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ALCOHOL! WHO COULDNT DRINK BUT NOW CAN


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im looking for anyone who couldnt drink at the start of withdrawal without terrible issues (basically put you back into withdrawal or worse withdrawal) but now can drink without any issues.

 

could you give details.

 

im not looking to drink, the point of this is to see if we do recover our ability to drink or if it is gone forever.

 

ive seen some people say its permanant and youll never be able to dirnk again if drinking puts you into withdrawal again now..... but then ive seen others claim drinking used to put them right back to acute withdrawal but after a long period of time they can drink the same amount now and be perfectly fine.

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I don’t think you can. Alcohol works on the same receptors so, I think (I am not a doctor so I am unsure) but I think it rekindles those same receptors.
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At eight months I have been feeling quite a bit better and made the mistake of having three sips of wine on Thanksgiving day.  Have been ill in bed since then with benzo flu symptoms!!!  Not going to do that again for a very long time, as the price is a steep one to pay :tickedoff:
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[ac...]

I drink now with no issues.

 

I tried one beer at the three-week mark (post c/t).  Bad idea.  Nasty 2-3 day wave.  Didn't try again for several months.  When I tried again, I tested the waters slowly.  I would just have one beer, and would nurse it for a long time.  There was usually some kind of uncomfortable 'rebound' 4 or so hours after I drank.  It felt pretty bad - a bit like acute withdrawal, and lasted for hours (but not days).  I'd wait a week or two and try one again.  As time passed, the length of that bad feeling lessened. 

 

By about month 5, I could nurse one beer with a moderate length rebound.  By month 6, I could drink two with only a short (but still strong) rebound.  By month 9, I could drink pretty freely with no unusual rebound.

 

Hope this helps.

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I drink now with no issues.

 

I tried one beer at the three-week mark (post c/t).  Bad idea.  Nasty 2-3 day wave.  Didn't try again for several months.  When I tried again, I tested the waters slowly.  I would just have one beer, and would nurse it for a long time.  There was usually some kind of uncomfortable 'rebound' 4 or so hours after I drank.  It felt pretty bad - a bit like acute withdrawal, and lasted for hours (but not days).  I'd wait a week or two and try one again.  As time passed, the length of that bad feeling lessened. 

 

By about month 5, I could nurse one beer with a moderate length rebound.  By month 6, I could drink two with only a short (but still strong) rebound.  By month 9, I could drink pretty freely with no unusual rebound.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

this is exactly what i was looking for! thank you so much.

 

so just to clarify (even though youve made it pretty obvious).... Drinking 1 beer would put you back into feeling like you were in acute withdrawal.

 

and now you can drink multiple beers and have no feeling of withdrawal, like a normal healthy person who never took Benzos?

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I drink now with no issues.

 

I tried one beer at the three-week mark (post c/t).  Bad idea.  Nasty 2-3 day wave.  Didn't try again for several months.  When I tried again, I tested the waters slowly.  I would just have one beer, and would nurse it for a long time.  There was usually some kind of uncomfortable 'rebound' 4 or so hours after I drank.  It felt pretty bad - a bit like acute withdrawal, and lasted for hours (but not days).  I'd wait a week or two and try one again.  As time passed, the length of that bad feeling lessened. 

 

By about month 5, I could nurse one beer with a moderate length rebound.  By month 6, I could drink two with only a short (but still strong) rebound.  By month 9, I could drink pretty freely with no unusual rebound.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

also are you familiar with anyone else this has happened to.

 

im not really looking for people who say "i can drink post benzos fine"

 

 

i want people who 100% couldnt drink, like you, without suffering. but who can now drink absolutely fine with no suffering.

people who demonstrate a clear "reversal" of the lack of ability to drink without it throwing them into a withdrawal.

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i know how you are feeling. you dont want to come off like a drunk but this process takes so much normal out of our lives that it steals from all areas of our life. one thing to choose not to deink ourselves but its another thing altogether when these poisons get to boss us around...or at least thats how i feel. i long to sit around with my sisters and mom by the pool and have a glass or two (or three) of wine and some laughs.
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i know how you are feeling. you dont want to come off like a drunk but this process takes so much normal out of our lives that it steals from all areas of our life. one thing to choose not to deink ourselves but its another thing altogether when these poisons get to boss us around...or at least thats how i feel. i long to sit around with my sisters and mom by the pool and have a glass or two (or three) of wine and some laughs.

 

i mean thatd be great..... but honestly i dont care if i ever drink again. what freaks me out is the thought i have permanent damage or have rewired myself permanently forever because of this.

 

im basically looking for confirmation that this heals and reverses 100%. id be happy not drinking.

