00:00:00
hey Chris Scott here in this video we're
00:00:02
gonna talk about the stages of alcohol
00:00:05
withdrawal so if you or a loved one is
00:00:08
going through alcohol withdrawal or
00:00:11
you're trying to make sense of the
00:00:13
symptoms then this video will try to
00:00:15
break that down for you so you'll have a
00:00:18
better understanding of what's actually
00:00:19
going on there are three timelines for
00:00:22
withdrawal and it depends on whether
00:00:24
you're experiencing mild moderate or
00:00:27
severe withdrawal
00:00:28
most people who quit drinking tend to
00:00:30
experience withdrawal symptoms within 24
00:00:33
hours and you can see that chart on the
00:00:35
right we will begin to make sense of
00:00:38
that chart so a little bit complicated
00:00:39
but by the time we're through with this
00:00:41
short presentation it will make more
00:00:43
sense so I want to mention a few things
00:00:46
before we get started first we're all
00:00:48
biochemically different some people have
00:00:51
more withdrawal with relatively less
00:00:53
drinking some people can drink a lot for
00:00:56
a long time and not experience
00:00:57
withdrawal symptoms until years down the
00:00:59
road so that is important not everyone
00:01:02
has the same symptoms of withdrawal or
00:01:04
the same time lines two people might be
00:01:07
moderately addicted to alcohol and yet
00:01:09
they might have very different alcohol
00:01:11
withdrawal timelines so all of this
00:01:13
information is somewhat standardized or
00:01:16
averaged but if you have severe
00:01:18
dependence you can at least know what to
00:01:20
expect if you try to quit drinking and
00:01:22
if you're if you're instead in a mild
00:01:25
state of dependence you'll know what
00:01:27
generally to expect for mild withdrawal
00:01:29
and so on for moderate alcohol
00:01:31
withdrawal as well so first we'll talk
00:01:34
about the mild alcohol withdrawal
00:01:37
timeline so the symptoms of mild alcohol
00:01:40
withdrawal generally peak and go away
00:01:42
within 24 hours these symptoms tend to
00:01:45
feel like exacerbated and extended
00:01:47
hangover symptoms so worse than your
00:01:49
average hangover you might feel unease
00:01:51
or nausea you might have some insomnia
00:01:54
you might find your hand shaking when I
00:01:56
used to quit drinking back in college or
00:01:58
in the few years after college when I
00:02:01
was definitely addicted but my
00:02:03
withdrawal symptoms were mild I would
00:02:05
have this tremor in my left hand
00:02:06
my parents actually noticed it and asked
00:02:08
me about it sometimes I would have mild
00:02:11
sweating as well so I'd always have this
00:02:13
like cold sweat on my forehead and of
00:02:15
course I'd feel very fatigued you know
00:02:17
that's normal and feeling bummed out
00:02:20
feeling mildly depressed is also normal
00:02:23
for a mild alcohol withdrawal and so
00:02:25
within there's first few years in which
00:02:27
I was dependent on alcohol
00:02:29
you know I'd crossed that invisible line
00:02:31
in which my I'd become hooked and my
00:02:34
body and my brain had become dependent
00:02:36
on alcohol to function normally I could
00:02:39
get through the worst of it in 24 hours
00:02:42
and get it fresh start if I wanted to I
00:02:44
didn't realize that this timeline would
00:02:46
actually morph into the moderate alcohol
00:02:49
withdrawal timeline which we'll discuss
00:02:51
next because I didn't quit drinking I
00:02:54
wish I had quit drinking while I was
00:02:55
ahead of the game and only had 24 hours
00:02:57
or so to really suffer so for moderate
00:03:01
alcohol withdrawal the symptoms
00:03:02
generally peak and go away within 48
00:03:06
hours
00:03:06
and so these symptoms tend to be a bit
00:03:09
more disturbing than mild alcohol
00:03:10
withdrawal the biggest one being
00:03:12
increased blood pressure so you might
00:03:14
notice that your heart rate is a little
00:03:15
bit higher than you're used to you could
00:03:18
be sweating more I noticed that I
00:03:20
definitely started to sweat more as I
00:03:22
was about 5 to 6 years into my addiction
00:03:25
I was having moderate alcohol withdrawal
00:03:27
I was more anxious than you know your
00:03:30
average hangover sufferer tends to say
00:03:32
oh I feel horrible I'm freaking out they
00:03:34
don't really understand what it's like
00:03:36
to have actual moderate alcohol
00:03:37
