Any doctors around? Is this level of drinking unsafe to go cold turkey from?

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Posting for traffic.

I'm really embarrassed to admit this. I've had a drink problem for a few years now. I think it's due to very severe childhood trauma I experienced. My brain is always in hyperarousal so I feel I 'need' a drink to calm it and obviously I like the fuzziness.

I usually keep somewhat of a 'handle' on it. Like no drinking before 8pm and no more than 60 units a week. Yes I realise 60 units a week will sound like a huge amount to most people and that I don't really have a handle on it, but I don't feel I can stop completely that terrifies me, so I try control it best I can.

I had some news about the perpetrator of the trauma 2 weeks ago and I've been drinking 20-30 units a day since then. I don't even get really drunk. I know this cannot continue. My eyes and skin are all red and dry, and as soon as the alcohol leaves my system I get sweaty, feel hot flashes like sunburn, headaches and get nauseated. I don't normally get this on my usual amount.

I'm aware I've done this to myself. I want to at least cut down to the 60 units I've been on for years.

I'm going to my support bubble household tonight.

I absolutely cannot go to my GP or anything about this. I don't feel I could do that. They know about my PTSD and I'm getting treatment starting tomorrow for that and have counselling already.

Is it safe to cut down from 20-30 units a day to 9 units immediately? Or does it risk DTs? Given I've only been drinking the higher amount for 2 weeks.

You really really need real medical help to detox, it’s not safe to do this alone!

OP this sounds like a really horrible situation for you but you absolutely must seek medical attention

What makes you feel like you can't go to your GP?

I know you don't want to but please see your GP, you have symptoms and you'll need help detoxing

www.uk-rehab.com/treatment-rehab/alcohol/detox-medication/

You need a medically supervised withdrawal. It's not fair to expect your support bubble to have to cope with a) you drunk all the time/dying of alcohol poisoning or b) you going into withdrawal and potentially dying or sustaining permanent brain damage in front of them.

See your GP. Contact the local Drug and Alcohol Service. You cannot stop or 'cut down' on drinking alone.

OP, I am coming on to reiterate that you must get medical help to come off this amount of alcohol, ideally you would do it in a residential setting but I realise that may not be possible.

Your GP is legally obliged to treat everything you say as confidential so he or she cannot tell anyone else about your drinking, but they can get you appropriate help. Please go and see your GP - the counsellor will also have to advise you of this.

Good luck - you have realised you have a problem, that is the first step. There are lots of support programmes but you really need medical support for the first part of this.

No medical professional will tell you this is safe to do alone.

It’s brilliant you’ve realised you have a problem and want to stop drinking. It needs to be safe though.

@MobLife I have DC. They are teen and almost teen, and I'm a single parent. I'm worried the GP would contact social services. The DC are clean and well fed with healthy food and go to school, the house is clean. I'm not a loud drinker I just sit in my room. I'm not going to lie to myself and say it doesn't have an influence on them at all or they don't notice though. I know I need to be a better mum for them. Their dad is also an alcoholic. I understand why the GP might contact the SS but I can't have that happen and I don't want it on my records either.

Just out of interest what do you drink? Aren't you worried about the amount of no ey to costs to drink that amount, good luck I think you've had good advice ,

Sorry, money

I worked in alcohol rehabilitation for a while and I want to echo what the others have said. I understand you fear the impact on your DC but seeing you extremely ill or, worse, dead, because of withdrawal will be much, much worse than answering some questions with SS.

Given the info you've provided it wouldn't be any more than that - (unfortunately) lots of children live with alcoholic parents, it's not a case that they're hauled off immediately unless there's a clear and sustained risk to their lives which, at their ages and given what you've said, there isn't. Not like being drunk with a newborn, for example.

Part of the illness that is alcoholism is shame and the urge to conceal, which is what you're doing here - you're trying to avoid the potential of pain (with SS involvement) by hiding it, just as alcohol helps create a buffer from the pain of your childhood. It makes sense, but it's the wrong choice. It's dangerous, it's selfish, and it is addiction talking - not sense.

