Caring for you body in early alcohol sobriety is rarely discussed. This is true even in the rooms of AA, which I visit often.
I am not a professional of any kind, so this post about alcohol detoxing comes from my own experiences and talking about it with others in recovery. I want to provide the information so you know what to expect and what to do to get through it.
First off, a MAJOR WARNING: detoxing from alcohol can kill you, depending on how much you were drinking. If you are a daily hard alcohol drinker, then you are at high risk for DTs.
No matter how much your drink, consult a doctor and consider going to an emergency room. You can Google detox centers near you and ask them about quitting cold turkey.
It is possible to have seizures, hallucinations and confusion during this time. Anxiety, depression, sweating, and shitty sleep (technical term) are common too.
For me, I had about four days of weird sweats, especially out of my feet. I was not expecting that. My hands and parts of my body trembled for about a week. That wasn’t such a big deal.
My hallucinations were pretty mild when I tried to get some sleep. It would be a bunch of lightly neon faces superimposed over each other and morphing. I didn’t mind because of my history with psychedelics!
For almost a week I was very restless. It helped to stretch, go for walks, take a nap, have a shower, and eat decent snacks.
My first few weeks of sleep were not that great. I tossed and turned, my mind swimming with all kinds of random topics. If you are up for it, harder exercise and longer walks will help with that.
As heavy drinkers, our bodies are used to a large intake of fluid. So, I always had a bottle or glass of water around. About two liters a day worked well for me. This also helps to clean out our bodies.
Another huge issue with quitting drinking comes from our bodies turning alcohol into sugar. As a result, we are also addicted to sugar. That has been a real battle in my sobriety.
For the first few days of detox, I would actually take shots of soda or juice. It kept me from drinking a gallon of sugar through the day. Juice and sports drinks diluted half with water helped with my vitamins and electrolytes too. A multivitamin didn’t hurt either.
My cravings and obsession for drinking were pretty bad for a couple of weeks. I would go to at least two AA meetings every day since I didn’t have anything else going on. They really calmed me down.
At home, I would read from the AA Big Book and other recovery literature to distract my mind when it started going a little crazy. That amounted to about 20 times per day. Calling new contacts in AA was also very helpful. It was the first time in my life I was getting my issues off my chest.
The body takes some time to heal. You have probably abused it for decades. So be patient with yourself. Keep consistent with water intake, exercising and eating better every day.
Try to avoid the sugar binges because that can really dig its hooks in. I’m an ice cream and candy whore right now. I guess it’s better than a beer, whiskey and weed whore! We are about progress, not perfection.
You only have to go through detox once if you stick close to the rooms of recovery and do thorough steps early on with a sponsor. It was a rite of passage that I am glad I did.
Sobriety and recovery have saved my life. I heal and improve month by month. Those first few crappy weeks were absolutely worth it.
My only alternative was to continue getting more sick, broken and miserable until dying an alcoholic death. I’m glad I found recovery and you can too. Go to a recovery meeting today and focus on being healthy!
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