you'll be fine once your body recognises that it doesn't need a regular fix of alcohol anymore.
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Question Author
Luckily i don't have problems with others jake, i very rarely go out to drink. I have a job with very odd hours, sometimes i'd get in at midnight knowing i had to start work at 8 the next morning.
I'd be so wound up from work, i wouldn't be able to get to sleep. I'd then have a drink to knock me out. This has happened for so many years it just became habit and my body and mind told me i had to do it to sleep.
I've now changed my career and that is what has spurred me to change.
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O im like you Nox -when i fall/fail I do it in a spectutar fashion -I am now able to pick myself up and dust myself down now -thats the difference.Still can manage it -unless I get a major kick in the teeth -but hey thats always gonna happen with me so i have accepted it.
Good to see you rattling about so much -hope youre still well -must have a good chin wag someday -known you for years but never had a good old blether x
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Hello Dris, how's you lovely?
Yeah I was fine until last year when my wife left me, I lost all my money and I found out I have to have another operation on my brain ... ( not a joke:)
I can deal with stress pretty well but it was just everything at once, and fell back into my evil old ways with startling ease.
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Hey Email me anytime Nox -Drisgirl @aol.com -its good to have a chat -dont worry I have a few friends from here I chat off line to lol -have had a bit of a maelstrom myself !!!
Maybe hear from you !
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That's a really big plus highviz.
I know you're cutting down and not stopping but I found that the more people who knew I wasn't drinking the more I was determined not to start again and let them see I'd failed.
For me it started when I tried to think of the last day I'd been without a drink and couldn't. Although I knew it had been at leat 2-3 years.
Stopping was the best thing I've ever done - and probably the hardest.
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cheers Dris , just sent you a quick mail:)
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higviz
The night sweats are a very common side effect of alcohol withdrawal, but as others have said it will go away. Eventually your will regain a normal sleep pattern and actually sleep far better than you ever did with booze inside of you. Alcohol helps you get to sleep but causes the sleep to be disturbed. I can not remember how long it took me to get past the sweats and disturbed sleep but I used herbal remedies - didn't want to get hooked on an alternative.
Personally, I find total abstinence easier than controlled drinking so apart from the occasional sip to remind myself I don't like the taste of booze, just the anaesthetic effect of downing wine after work like there was no tomorrow. But, it depends on the individual.
Good luck I hope you continue to do what is right for you.
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Question Author
Many thanks for all the wonderful responses.
Another night of sobriety for me then.
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I tend to binge drink was getting me down went to a AA meeting and some of the people that go have such stories to tell, makes me humble, not going back as i have now kicked back my drinking pattern, still drink but in am in control not the booze, thinking of youxxxx
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