Alcohol during opiate withdrawal

[mc79]

Does anyone have a take on drinking alcohol during opiate withdrawal?

[Mikeinthesouth]

Yes and I would extrememly stay as far away from alcohol as I can as I don't have a few months to go on a binge. Each person is probably different so watch for responses and choose. Mike

[lostdreams]

When i first came off 'H' i thought drink would help make me feel better and calm the withdrawels...............i was totally wrong. It made me 100x worse. I would personally say "stay away fom alcohol". Not good feeling. I was sick more when i drank than i was when doing c/t. Not good feeling, honestly!

[worried878]

I drink and have learned to be careful with it...I would have a glass of wine at night during detox but i am not recommending it...excess is always a possibility for some and a trigger for many...i can not drink much as i have never had a tolerence to alcohol and it makes me feel awful the next day...just a few and i feel bad..I used to envy those who do not get hangovers but in a way i am glad as it keeps me from overdoing it...many can relapse into another addiction so it is something to do with caution...alcohol occupies receptors that we are trying to heal as well...nicotine does even more and i never knew that....minimal use for sure

[worried878]

oh...i weighed it out...considering i did not have a drinking problem..i felt it would be better for anxiety than the valium that i had at home...i was scared of the benzos after reading on here..i took pieces of valium in the day and had a glass of wine at night...it helped me sleep too...again....bucket of worms there

[Mikeinthesouth]

some can deal with alcohol some not I am one who cannot I was a drunk dopesick person when resorting to drinking away wds it don't work for me. Worried I would get hangovers but learned to get rid of them and the shakes you had to sleep with a bottle of vodka under the mattress so you can start again as soon as you come to. LOl true sad but true....

[sadinmichigan]

oh man...not the V word..i too can not drink all though i been  recently..i did try when i was first in w/ds but for me i found it made things worse..I started drinking again since my daughter has been gone and actually now i have to make a real effort to not drink..vodka is/was my doc too..i hear ya mike..

[CATUF]

I like what NA has to say on the topic: "Thinking of alcohol as different from other drugs has caused a great many addicts to relapse. Before we came to NA, many of us viewed alcohol separately, but we cannot afford to be confused about this. Alcohol is a drug. We are people with the disease of addiction who must abstain from all drugs in order to recover."

CATUF
1056

[Mikeinthesouth]

I hear you catuf I need to go to NA soon.

[broknbck]

I agree with "worried". A glass of wine at nite sometimes helped.

Now if you are a big drinker who always drinks till they are drunk , then of course this could be another problem. You know if you are a problem drinker.

I just rather the wine over a pill any day.

[avisg]

I don't drink , thats not saying I wont ever have a drink .For now I feel its best for me that I dont .

[bubbaganoosh]

I gave the stuff up 15yrs ago, i wouldnt swap one for another its easy to start drinking all the time again.

[duckandcover]

Well I did drink through withdrawals (and still do socially) but not until after the first 2 weeks or so.  It helped with sleep bu I was very careful not to drink more than 1 beer or one glass of wine.

I can not imagine the agony of a serious hangover during the first couple of weeks of CT.  I have to be honest though.  I'm considering the possibility that it may be actually adding to my anxiety.  Like has been said, it goes to the same receptors.  I think this may delay full recovery and stretch out PAWS.  Even if you don't have a problem with it.  That really didn't occure to me till just now while writing it but hmmmm... I may be on to something here.

[paul300]

I'm holding back for a while. I had a few beers on day 6 and spurred cravings with anxiety the next day.