how long do alcohol withdrawal symptoms last?

I am wanting to detox using Diazepam. I drink about 2 bottles wine per night. Any advice would be gratefully received.

I'm on day three and your post inspired me, I nearly caved in tonight.

Pj again. Nearly 2 years sober, no urge to drink at all even in vegas, nights out in London, work dos, birthdays etc. I had a sip of my sisters drink to see which was champagne and which was prosecco and 2 alcohol free beers in a restaurant and beer battered shrimp. woke up middle of night sweating and felt so hungover the next day. It was a tiny tiny sip not a gulp.

few weeks later had a tiny tiny sip of girlfriends wine as she thought it was off and the next day felt hungover again.

can this be real or is this in my mind? genuinely no need for a drink and don't think I've ever been bothered about drink but just got drunk with mates on holidays. Surely a tiny sip should not make me badly hungover the next day

I'm going into rehab for drinking and I have been drinking for decades over a dozen beer a day. I now have a fatty liver so I have to quit. I'm really nervous about the detox. Does anyone have experience in a love in rehab with doctors? I would love to hear some experiences. I'm going in a matter of days and scared. I'm 52 years old, and it's a 45 day program.

You are a very strong woman God bless you continue doing what you’re doing  Really it is  such an inspiring story.

Ive been in the grind many times. Im a heavy drinker of anywhere to a .750 to a liter a day.  (recently lost my job unrelated) so I usually do a liter a day now im not working which is all day drinking. I wake up and drink until I pass out and repeat. Before losing my job I only drank at night but the same amount just faster. 12 years of that, 12 years.

When I dont drink I have mild shakes, severe anxiety, agitation, disorentation and I can eat or drink anything so no water because i'll just throw it up. No sleep, and when I do I usually just pop awake and sweating with increased heart rate simply sitting still is literally a chore. Just laying there staring at the ceiling as time just ticks away.

Thats my withdrawl and usually day 1 and day 2 are the worst and I make a considerable leap from day 3 to day 4 and day 5 im good.  If any of you get/have any of the above symptoms that I've had keep reading.

As I write this I've decided to put my life back together (earlier today) and I'm in day 1. The two things I personally have done but only one I reccomend. Melatonin helps tremendeously. I woke up with everything I was telling you above and decided to quit I take 5-10mg and all those symptoms become at least manageable. It acts as a sleep aid as well so double bonus. I guess it kinda dumbed you down but its a much, much better feeling than feeling any of the symptoms above. 

The other one is going to the local detox place or the dreaded ween yourself off. I was in Costa Rica and had no way to get melatonin so I had to literally drink a shot every two hours for the first two days, then 1 shot every 4 hours. Then you stop all together. This requires a good deal of slef discipline because we alcoholics do like to drink. So having one, then its easier to have another then you'll get the infamous voice that says "I'll quit tomorrow" because you wont. Again not the recommended way for sure, but going cold turkey is hard as hell and can even kill you.

But again get melatonin I'm telling you. Best over the counter remedy ive found. Hope this helps

Pj again. 2 years and a month sober. Almost forgotten what anxiety is now. Phew. I can also drink caffeine and get tired now without getting anxiety so some hormones etc in my body must have stabilised over the past couple of years.

boy, that feeling of being spaced out, twitching palpitations, sweating, moodyness,mirror ability,im patience etc was hell.  I was in a bad way, waking up wet through and snapping t people.

it is strange that my doctor didn't really help and didn't know what was going on. Sadly when you're ill you realise the only person that really cares is yourself.

i was in a bad way but I have stuck to it and I have got better and im happy and successful at work. I drive everywhere and am always up on a Sunday feeling positive. There were some weird times when I'd have random thoughts that were weird and not really my own thoughts. I am now fine - phew!

i can see how people that perhaps aren't as strong will powered as me give into temptation and spend an ive battling demons. Please all realise that you can do it.

im a normal 30 year olds like now and stopped age 27 or 28. I still go out, albeit less, I still have holidays with mates and eventually believe it or not you get used to not drinking.

Great thread.  So I'm not day 6 of recovery after drinking 11 to 20oz of rum a night while working full time and raising a family.

