Quote:
Originally Posted by Atticus
Hey Scared,
First of all I wanted to say that Mrs D was this website's greatest contributer, a genuine researcher who attended conferences and read widely. My knowledge is far narrower and based on personal experience mostly.
I hear your pain, I feel your anxiety. I understand what you are going through is horrible. It's awful. It seems to me that it's the anxiety that you need to deal with most.
Alcohol is a great relaxant. It acts as a sedative and can take your mind off life's problems. Alcohol increases the activity of the neurotransmitter/modulator dopamine in the brain that makes us feel good. It's those feelings of eurphoria that makes us want to reach for another drink. I dare say your brain/body are missing those feelings.
I would suggest that if you can learn to meditate and ideally join a meditation class you can generate relaxation and healthy feelgood dopamine. It will allow your body to heal that much quicker. Our nervous system comprises a sympathetic nervous system ( fight or flight) and a parasympathetic nervous system ( rest and digest). In times of stress the sympathetic nervous system dominates. The body is a great healer and will heal more rapidly in a relaxed state. Learn to relax. Join a meditation class. Discuss your anxiety and symptoms with friends/family. Don't keep your feelings secret. Let them help you. Walk everyday. Get outside and experience morning sunlight. Breathe.
It's important not to catastrophize.
My own symptoms peaked during lockdown. Although I went through the same terrors you describe, I also felt a sense of peace because I was able to give up my responsibilities and really rest. It was sunny and I used to fall asleep outside regularly listening to YouTube relaxatation videos. I slept a lot. I entered a short play competition and won. They finally performed it, after several cancellations, earlier this year. It was genuinely terrible! But the point is I was able to focus on something and that sense of achievement of task completion helped me. ( Again feel good Dopamine release)
Do you have a hobby you can really focus on?
In my experience and in others I have read of, the usual pattern of recovery is that the symptoms get worse before they get better. I believe the body starts regenerating demyelinated nerve fibres typically a month or so after cessation. B12 helps with this. It's a slow process so be patient. I would add Magnesium Threonate to your supplements. Take it in the evenings and it will help you sleep and ease anxiety.
You don't say if you have sought medical help. Are you self diagnosed?
Best wishes
Atty.
|
thank you very much for your reply atty,
i was not sure if my post would reach you and was so happy to see your reply.
i forgot to mention i am taking magnesium 200mg, but not magnesium threonate. is there a difference? i will get that today if there is a difference, and please let me know how many mg to get. also, do you know much about sphingolin and inosine as mentioned by caroline2 above? i am planning on getting those today.
i have been meditating and going for hikes for 3 months every other day since ceasing alcohol, but my neuropathy symptoms did not start till about a month ago (8 weeks after no alcohol). i will continue my daily hikes/walks and meditation as it does distract me. when i do walk/hike, my tingling in my feet and hands are quite noticeable and so it reminds me that something is not right.
i am seeing a neurologist and see her again next week to go over my labs.
i received my labs yesterday from labcorp and made the stupid mistake of researching my abnormal results.
my immunoglobulin A is high (she was testing me for celiac disease), which google says could be cirrhosis😢 so got scared. but all my labs pertaining to my liver is all within normal range. my ast, alt, alp, ggt, albumin, total protein, globulin, bilirubin, albumin/globulin ratio, bun/creatinine ratio all within normal range. my ct, ultrasound was all normal. my fibroscan was 9.8 cap 249. my gastroenterologist said it was mild scarring and no sign of fatty liver and is reversible given time. he wants to do another fibroscan in a year. i am eating quite healthy, exercising, cut all bad carbs/sugar due to my high triglycerides and of course, no alcohol for 3 months now.
my b6 was also elevated, but said could be the cause of taking vitamins 24 hours prior to testing. my b12 was within range at 880.
my thyroid came back abnormal. don’t know yet if it’s hypothyroid or hyperthyroid. did not know how to interpret the result.
all other tests were normal that she tested for.
i know i am doing all the right things by making healthy choices, but the tingling, pins and needles, and sharp stabbing pain reminds me daily.
i really appreciate your and everyone’s replies/suggestions and really glad to have found this forum.
by the way, congrats on winning the short play competition you entered! way to go!