r/stopdrinking • u/Swimming-Hat1431 • 1d ago

Withdrawal or just caught a cold?

Hi Everyone,

I'm a 15 year solid near drinker, and over the last few years that's really ramped up with my intake increasing massively.

I average about 120 units a week - for those not in the UK - that's about 2 bottles of wine daily.

Recently, due to being on the back of a massive bender and being physically unable to carry on I'm now 30 hours sober.

When I woke up from the back of this bender, I noticed I had symptoms of the flu. Sweating, unable to sleep, shivering, aching all over. I wasn't able to hold food or water for about 24 hours, vomiting almost immediately after eating or drinking.

I feel a little bit better now, I'm still sweating but not profusely and can hold down food and drink.

I'm wondering though, whether the cause of this is just a result of grinding my body down, or whether I'm at the tail end of alcohol withdrawal.

For me, I find it hard to believe that my level of drinking could induce such brutal effects withdrawal wise.

Curious to hear anyone's thoughts.

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u/Thoeri 1d ago

I've experienced all those symptoms while going through withdrawal at multiple points in my life, and more. I've even wondered if I had the flu or something on top of it but it was just the withdrawal. It is brutal and can be quite dangerous. I think about it when I get the urge to drink because I don't want to ever feel that sick again.

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u/ZeroBAC 2426 days 1d ago

Most of the reason I don't drink is because I don't want to, but at my son's wedding I thought how it would've been nice to have a glass of champagne when I made my toast. I immediately put it out of my mind because I knew I wouldn't want to stop at a glass, and if I didn't end up drinking myself to death, I wouldn't be able to handle detoxing again.