OUTSTANDING!

Always glad to hear success stories so thanks for sharing that.

Hi There,
I recently helped a friend who had a drink problem. He has always been a heavy drinker but when his girlfriend left him he became really bad. He was drinking day and night not sleeping properly and always drunk.
He phoned me one day and said he wanted to disappear and not come back. This alarmed me because he had people that still cared about him and he could have a good life if it wasn't for the drink.
I persuaded him to go to the doctor and I went with him.
He was told it was dangerous just to stop drinking just like that, and was persuaded to go into a place where they could monitor him for a week. He had vitamin injection to help his liver and reqular monitoring.
He came out a new person and is doing so,so, very, very well and I am so proud of him.
He is enjoying life now and feels like he has never felt before.
What I am trying to say is there is so much more to life my friend and it is all yours for the taking.
You can do it you just need to be determined and you will get there and I have seen first hand the change it can make.
Get help, be strong and do it for you.
Best and fond wishes to you.

I don't know if your drinking is this advanced, but seizures and death can result from alcohol withdrawal [whereas with narcotics withdrawal, you just wish that you were dead]. This forum could offer you much support. But examine yourself - why do you want to quit on your own before going to AA. AA is not what people may think, and you can find lots of support there. If neither works, I would seek a detox center. and lots of luck - signed: been there done that billie

I just noticed the date that the OP posted this so for them my reply is probably too late. But for anyone in a similar situation, that has been a continual heavy drinker for an extended period of time - going cold turkey can be way more than just feeling really ill and having a monster hangover.

(I have under 10 post so have had to remove the hyperlinks - but I am sure you can find them with google. )

This is what happened to me after taking (I would guess) at least 60-70 units a day for a month.

Day 1 (day time) - Felt extremely ill with constant vomiting.
Day 1 (night time) - Started hallucinating faint sounds of music and voices.
Day 2 (day time) - Slight visual hallucinations, audio hallucinations remain.
Day 2 (night time) - Extreme cold sweats, shaking and what I called 'the fear'
- 'the fear' is when you are constantly on edge and you feel like you adrenal gland is going to pack in with the amount of adrenaline it is filling the body with. (trust me when I say, it is a really nasty feeling)

Now comes the bad part! - You start to feel like there are some form of parasites crawling all over your body, it is actually just muscle twitches but your brain is going into a type of psychosis that make it feel very real.

The next stage... and I don't know the best way to put it.... you literally go mad. You lose all grip on reality. Beyond that if not treated immediately, you will go into seizures then coma, then death!

Luckily I was rushed to hospital before the coma and (obviously! ) death part!

If you really want to stop immediately, I would either go to your local Alcohol clinic or your doctor and request a 5-7 day cycle of Chlordiazepoxide. This stuff is miraculous, and deals with all the withdrawal side effect brilliantly. You will also find that you appetite comes back almost instantaneously.

The one thing about Chlordiazepoxide is that it is highly sedative for the first couple of days, so if you work it would be best to take the week off.