 

also i want to remove the thought that i could make a mistake YEARS down the line and get sent back into withdrawal, maybe some hidden alcohol in food or something triggers it that i didnt even do on purpose.

 

 

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[ac...]

I drink now with no issues.

 

I tried one beer at the three-week mark (post c/t).  Bad idea.  Nasty 2-3 day wave.  Didn't try again for several months.  When I tried again, I tested the waters slowly.  I would just have one beer, and would nurse it for a long time.  There was usually some kind of uncomfortable 'rebound' 4 or so hours after I drank.  It felt pretty bad - a bit like acute withdrawal, and lasted for hours (but not days).  I'd wait a week or two and try one again.  As time passed, the length of that bad feeling lessened. 

 

By about month 5, I could nurse one beer with a moderate length rebound.  By month 6, I could drink two with only a short (but still strong) rebound.  By month 9, I could drink pretty freely with no unusual rebound.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

this is exactly what i was looking for! thank you so much.

 

so just to clarify (even though youve made it pretty obvious).... Drinking 1 beer would put you back into feeling like you were in acute withdrawal.

 

and now you can drink multiple beers and have no feeling of withdrawal, like a normal healthy person who never took Benzos?

 

Yes - those early (single) beers would taste good and feel good for a few hours, but then I'd get shakey, couldn't sleep, headachey, sweaty.  Really felt lousy the first few times, but the length of that reaction was decreasing (which I took as an encouraging sign).  If I wasn't committed to drinking again, I might not have kept trying.

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[ac...]

Are there others?  Yes, of course.  I remember a guy who owned a wine/liquor store and was recovering.  He was also pretty committed to drinking again so he could evaluate the wines he was selling. 

 

I think a lot of us forget how we first learned to drink alcohol.  It often wasn't pretty.  After withdrawal, my body had to learn to handle alcohol again.  There were times that it wasn't great, but it probably was no rougher than when I was in high school.

 

There are people who have all sorts of chemical sensitivities (before/during/after withdrawal).  I wasn't one of those people.  I guess if you're sensitive to odors and foods, then you may not be ready for alcohol.  fwiw - I kind of used alcohol as a gauge of my healing.  If I was fully healed, then of course I could drink alcohol.  I didn't have fear about drinking.  Just like healing, I knew that I would be OK in time.

 

Go slow!  Probably smart to begin with just a sip and see how it goes. 

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In some of my recent posts I mention being able to drink again. Drinking still causes harm and the original issues it caused but I am not getting any benzo related problems from it. Check this thread out if you want more detail.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=196645.msg3147607#msg3147607

 

I think being able to drink without getting severe symptoms that come back may be an indicator how far along in the healing process you are. I'm not sure if it means you are 100% healed but I think it means to some extent your brain has healed from benzo damage.

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In some of my recent posts I mention being able to drink again. Drinking still causes harm and the original issues it caused but I am not getting any benzo related problems from it. Check this thread out if you want more detail.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=196645.msg3147607#msg3147607

 

I think being able to drink without getting severe symptoms that come back may be an indicator how far along in the healing process you are. I'm not sure if it means you are 100% healed but I think it means to some extent your brain has healed from benzo damage.

 

 

thanks for the reply brother.

 

so just to summaries.... you couldnt drink at one point without it bringing back terrible benzo withdrawal symptoms...... but now you can drink and it doesnt bring back terrible symptoms?

 

im looking for people who definitely couldnt.... but now definitely can.

 

not people who always could, or never attempted to before now.

 

thanks :)

 

 

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In some of my recent posts I mention being able to drink again. Drinking still causes harm and the original issues it caused but I am not getting any benzo related problems from it. Check this thread out if you want more detail.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=196645.msg3147607#msg3147607

 

I think being able to drink without getting severe symptoms that come back may be an indicator how far along in the healing process you are. I'm not sure if it means you are 100% healed but I think it means to some extent your brain has healed from benzo damage.

 

 

also if you couldnt drink before without it bring back withdrawal.... but you can now....... is it the same amount and type of alcohol? you can definitely now drink what you definitely couldnt before?

 

thanks

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I don't know the extent of it but 4 months out after tapering I drank 5 beers and was very ill for 4-6 weeks. It was probably worse than my original acute symptoms. They went away after running a peptide stack. I took BPC-157, P21, DSIP and some other stuff. A few days after starting this stack of peptides I started getting improvement. After a few weeks I was recovered from the set back.

 

I never attempted drinking again after this until recently. The most I had to drink was a few weeks ago I get pretty drunk. I was with a friend and I lost track of how many drinks I had but it was over 10. It was probably around 12-14 drinks.

 

I took a supplement called Alcohol Defense too to mitigate the hangover. It is a really helpful supplement but I still had a hangover but was okay about 12 hours after waking up. I had no issues related to benzo wd.

