What is alcohol withdrawal like? Is it like benzo withdrawal?

I have a friend who seems to have some benzo withdrawal symptoms and they have been drinking for SO MANY YEARS.  I was wondering if there is a tolerance withdrawal for alcohol?  I was never really a drinker and don't know much about.  Maybe someone on the board has gone through both and/or knows something about it?  Links to any articles about this are welcome, as I couldn't really find much on it. 

Withdrawal from alcohol can be just as dangerous you can have seizures so its best to not stop drinking on Your own I went to detox and even there a Man had a seizure very scary If they want to stop drinking and are on benzos they need to find somewhere they are benzo friendly where I went was not stopped benzo cold turkey not fun  alcohol symptoms are a little like benzo withdrawal because I went though them at the same time I can't tell you where one began and one ended

The major difference is duration.  Alcohol withdrawal typically last about 3 days.  7 days would be a severe, long withdrawal.

 

There may be residual effects from severe or long term alcohol abuse, but that is not the same as withdrawal.

 

https://www.recoveryfirst.org/alcohol-abuse/withdrawal-timeline/

I was still on benzodiazepines. It wasn’t good, and it lasted months. Around 20. I am my own proof that PAWS exists in alcohol withdrawal. I lived it... it wasn’t just the benzo tolerance and it was hard.

I have a friend who seems to have some benzo withdrawal symptoms and they have been drinking for SO MANY YEARS.  I was wondering if there is a tolerance withdrawal for alcohol?  I was never really a drinker and don't know much about.  Maybe someone on the board has gone through both and/or knows something about it?  Links to any articles about this are welcome, as I couldn't really find much on it.

Since alcohol only has a two hour half-life you would have to take a drink every two hours 24 hours a day to experience the same type of addiction people get on benzos which more or less behaves like a "powdered form" of alcohol.

It's no surprise that the majority of alcoholics are weaned off alcohol with benzos.

I have met real alcoholics people who actually drink alcohol like water.  They have a glass of vodka sitting on their bed side table and takes sips all night long.  They'll pour some on their cereal in the morning and more for lunch and all night long and so on.  Those people have a severe problem and benzos take over very nicely since it is exactly the same receptor group getting hit. 

Your basic alcoholic who comes out of rehab 28 days later fully recovered and smiling and exclaiming to their family "I am finally free"!  Usually has a bottle of Valium tucked in their pants or purse that reads "Take 10 mg three times daily".

The thinking is that Valium  is much less problematic on the liver than drinking like a fish and keeps you looking and acting somewhat normal so you can actually drive while under the influence without weaving and looking like a drunk.

Alcoholics tend to binge which is how they manage to stave off cold turkey which happens within around 7 to 10 days after their drinking subsides. 

After 7 to 10 days an alcoholics cold turkey peaks and is followed by another binge drinking session.

They get all the same symptoms we do including tinnitus etc. etc. etc.

 

It is a well known fact in the medical community that benzos and alcohol are cross tolerant.  Quite Probably the two most cross tolerant substances that have ever existed! (if the government knew this they would probably want to put a tax stamp on all benzos)

 

If you're on this forum and having problems with benzos just look back in your gene pool and you're probably going to find at least one or two alcoholics in the last three generations back or find yourself a member of a European drinking culture that spans from Russia to the tip of Ireland and everywhere in between.

 

  10,000 years of drinking has done its genetic damage. 

  How much of this hell is genetic?

  We may never know.

 

Read and learn about a possible defective gene that exists in many of us, I tested positive for GABRG3 too     

https://www.google.com/search?q=GABRG3

 

From the first time I got drunk at 13 years of age I remember saying

to myself  "I always want to feel this way, I so feel amazing".

 

So goes my lifelong love of all things "GABA"  became rekindled in a new generation.

It's funny, but only in my 50s do I realize all those laws I scoffed at and rebelled against in my youth were put in place for really good reasons.

 

I also believe the scientists that say no one should drink or take marijuana until their brain has matured which is between 22 and 24 years.  If you do these drugs while your brain is still maturing you will screw yourself up.

I'm not against drugs but it's really something people should put off for as long as possible so you can be as smart as possible and have a healthy brain and quite possibly have a lower chance for craving these things but I may never know if that's how this works.  I do believe young developing minds should stay clear of all these drugs and laws should be put in place for their own protection because the young need to be protected from themselves.

As a 1960s rebel I can hardly believe I am rambling these words but I have grown up, I have seen, I have been and still am a victim of my own rebellion.

I just wonder if the next generation will understand the need for juvenile abstinence as most probably one third of the industrialized world will have legalized marijuana within the next 12 years. At least that's what the trend-setters are predicting.

 

I find it really interesting that you made the point about alcoholism in the family. My sister and grandfather were alcoholics and my family are huge drinkers

Thank you for sharing. This makes so much sense to me - why I became so easily dependent - and why it was so crazy hard to quit. Alcohol and BSD. Worst combo ever.

