I had a relative (he has since died from an unrelated cause) who discovered he was physically addicted to alcohol when he was hospitalized for surgery (can’t remember what) and he had a grand mal seizure later that evening. He was sedated and given appropriate meds, and told that his “one drink a day” wasn’t quite what he thought it was.
I could have told them that; I saw him make one, and a tumbler full of ice cubes AND STRAIGHT VODKA is not the medical definition of one drink.
We used injected diazepam if the patient was NPO (nothing by mouth) and chlordiazepoxide if they weren’t. Some people also received IM injections of magnesium, which also helps raise the seizure threshold.
Yeah, now that you mention it, my husband’s grandmother was admitted to the hospital, and when asked if she drank she said she had some wine after dinner. Which was true, but incomplete. She had to be treated for withdrawal when she had the DTs.
Best wishes and good luck to the OP! The road to recovery may be three steps forward and two steps back, but it’s still a road worth taking. Take care and be well.
I can’t stop there either. For me, it’s drink until I start dropping f-bombs or don’t drink at all. Weed is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy.
Ha! I remember when I was trying to moderate my intake - IIRC no more than 3 drinks on any one day. I think I finally realized the futility of such an approach the day after a golf outing when I went into the open bar, asked the bartender to find their largest glass and fill it with gin! That’s 1!
IMO/E drinkers and substance users are pretty much surpassed in their ability to lie to themselves - and others.
It depends which study you look at, and the details of the giant study that declared “any alcohol is worse than none” really didn’t support their conclusions, IMHO.
The differences in expected lifespan between no drinking and light drinking are small enough that for most people, it makes sense to pick based on what you enjoy. There are a few people with specific medical issues who’ll do better in obvious ways with more or less booze.
What’s unambiguously true is that more than a drink or two (based on the standard “drink”) a day is bad for your health, binging is bad for your health, and regular heavy drinking is very bad for your health.
That’s not a small amount of alcohol. And a habit of that magnitude, while maybe not an immediate crisis, is something that can double or triple very rapidly.
OP made a good decision to quit. Alcohol is, at best, a substance of no benefit whatsoever. At worst, the harm is unlimited. You’ve heard of rock bottom? It’s a myth. There is no bottom, no guardrails, just oblivion.
My maternal grandmother drank a can of Old Milwaukee most evenings before bed, and she was in relatively good health right up until the day she died at age 91. And that’s all she drank - a single can, not the whole 12-pack.
I definitely remember the “red wine is good for you” thing because not only was I in pharmacy school at the time, in the early 1990s, but I was also working as a hotel banquet server, and I’ll never forget the dinner we hosted for some senior citizens’ group, and almost everyone wanted red wine LOL.
I think the effects of small amount of alcohol are mixed. It facilitates angiogenesis, so it’s probably good for heart disease but bad for cancer. And of course drinking increases your risk of auto accidents.
It’s also complicated by the fact that no habit exists in a vacuum. Person A’s nightly glass of wine might replace (or might be replaced by, if they quit drinking) some other, more harmful evening wind-down ritual, or at least a beverage with more sugar. But Person B’s daily after-work beer might be at a smoky bar where they put out tempting bowls of salty nuts and can whip up a basket of mozzarella sticks in 5 minutes.
You might want to check out https://www.reddit.com/r/stopdrinking/. It’s a very understanding community with a lot of experience and resources to share.
OP here. Saw the doctor (he is a rheumatologist) yesterday X-rays of hips were Ok. He thinks it is
just stress and lifestyle issues (drinking, diet, getting enough rest, etc.). I’m to be hooked up with someone who can help me with those issues and I have a follow up visit with the rheumatologist next month.
Still have pain and am scared. Haven’t touched alcohol in about three weeks now.