withdrawal in which that anxiety is
00:03:40
actually more like a sense of impending
00:03:42
doom and so the mood swings are worse
00:03:45
you're you might even have
00:03:47
hypersensitive reflex responses and when
00:03:50
I was in my mid-20s I would after a
00:03:54
particularly bad bender for two or three
00:03:58
days afterwards I would feel like if I
00:04:00
heard a loud sound or if someone said my
00:04:02
name I would kind of it was almost like
00:04:04
my reflex response was was painful or
00:04:08
joint and it was a very disturbing I
00:04:11
didn't know what was going on but we
00:04:13
will in this presentation discuss the
00:04:15
root causes of why these things happen
00:04:17
so last but not least the
00:04:20
severe alcohol withdrawal timeline is
00:04:23
obviously a bit more intense symptoms
00:04:25
peak around seven to two hours yet
00:04:28
quitting can produce symptoms only a few
00:04:30
hours after the last drink these
00:04:32
symptoms are more severe that can
00:04:34
include a fever
00:04:35
uncontrollable negative thoughts
00:04:37
hallucinations full-body seizures which
00:04:41
usually happen within 24 to 48 hours of
00:04:44
the last drink and of course delirium
00:04:46
tremens which is confusion
00:04:48
hallucinations and you know a general
00:04:51
sense of going crazy which can last up
00:04:54
to a week if it's untreated actually can
00:04:57
last over a week I've heard stories of
00:04:59
people going through DTS for almost two
00:05:02
weeks and so if you have severe
00:05:05
withdrawal it's necessary to get
00:05:06
treatment which we will touch on in a
00:05:09
second but I reach severe alcohol
00:05:12
withdrawal about eight to nine years
00:05:15
after I had started drinking and I had
00:05:18
always been able to take breaks
00:05:20
throughout my mild and moderate
00:05:23
dependence phases I was able to take a
00:05:25
week or two off I could just get through
00:05:27
the worst of their withdrawals but by
00:05:29
the time I became severely addicted to
00:05:31
alcohol it was like I just couldn't stop
00:05:34
if I tried to stop I would get these
00:05:35
horrific symptoms you know it felt like
00:05:38
I had someone tapping on my arm in the
00:05:41
middle of the night
00:05:42
that's a tactile hallucination I heard
00:05:44
people calling my name in her and
00:05:47
horrifying voices and I knew that no one
00:05:51
was there and I even had visual
00:05:54
hallucinations I saw shadows jumping
00:05:56
around in my in my bathroom and this
00:05:58
just terrified me there was one night
00:06:00
when I woke up in a cold sweat and a
00:06:02
complete panic having hallucinations at
00:06:04
about 4:00 in the morning I had to get
00:06:06
up in two hours for work and I put an
00:06:10
end to the madness by drinking alcohol I
00:06:12
had I'd actually run out of vodka in my
00:06:16
freezer and the only thing I had left
00:06:17
was bitters I had a small bottle of
00:06:20
bitters and I chugged it and I got some
00:06:22
brief relief and I actually went
00:06:25
downstairs I lived in a fancy apartment
00:06:27
I worked in finance and we had this gym
00:06:29
that was open 24/7 and I went down there
00:06:33
and I don't recommend during this by the
00:06:35
way I should have sought help
00:06:36
immediately but I went onto the
00:06:39
elliptical which had a blood pressure a
00:06:42
heart rate monitor on it so I grabbed
00:06:44
the the bars for this elliptical just to
00:06:47
see what my heart rate was and my heart
00:06:49
rate was over 200 beats per minute which
00:06:52
is insane I had I was not doing anything
00:06:54
except laying in my bed feeling horrible
00:06:57
and I mean to this day if I do a really
00:06:59
hard workout it's hard for me to get my
00:07:01
heart rate up to 200 beats per minute so
00:07:04
that was very dangerous you know no
00:07:06
wonder I was having hallucinations at
00:07:08
this point I was drinking somewhere
00:07:10
between a fifth of vodka to a handle of
00:07:13
vodka every day and that period only
00:07:15
lasted a few months thank God because it
00:07:17
wasn't sustainable I'm sure I would have
00:07:19
I would have ended up dead if I had kept
00:07:21
that up but this was I didn't know it
00:07:23
but I was I was about to get it right
00:07:26
and detox and then discover all of the
00:07:29
things that I discussed discuss on my
00:07:31
site fit - for cover EECOM so I want to
00:07:34
give a warning for severe withdrawal
00:07:36