I have a friend who seems to have some benzo withdrawal symptoms and they have been drinking for SO MANY YEARS.  I was wondering if there is a tolerance withdrawal for alcohol?  I was never really a drinker and don't know much about.  Maybe someone on the board has gone through both and/or knows something about it?  Links to any articles about this are welcome, as I couldn't really find much on it.

Since alcohol only has a two hour half-life you would have to take a drink every two hours 24 hours a day to experience the same type of addiction people get on benzos which more or less behaves like a "powdered form" of alcohol.

It's no surprise that the majority of alcoholics are weaned off alcohol with benzos.

I have met real alcoholics people who actually drink alcohol like water.  They have a glass of vodka sitting on their bed side table and takes sips all night long.  They'll pour some on their cereal in the morning and more for lunch and all night long and so on.  Those people have a severe problem and benzos take over very nicely since it is exactly the same receptor group getting hit. 

Your basic alcoholic who comes out of rehab 28 days later fully recovered and smiling and exclaiming to their family "I am finally free"!  Usually has a bottle of Valium tucked in their pants or purse that reads "Take 10 mg three times daily".

The thinking is that Valium  is much less problematic on the liver than drinking like a fish and keeps you looking and acting somewhat normal so you can actually drive while under the influence without weaving and looking like a drunk.

Alcoholics tend to binge which is how they manage to stave off cold turkey which happens within around 7 to 10 days after their drinking subsides. 

After 7 to 10 days an alcoholics cold turkey peaks and is followed by another binge drinking session.

They get all the same symptoms we do including tinnitus etc. etc. etc.

 

It is a well known fact in the medical community that benzos and alcohol are cross tolerant.  Quite Probably the two most cross tolerant substances that have ever existed! (if the government knew this they would probably want to put a tax stamp on all benzos)

 

If you're on this forum and having problems with benzos just look back in your gene pool and you're probably going to find at least one or two alcoholics in the last three generations back or find yourself a member of a European drinking culture that spans from Russia to the tip of Ireland and everywhere in between.

 

  10,000 years of drinking has done its genetic damage. 

  How much of this hell is genetic?

  We may never know.

 

Read and learn about a possible defective gene that exists in many of us, I tested positive for GABRG3 too     

https://www.google.com/search?q=GABRG3

 

From the first time I got drunk at 13 years of age I remember saying

to myself  "I always want to feel this way, I so feel amazing".

 

So goes my lifelong love of all things "GABA"  became rekindled in a new generation.

It's funny, but only in my 50s do I realize all those laws I scoffed at and rebelled against in my youth were put in place for really good reasons.

 

I also believe the scientists that say no one should drink or take marijuana until their brain has matured which is between 22 and 24 years.  If you do these drugs while your brain is still maturing you will screw yourself up.

I'm not against drugs but it's really something people should put off for as long as possible so you can be as smart as possible and have a healthy brain and quite possibly have a lower chance for craving these things but I may never know if that's how this works.  I do believe young developing minds should stay clear of all these drugs and laws should be put in place for their own protection because the young need to be protected from themselves.

As a 1960s rebel I can hardly believe I am rambling these words but I have grown up, I have seen, I have been and still am a victim of my own rebellion.

I just wonder if the next generation will understand the need for juvenile abstinence as most probably one third of the industrialized world will have legalized marijuana within the next 12 years. At least that's what the trend-setters are predicting.

 

I was/am an alcoholic who went to detox 25 years ago. The one poster is right. The half life is very short so many people get up at night to drink more. I was not one of them, thankfully. I was given Valium at detox and barely remember it except all I wanted to do was sleep 💤. It made me incredibly tired. Oddly if I wasn’t an alcoholic I would never have been put on benzos. I was given Xanax by the in patient psychiatrist because you get anxiety after alcohol withdrawal so that started me on the path though it was many years later that I was given klonopen. Ya can’t win.......

I was an alcoholic that stoped drinking 3 years ago.

 

I was also using a benzos for my alcohol induced anxiety.

 

I was not drunk all the time, but when I was drinking I was drinkinv till I passed out.

 

One thing that I am certain. Every hangover was a small withdrawal and the kindling is real

 

The last few were terrible I dont want that to the worst enemy

 

 

 

I was an alcoholic that stoped drinking 3 years ago.

 

I was also using a benzos for my alcohol induced anxiety.

 

I was not drunk all the time, but when I was drinking I was drinkinv till I passed out.

 

One thing that I am certain. Every hangover was a small withdrawal and the kindling is real

 

The last few were terrible I dont want that to the worst enemy

 

Agreed though I never had alcohol withdrawal. But I made a fool of myself and my detox center put me on Valium.

Im  rec alcoholic and i did not have it rhzt bad wd from alcohol. I went to z detox and wss emotional and fekt like a sad hopeless loser. You do have a roller coaster of emotions. If you go ti aa and talk with ppl you drart feeling  good. Benzo wd is tatalky different. To me wuitting drinking was nothing compared to this.