Please seek advice and help to cut down. Do not put the responsiblity on other people to care for you in case of a medical emergency, or on your children to witness it.

OP, social services are interested in protective factors-you can evidence your parenting capacity by getting help for your alcohol difficulties and continuing to meet your children's needs. They're not going to swipe your children away it just doesn't work like that

However, if you collapse at home having tried to withdraw by yourself? Then it's a different story and that will ring some alarm bells

Please do get the help-social care will support you too

No experience on this and definitely not a doctor but if you won’t see your GP I’d maybe suggest cutting down more gradually just a couple of units less each day for maybe a week then a few less the next and so on until your back to a stable level. Don’t cut the units drastically!

Also, on a practical level, the level of withdrawal symptoms you're getting when the alcohol has left your system suggests you would be at risk if withdrawing without medical help.

No experience on this and definitely not a doctor

So why the fuck are you giving medical advice?

OP, I don't believe SS would take your children - my DMIL is a foster carer and children are really only removed from the home if they are being harmed. And at the moment, the system is overloaded so you will not be a priority. If you are accessing treatment, you will be supported and your children will also be supported.

I know you now have the fear and you fear your children will be taken from you, but GPs are there to support you and if you do not feel you can trust your GP, could you access another GP in the same clinic or somewhere else? I never know how this works as I don't live in the UK.

Please, for all of your sakes, OP, go to the GP.

What do you think ss will do if your gp makes a referral?

could you contact AA, or another self-help group.
good luck.

Most people I know are functioning alcoholics so I wouldn't worry too much about social services . I'm sure it's safer to have medical help but my Dad was a big drinker and towards the end of his life he was in and out of hospital . He obviously couldn't drink in that time and was always fine . None of the side effects you would expect . He unfortunately always went back to the drink and it got him in the end .. take care either way but please get help .

If you're reluctant to seek a medical detox (I totally understand that fear - I had SS involvement when I was an active alcoholic, the cause being C-PTSD), the safest thing to do is to taper.

Say you drink 12 glasses of wine per night. The next night, drink 11. The next night, 10 - you get my drift. Eventually, you'll get to zero.

DO NOT COLD TURKEY. Tapering takes discipline, but it keeps you out of the withdrawal danger zone (especially seizures).

I wish you luck, OP. I have a lot of experience with this, please PM me if you need anything.

You really need to contact a professional for help not here.

Ultimately, OP, every single reasonable person on here is going to say the same things: either they are a medical professional, in which case they will not tell you to cut down immediately (because they won’t give you advice over the internet), or they aren’t, in which case they will say “see your GP” (because they aren’t qualified to advise you). I’m in the second group.

What I will say is that, in your shoes, I would probably start tapering off the amounts. I certainly wouldn’t be targeting 60 units a week and would be trying to get some formal help, whether from AA, a counsellor or a doctor, to quit completely.

AA isnt going to help just yet. You do need medical help I'm afraid. It's scary I know, but please do it - for you and your children

OP you absolutely should not detox from that level of alcohol on your own. You need medical help

Your Gp wont judge you, as a GP they see everything. Im going to be honest and say theres a possibility they will refer you to SS, however the alternative is you detoxing on your own and the consequences of that will be much worse on your DC. The fact you are going to your GP, and getting professional help is a good thing in SS eyes. They arent there to take away DC who are well cared for, they are there to facilitate you caring for your own dc, and getting medical help is the most important thing for that.

@bigchris It normally 'only' costs about £25 a week. Cheap wine. But yes the past 2 weeks it has cost more and it's been vodka.

I work and usually just drink at night, but I've been signed off sick the past two weeks since getting the news about the perpetrator.

Please be brave and speak to your GP

Choose to drink less tonight than usual but not drastically.

SS will not take your DC away when you are actively seeking help and they are well cared for.