 

I also drank every day after this for a week straight but never drank more than 3-5 drinks. I stopped drinking alcohol about a week ago because I don't want to be an alcoholic. But I can drink if I want. I just need to be careful not to anymore because alcoholism is not something I want. In some ways it was better before I knew I could drink. My plan is to just do it once in a while. Alcohol Defense by Natrium Health really helps with hangovers too. Not sure how much it factors in but I don't drink without it now. I drank without it a few times too. I'm over the benzo stuff.

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perfect so you certainly couldnt drink before then, and you certainly can now. and it seems you can drink much more now and be fine than the amount that messed you up prior.

 

i took dihexa for my benzo withdrawal. got no real healing at all until i took that. nice to see someone else who knows what hes doing with things to help cure this shit.

 

i feel fine now. but i know 100% i couldnt drink before, like 1 drink seemed to take me back to acute withdrawal instantly, the worst anxiety ever, pacing, no sleep. absolute hell.

 

im cured since then and its been a LONG time. i dont even want to drink again to be honest. but i panicked recently when i saw someone say that once a small amount of alcohol throws you into withdrawal like that, you never recover your ability to drink. you can heal the withdrawal and feel fine, but you can never drink again and 1 drink will throw you back into the withdrawal again for the rest of your life.

 

obviously this got me panicking as i didnt want to be 5+ years from now, totally forgot about benzo withdrawal, have a pint and be back in hell.

 

but it seems from answers im getting like yours, that your ability to drink does return. and even people who got setbacks from alcohol at one point can now drink like a "normal" person again without any setbacks.

 

your feedback is hugely appreciated my friend

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Email address?

 

i think they banned me from PMing people on here ages ago. thatll be why i never replied.

 

post your email and ill email you if you like.

 

or post your facebook or something and ill message you

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I do think that we should avoid drinking as much as possible, especially in the first few years but I don't see alcohol harming the brain in moderation. In fact, I think it may heal us even more because my cognitive function has improved since I started drinking; and this is recognized days after drinking. It's almost like there is a "micro-kindling" effect, and the micro-damage that ensues, triggers the brain to jump start some healing mechanisms, to heal this benzo damage even more.

 

This is of course, not a scientific fact but something that I noticed. I do tend to let my imagination run wild at times. So, I do not think drinking should be used to heal from this or test to see how much you healed. I don't want to be responsible for someone getting a horrible alcohol set back, which is why I think this should not be attempted until at least 2 years, no matter how good you feel. And start small with one drink. For whatever reason, I just think if you mostly healed you will not be negatively effected by a alcohol no matter how long it has been since you quit benzos but it is not worth the risk early on. If you are 100% healed there is absolutely no reason to think you will be set back at all imo. The people who need to worry are people who still have obvious protracted symptoms. Just use your best judgement.

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[45...]
Alcohol isn't just GABAA PAM. It also acts upon glutamate receptors as antagonist and NAM, depending on the receptor. This probably accounts for why alcohol withrawal isn't as bad as benzo withdrawal, and why your congitive function improves (glutamate rebound?).
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I am so happy I found this thread!

 

I found ANY ALCOHOL was unbearable . One glass of wine, could cause me to feel unwell instantly for hours later, and sometimes throw up.

 

I would ALWAYS have a lovely glass of red or white whilst cooking and mulled wine at Christmas. Not drinking for almost a year has been soul destroying. The little things. The birthday toast. My partners birthday. It just isn't worth the aftermath illness.

 

I am still on benzo's and foolishly never realised the danger of the two.

 

Cooking with a glass of wine, never crossed my mind that I could of been causing damage to myself, as back then I only took it to sleep at night.

 

 

Now 12 months on I am desperate like you to know if I will ever be the 'old me' once I am tapered.

 

I want to come home from working 12 hours to my meal and a glass of wine.

 

I don't want to be this shell anymore. I have been naughty and had the odd glass throughout this year and it knocks me straight off my feet. As the alcohol wears off the panic attack kicks in, or wakes me 4-5am to an immense panic attack.

 

Like you I want to understand why. Before docs knew I had been self medicating, they were concerned I had CFS as alcohol makes patients poorly... and of course the chronic fatigue we suffer.

 

I wish I had known the dangers of these pills, before accepting them off a friend when my mom died.

 

I can just dream of a wine tasting meal one day I guess.

 

A J

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I was ok with the odd drink. At 1st I had insomnia, but then after a few months it was fine. Actually found it helpful for the mental symptoms. However in a setback from an AD at the moment which has put a spanner in the works, so having to leave it for a while. I like others refuse to let these drugs take any remnants of a normal life from me forever.
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