Am i experiencing alchol withdrawal symptons

[Mrbig118]

Hi i'm a 24 yr old male. I have allways been a big drinker and at times  i have drunk everyday for month's on end. one year ago while i was backpacking around australia for a year and a half i drank loads pretty much everyday. Now i'm living in taiwan teaching english ive been here a year and a half and have been drinking pretty much everyday but just a few beers on the weekday ( amount vary's everyday) usually until i'm just tipsy and weekend i drink alot normally all day saturday and a few on sunday. After a very big 3 day binge on the weekend two weeks ago now i have been having very bad panic attacks ever since. For the last two weeks i havent drunk and have been taking alprazolam for my panic attacks which was prescribed for me. When ever i havent had my pills i get severe panic attacks. The first week of not drinking i went to A and E ( E and R) three times because of severe panic attacks. The first time was on the monday afternoon straight after the heavy binge and i was tachicardic. I have seen a cardiac specialist and had an EKG which as been fine after ive been given a sedative. Could this be alchol withdrawal. I am seeing a phycartrist doctor here and told her a soft version of my concerns i wasnt totaly honest about how much i drunk.

[Mrbig118]

I've only seen the physcartrist doctor once to get more Xanax because i lost the pills the cardiac unit doctor gave me at the hospital. Its hard over here because the doctors here in taiwan speak very little english and i cant speak chinese. They think it was just panic attacks but I didnt tell them the full extent of my drinking and now i have been not drinking for two weeks but feel like ****. If it is Alchol withdrawal is Xanax enough to get me through withdrawal and should my anxiety go away soon. I'm taking two 0.5 mg Xanax pills a day but try to only take them when i'm really anxious (which as been everday the last two weeks) as i know there addictive.

[Mrbig118]

From when i was 18 yrs old to 22 i was a cocaine and crack user well at least every weekend, but just stopped taking that no problems but during that time i used to drink loads the drugs just allowed me to drink more and for longer, at least ten pints of beer and some whisky on the weekends. plus a few random nights every week i would drink over ten pints of beer and some all day drinking sessons in the summer. but being from england in my culture thats just seen as normal. In australia while traveling i used to at least drink one 5 ltr box of 12/13% wine and a few bottles of beer to myself every weekend and lots of times on weekdays. Now here ive calmed down my drinking but its been more frequent lower amounts on the weekdays just 3 or 4 475ml cans upto 12 375mls cans and a  couple of 765ml beer bottles on the rare occasion. but everyday before i used to allways try and have a few days off a week. On the weekends i loose track of how much i drink i just drink until i pass out. Has my drinking still been excessive i don't know in my home country its normal to go out and every weekend and get completly drunk.

[ibizan]

it is good of you to admit here that ur not being honest with the healthcare providers ur in contact with.The WORST drugs u can take are the ones u r...the benzodiazepines...they are habit forming....and combining them with alcohol is a prescription for major disaster.You really need to consider getting medically detoxed in a hospital based program for alcoholism..for if u don't this will continue and may eventually lead to more severe problems and/or eventual death!

[boogieman]

hi. i'm a little confused, are you still drinking now or have you been abstinent for the past two weeks through right now? if it's been 2 weeks you are probably through the alcohol withdrawal but now you also have a potential issue with alprazolam. ibizan's warnings are no joke, alprazolam is probably the single most addictive benzodiazepine out there and mixing it with alcohol will cause respiratory arrest. from my experience, you are at high risk of cross-addiction from the alcohol to the alprazolam, and ibizan's suggestion of a medically supervised detox is probably a good idea. both alcohol and benzo withdrawal can have life threatening complications such as seizures and cardiac arrest, not to mention the possibility of things like acute psychosis. do you want to stop and stay stopped? best wishes,   gm

[Mrbig118]

Thankyou for your responce, yes ive been abstinent for two weeks today, I haven't drank on the alprazolam. I have anouther appointment tommorrow with the physcarist doctor after work shall i tell her i think it might be alchol withdrawal. Do you think it was alchol withdrawal or could it just be panic attacks! on saturday i didnt have any pills or alcohol i just excerised and felt ok. But today i felt very anxious and had a craving for beer so had some alprazolam which calmed me down.

[ibizan]

Google PAWS...post acute withdrawal syndrome in alcoholics and u may find some answers to the problems u r experiencing post cessation of drinking!boogie does know what he is talking about here!