severe withdrawal as I've mentioned can
00:07:39
be fatal so if you have those symptoms
00:07:42
make sure you get to a doctor the doctor
00:07:45
will probably prescribe a benzodiazepine
00:07:47
or another drug such as a barbiturate
00:07:49
which will calm down your hyperactive
00:07:52
brain prevent seizures and help you
00:07:54
restore normal blood pressure so you
00:07:56
might be required to detox under medical
00:07:59
supervision it can be expensive but it's
00:08:02
worth it because your life is in danger
00:08:05
you don't want to mess around with
00:08:07
severe alcohol withdrawal trust me and
00:08:09
after you go through that and your
00:08:11
system is somewhat stabilized from the
00:08:14
acute withdrawal you can then return and
00:08:16
watch some of my other videos or use
00:08:18
some free info at my website and you'll
00:08:21
find it to be very useful at that point
00:08:23
but I'm not a doctor I don't play one on
00:08:25
the internet I cannot treat severe
00:08:27
withdrawal I've been there I have
00:08:28
compassion for you if that's what you're
00:08:30
going through but you don't want to mess
00:08:32
around with that so now hopefully you
00:08:35
can make a bit more sense of this chart
00:08:36
which I showed in the beginning and as
00:08:38
you'll see symptom intensity is on the
00:08:41
y-axis number of days is on the x-axis
00:08:44
so this goes up to two weeks
00:08:46
and the red area there is really for
00:08:49
severe withdrawal so if you're having
00:08:50
severe withdrawal you're most likely to
00:08:53
have seizures which can be very
00:08:55
dangerous within the first day to day
00:08:58
and a half and after that as you can see
00:09:00
if you have severe withdrawal you can
00:09:02
end up with major withdrawals or DTS
00:09:04
which whose symptoms intensity can get
00:09:08
very bad and be very miserable for a
00:09:10
while as you can see it Peaks within the
00:09:13
first week but it can it's very
00:09:16
uncomfortable for a while if left
00:09:19
untreated and if you have mild alcohol
00:09:21
withdrawal then you feel pretty bad for
00:09:23
one to two days and then it tapers down
00:09:25
over time so those are the three
00:09:27
timelines and those are the stages of
00:09:29
alcohol withdrawal so something I want
00:09:32
to mention is and this wasn't told me
00:09:35
but why does this happen you know what's
00:09:37
the root cause of alcohol withdrawal and
00:09:39
the fact is alcohol is a depressant that
00:09:42
mimics gaba which is our brains primary
00:09:44
common neurotransmitter I have a friend
00:09:47
who likes to call it the brains natural
00:09:49
valium that's what gaba is at the same
00:09:52
time alcohol suppresses glutamate which
00:09:55
is the brains primary excitatory
00:09:57
neurotransmitter glutamate increases
00:10:00
electrical activity in the brain so you
00:10:03
can see in that picture on the right
00:10:05
acute alcohol intoxication because it's
00:10:08
an increase in gaba activity and a
00:10:10
decrease in glutamate activity and
00:10:12
alcohol withdrawal involves the opposite
00:10:15
so you can really think of gaba and
00:10:17
glutamate as existing like on opposite
00:10:20
sides of a seesaw or if you stimulate
00:10:22
gaba your suppressant glutamate and if
00:10:25
you increase glutamate activity you're
00:10:27
reducing gaba activity so the problem is
00:10:30
that if you're dependent on alcohol your
00:10:33
brain has adapted to the presence of
00:10:35
alcohol what does that mean that means
00:10:37
that in its baseline state it has
00:10:40
decreased its natural gaba activity and
00:10:42
increased its glutamate activity so that
00:10:46
is not a good thing what you end up when
00:10:49
when you quit you end up with the
00:10:51
perfect storm which is called the
00:10:53
glutamate rebound effect this occurs in
00:10:56
the midst of GABA deficiency
00:10:58
so you feel horrible you're you have
00:11:00
electrical activity going crazy in your
00:11:02
brain and you don't have enough of the
00:11:04
calming neurotransmitter to put a damper
00:11:06
on that electrical activity and so this
00:11:09
happens to the extent of the severity of
00:11:11
your addiction to alcohol which does
00:11:14
correlate with the amount you've drank
00:11:17
and the length of time that you have
00:11:19
drank alcohol for another question that
00:11:22
I often get from my private clients and
00:11:24
from visitors to my website is why do
00:11:27
