Alcohol withdrawal

[WCZ]

Just would like to make sure:

I’ve basically had 3-4 pints of lager every night this year and a week into last and I’m planning to stop for a few days ( starting tonight) is this sufficient enough to warrant slowly cutting down each night to be safer from withdrawals or not ?

[Second Best]

Why don't you just have a pint or two instead, rather than going cold turkey, as otherwise you'll have the shakes and it'll be on your mind? Go for a drive or visit the gym or even go for a walk or something until 10pm, then come home, have a pint or two, shower and go to bed.

[hidetheelephants]

I doubt that amount can induce DT, but IANAD. Have you felt any of the symptoms of DT at any point? If not it's cold turkey time.

[gregs656]

Sounds like you’re trying to convince your self to to not cut out the booze completely.

[WCZ]

gregs656 said:

Sounds like you’re trying to convince your self to to not cut out the booze completely.

Absolutely not, I genuinely don’t want a drink

Never noticed the effects of DT before - to the other poster

Just want to make sure it’s safe

[hidetheelephants]

I'm still not a doctor, but having scanned the wiki DT page tapering down your consumption over a 2 week period should avoid any risk of gross symptoms. If you are this concerned speaking to your quack or NHS 24 might be a better idea.

[gregs656]

WCZ said:

Absolutely not, I genuinely don’t want a drink

Never noticed the effects of DT before - to the other poster

Just want to make sure it’s safe

Then don’t have one.

Your consumption is within Spanish guidelines for consumption, for example.

You can kid your self into ‘just one tonight’ for ‘safety’ if you want to however.

[itlab]

IANAD and i would welcome a Drs confirmation or dismissal

I’d have thought 3 to 4 pints a night ( 6 to 12 units depending on abv)should have you sober And the booze out of your system well before you start drinking again the following ( assuming 1 hour per unit)

Which would make any issues psychological rather than physical currently.

[gregs656]

Honestly people come on.

This is 8 weeks of 2 glasses of wine a night.

Alcohol depresses REM sleep, which is why after a night on the booze you might sleep for a decent length of time but it doesn’t feel like you’re properly rested. The DTs is a part of alcohol withdrawal when your body - which has been entirely deprived of REM sleep for an extended period of time - is craving REM sleep so much that you experience it while you are awake.

The OP is probably more tired than usual, probably takes a while to warm up in the morning and so on, perhaps his skin is starting to suffer somewhat, but he is not an alcoholic or alcohol dependent, he is not going to get the DTs.

What he is going to do is try and rationalise, which is what this thread is. Maybe I shouldn’t just stop. Maybe one drink is ok, better even??

If he wanted to stop, he would have, consequences (or not) be damned.

[WCZ]

gregs656 said:

Honestly people come on.

This is 8 weeks of 2 glasses of wine a night.

Alcohol depresses REM sleep, which is why after a night on the booze you might sleep for a decent length of time but it doesn’t feel like you’re properly rested. The DTs is a part of alcohol withdrawal when your body - which has been entirely deprived of REM sleep for an extended period of time - is craving REM sleep so much that you experience it while you are awake.

The OP is probably more tired than usual, probably takes a while to warm up in the morning and so on, perhaps his skin is starting to suffer somewhat, but he is not an alcoholic or alcohol dependent, he is not going to get the DTs.

What he is going to do is try and rationalise, which is what this thread is. Maybe I shouldn’t just stop. Maybe one drink is ok, better even??

If he wanted to stop, he would have, consequences (or not) be damned.

it's really not that -

I genuinely didn't know whether my level of drinking over this time period would cause issues. that's all I wanted to find out. I did a bit of goolging but was unable to find out any specific numbers to get an idea.

slept pretty badly but feel fine this morning, will continue booze free until the weekend

cheers!

[MYOB]

Without knowing how you approached alcohol before this period, it's difficult to say how you would be affected. Also depends on your personality type.

But 8 weeks of drinking shouldn't turn you into a raving alcoholic with withdrawal symptoms. But note the caveat above.

[C0ffin D0dger]

Seriously? 3-4 beers a night isn't a concern, if you want to stop drinking just stop, you're not going to die or anything.

At times I've probably averaged that though usually less in the week, splurge at the weekend, but never had issues if I fancied a spell off.

In more recent times I had medical reasons to quit for a while due to it interacting with medication I was on. In the run up to it I was drinking a fair amount. No issues what so ever.

[gregs656]

WCZ said:

it's really not that -

I genuinely didn't know whether my level of drinking over this time period would cause issues. that's all I wanted to find out. I did a bit of goolging but was unable to find out any specific numbers to get an idea.

slept pretty badly but feel fine this morning, will continue booze free until the weekend

cheers!

Your sleep will come back quite quickly. It hasn’t been good anyway.

Practice good sleep hygiene.

[Jiebo]

WCZ said:

Just would like to make sure:

I’ve basically had 3-4 pints of lager every night this year and a week into last and I’m planning to stop for a few days ( starting tonight) is this sufficient enough to warrant slowly cutting down each night to be safer from withdrawals or not ?

Don’t read into the withdrawal symptoms too much on the internet. There is so much bks about DTs occurring and death which only really happens if you’re on a litre a day + of vodka, and even then genetics plays a big part.

You will be absolutely fine when you stop drinking, don’t use the internet scare mongering as an excuse to not stop. I’m convinced most of the google links are American rehab clinics who make money from peoples fear of quitting.

[85Carrera]

Jiebo said:

Don’t read into the withdrawal symptoms too much on the internet. There is so much bks about DTs occurring and death which only really happens if you’re on a litre a day + of vodka, and even then genetics plays a big part.

You will be absolutely fine when you stop drinking, don’t use the internet scare mongering as an excuse to not stop. I’m convinced most of the google links are American rehab clinics who make money from peoples fear of quitting.

This. I cut back from around 70 units a week to zero for dry January and had no ill effects. Didn’t feel appreciably better either, but that’s another story.

Found it hard to sleep at first but that was it.

[Sideways Tim]

Having just done a quick calculation, I've been drinking around 100 units a week for a very long time

I have given up for lent (which for some reason I thought was two weeks). No problem so far apart from the above mentioned poor sleep. You'll be fine.

[Caddyshack]

Day 4 of no booze is the worst, after that it gets easier over 2 weeks then that is it, it is only your will power and / or want not to drink after that.

Will Power is not very powerful so not wanting to drink is the key....have a good listen to Craig beck "alcohol lied to me" or read it.

[NovaPower]

Delirium Tremens (DT's) is a condition associated with extreme alcoholics, not 4 pints a night drinkers.

In your case, the worst you can expect would be disrputed sleep as you will be going to be bed sober for a change.

Well done for wanting to cut it out though.

[Blackpuddin]

gregs656 said:

This is 8 weeks of 2 glasses of wine a night.

It's a bit more than that. Four pints of 5.2% lager is 12 units of alcohol. One standard glass of 12% wine is a hair over two units. A bottle of 13.5% wine is 10 units. Basically OP is downing a bottle + a glass of decent strength wine every night.

[gregs656]

Blackpuddin said:

It's a bit more than that. Four pints of 5.2% lager is 12 units of alcohol. One standard glass of 12% wine is a hair over two units. A bottle of 13.5% wine is 10 units. Basically OP is downing a bottle + a glass of decent strength wine every night.

We can play with the figures as much as you like.

Could just have easily been 3 lower strength lagers at 6 units and 2 glasses of wine at 5ish units.

That is before we get into ‘pints’ as a generic measure, 440ml cans on the couch at home?

In any case, I stand by everything I say.

I wish the OP the best of luck as he seems serious.