Alcohol Withdrawal Inquiry

[sfarzosa3]

Hello! Thank you in advance for your time and assistance with my inquiry.

I am a 28 year old female, no major health issues/surgeries, average bmi, semi-active lifestyle (cardio 3x/week).

I am having several symptoms which I believe might be related to my decision to cease alcohol usage and would like feedback as to if I could have Wet Brain (Wernicke's encephalopathy), as follows:

- Changes in vision (decreased vision in both eyes-- but no double vision or hallucinations).

- Headaches (mainly at the back of my head and down the neck)

- Confusion (comes and goes several times a day)

- Slight to moderate dizziness (also comes and goes throughout the day and same time as confusion)

- Inability to successfully focus as I am accustomed to (constant)

- Decrease in normal cognitive functioning (also comes and goes in severity but is constant- esp ability to plan, think abstractly, do math). Absolutely affects my ability to function as normal (study, I am a student). This is the most terrifying part for me. It is as though I am disassociated from my brain and am watching it not function.

- Mood Swings (probably more related to stress because of the other issues)

- Slightly more tired than usual

- Sore throat (who knows, but it is happening, so I thought to list it)

Sleep is fine, diet is now great (lots of vitamin rich foods and tons of water), no nightmares, no tremors/shakes,
no recent trauma or changes in medication, no nausea or vomiting.

I have been a heavy drinker on and off since 21. Never had a problem with the law, finances, school work, work, etc. I do not hide my drinking nor have I ever been told I need to decrease it, etc.

Within the last month to month and a half, I have been rather heavily drinking between 4-6 nights a week at about 1/3 to 1/2 bottle of whiskey by myself or 1/2 to 3/4 bottle of wine. My diet wasn't well balanced (lots of cereal during the day, some sweets, and most often (4-6 nights a week) a balanced dinner at night) and I was drinking about a gallon of water a day 4x times a week.

Last week I decided to stop drinking, and failed to appropriately research that stopping abruptly was not a good idea and should have weaned off instead. It has now been exactly a week since my last drink. Symptoms are getting less severe but the brain functioning is leaving me terrified. Most changes have somewhat improved, especially in the last 48 hours, save the vision changes. (Disclaimer: Always have had poor eyesight, and the decrease in vision occurred prior to stopping drinking but seemed sudden). I have stopped drinking before and have never encountered any of these items.

During my heaviest drinking period, I consumed a lot (relative to my normal diet) of sugar products (cereal, cake, cookies, ice cream), compared to my normal habits. I am worried that an influx of glucose during heavy drinking may have done irreparable damage and am looking for feedback.

I greatly appreciate your taking the time to assess my wall of text and hope I have provided all relevant information. Hopefully I am being over worried and this is just a peculiar, ugly withdrawal phase.

I will also add that I have already shared these symptoms with my primary care physician who conducted many blood tests late last week and I have an MRI appointment in two days. For whatever inane reason, it did not occur to me that this could be due to a decision to stop drinking alcohol ( I am waiting for a call to share this with her). I started taking several b vitamins (esp, b1) three days ago and have noticed an improvement which I believe to be correlated to this. I will continue to look carefully at my drinking habits and have a wonderful family support base helping me through this.

Again, many warm thanks for your input.

[Im_a_SkateMom]

I have been doing a lot of research on Wet Brain lately, and based on what you wrote - simply because you were able to express yourself so well and with proper grammar, I doubt you have wet brain  -  but that is just my opinion.

Good luck with your sobriety and congratulations!

[ibizan]

Like you said,ppl have variable levels of symptoms w/the PAWS based on the amount they consumed daily and for how long they consumed it for!My recovery has been quite the journey these past 31 years.I was told,and it is SO TRUE....its not the stopping drinking that is the biggest challenge...its STAYING STOPPED!Playing the tape in its the entirety to the end of what will happen is key!I don't miss blackouts,hangovers,drunk driving,Nasty attacks,and the drug use that always followed!

[sfarzosa3]

Good Morning Ibizan,

Thank you for writing. Yeah, it was one of those silly things. I did not think I was drinking that much so it did not even occur to me to tell her- now it is obvious that should have been disclosed.

I looked at PAWS but I don't seem to match the intensity of what the top results indicate for this (which I am grateful for). I'll do more research, maybe people have variable levels of symptoms since each journey is different.

I am glad that you are doing well with your recovery! Yay Sobriety :)

[ibizan]

Google Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome from Alcohol.I think you'll find some answers there.You most likely failed to disclose this to your PCP due to shame/embarassment!Many of us have BEEN There...am NO longer there!Sobriety IS better!