Symptoms:  Fatigue, headaches for 1 day, fogginess, anxiety (but less than when I was drinking), restless sleep

Benefits:  clearer headed, hopeful, productive, better family man, saving money and time and saving my life

The setbacks of quitting are but a drop in the bucket from the symptoms of being a full blown alocholic.

What has helped me?:  Reading, understanding my affliction, wife's help, exercise, positive thinking.

I vowed to never have another drop as every single time I do it leads to another 6 months to multiple years of binge drinking.  The best advice I can give you all is tough it out AT ALL COSTS and never drink again as you'll revert back to your old ways which is about 99% guaranteed

Apologies, meant to say "I'm on day 6"

Hi. I'm on day 19 and have been using kava to help with the anxiety spits. I have a question. Does anyone else use anxiety meds during the first month? I kinda seem to be using it more than I no I should a few times, any way to get a small head change. So I'm going to quite that today, but I'm not having an "up" day so it should be fine. Just wondering, thanks

The severity of alcohol withdrawal symptoms can vary from small sleep disturbances to even life-threatening symptoms like hallucinations and instability. Withdrawal isn’t an easy task and I’m sure you are well aware of that. It can begin as early as two hours after the last drink, and would persist for weeks. The symptoms can worsen very quickly hence it is always advisable to undergo proper addiction counselling under the tutelage of a doctor. For heavy drinkers, it isn’t easy to quit drinking all of a sudden, hence time must be given for the body to understand the task at hand and work accordingly. It took around 12 hours for my brother for his withdrawal to begin and he had to go through a lot. But thankfully, he was able to come through it unscathed and is happily living with his wife and daughter right now.

I binged for a couple of months, and apparently that created a physical dependence because I'm on day 10 of not drinking and my head feels terrible. There's pressure and pain in my head, neck and ears. All other symptoms - shakes, nausea, insomnia, are gone, but the headache remains. Anyone else experiencing this?

Thanks for sharing. It helps to know that there are others out there who have struggled, and overcome. Although I have no desire to drink, I am feeling much worse at this point than I was two weeks ago, so I'm really hoping to see some relief soon.

Same here. I am 3 weeks in and still have a headache. It's nowhere near as bad as it was at first and it kind of comes and goes, but it's still pretty consistent. I've been a binge drinker for quite a few years. For a while after Uni I would drink every day, normally beer. This caused me to put on a lot of weight. Eventually I got sick of being so fat and worked on cutting down and started going to the gym. 4.5st lost later and my drinking was 'reduced' to weekly binges. Unfortunately going from drinking 8 beers a night to almost a whole bottle of rum once a week isn't much of an improvement. I managed to start cutting down again after a while and over the past year I drastically reduced my intake. I went 6 weeks without a drink until last month, when I had a few drinks out with work colleagues on a friday. Then I stupidly drank again on the sunday, and a lot more too. Had a pounding headache all week. Wednesday night I couldn't sleep, and by Thursday it was sheer hell. Shaking, sweating, insane levels of anxiety, racing thumping pulse. Thursday night my jaw was clenching and mind was racing with a powerful 'tingly' headache. I was so scared I was going to have a seizure I started drinking beer to try and get me through it. Went to the GP on the friday and although my BP was still elevated she didn't think it was bad enough to give me anything for it. I think she thought I just had a migraine. Anyway the headache was still bad that whole weekend. Started to feel a bit better on the tuesday and throughast week but now it's back again. I have seen a few posts around the internet and in this thread (have read the whole thing!) From others that have this too. I just hope it goes soon. Would be interested to hear when this stopped for others. PJ I want to thank you for your posts, I've experienced the same crippling anxiety and depersonalisation etc myself for years now. Anxiety was what drove me to drinking in the first place but I am convinced the alcohol has only made it much worse. After reading your story I'm hopeful I can recover at some point and kick this thing. I always needed alcohol to be able to function in social situations but your posts have made me think that I might be able to get through without it. From what I've read I can only expect the withdrawals to be worse in future now that I've had it once. I am resolved to quit before things get worse. And I am not putting myself through that again! Scariest few days of my life. Now if only this headache would get gone so I can properly focus on getting better...

Does it ever end......?....going through that now.......