these withdrawal episodes get worse over
00:11:29
time
00:11:30
you know it's generally true that a
00:11:32
person who suffers from withdrawal from
00:11:34
alcohol and keeps drinking is likely to
00:11:37
progress from each from one timeline to
00:11:39
the next so that was true for me when I
00:11:42
was in college and a few years after
00:11:43
college I had mild withdrawal symptoms
00:11:46
and then that turned into me drinking a
00:11:49
bit more and then I had moderate
00:11:50
withdrawal symptoms and then I drank
00:11:52
even more to keep there was at bay and I
00:11:55
ended up with severe alcohol withdrawal
00:11:58
symptoms so the answer is that the
00:12:00
brain's long-term compensatory
00:12:02
manipulation of gaba and glutamate has
00:12:05
long-term consequences so if you look at
00:12:07
that chart on the right you see the
00:12:10
severity of withdrawal on the y-axis and
00:12:12
really time on the x-axis and so this
00:12:16
goes through a progression of binges or
00:12:19
intoxication and withdrawal episodes and
00:12:21
you can see that each time generally you
00:12:24
go through a binge and then withdrawal
00:12:26
you're the severity of the symptoms
00:12:28
increase and that's because your brain
00:12:31
the your brain's manipulation of gaba
00:12:34
and glutamate is exacerbated as you keep
00:12:37
doing this over time so they actually
00:12:39
had a study in monkeys in which they
00:12:42
showed that monkeys who were made to be
00:12:45
dependent on alcohol over time actually
00:12:48
suffered worse withdrawal episodes later
00:12:51
even when they were given less alcohol
00:12:53
and so that's pretty interesting that's
00:12:56
proof that kindling does exist now once
00:12:58
again people are biochemically unique
00:13:00
I've had clients who do not struggle
00:13:02
with kindling who don't get worse with
00:13:05
alcohol withdrawal symptoms over time or
00:13:07
across episodes but most people do and I
00:13:10
certainly did
00:13:11
so another question is why do I still
00:13:14
feel so bad after I'm done with these
00:13:16
timelines you know maybe you've made it
00:13:19
through moderate alcohol withdrawal and
00:13:21
it's two weeks later and they're still
00:13:23
feeling pretty crummy so the answer is
00:13:25
that you're going through something
00:13:27
called post acute withdrawal syndrome or
00:13:29
pause and that's discomfort that really
00:13:32
results from alcohols toxic effects and
00:13:35
the deterioration of your brain
00:13:38
chemistry caused by alcohol so this
00:13:41
discomfort can last for weeks months or
00:13:44
even for years depending on the severity
00:13:46
of your drinking if the underlying
00:13:49
biochemical imbalances are not addressed
00:13:51
and so what are the symptoms of post
00:13:54
acute withdrawal well alcohol cravings
00:13:56
is one of the biggest ones anxiety
00:13:59
depression and insomnia so these are the
00:14:02
big symptoms of post acute withdrawal
00:14:04
they're not as intense as the worst of
00:14:07
acute withdrawal but they are still very
00:14:09
bothersome and so the question is what
00:14:12
can I do to shorten post acute
00:14:14
withdrawal if you can quit while you're
00:14:16
ahead as I wish I'd done and implement
00:14:19
these strategies then you're going to be
00:14:20
optimized in no time you know and so
00:14:22
here are some things you can do
00:14:23
nutritional supplementation using
00:14:26
vitamins minerals amino acids fatty
00:14:28
acids herbs you know fixing your diet
00:14:31
can help as well nutrition is a huge
00:14:34
ignored pillar for addiction recovery
00:14:36
and it's really the key to feeling
00:14:39
better during post acute withdrawal you
00:14:41
know you'd think that the lesson we
00:14:43
would take naturally from alcohol
00:14:45
addiction is that what we put in our
00:14:47
body matters and if we're bombarding our
00:14:49
system with with toxin with with a
00:14:51
poison then we should take take note
00:14:54
that you know that can make us feel that
00:14:56
bad well then on the flipside really
00:14:59
optimizing our nutrition can make us
00:15:01
feel amazing and I'm living proof that
00:15:03
that's that that's true adequate rest
00:15:05
and sleep is really important and so
00:15:07
alcohol a lot of people think that
00:15:10
alcohol helps them sleep or increases
00:15:12
their sleep quality nothing could be
00:15:14
further from the truth there's a big
00:15:15
difference between alcohol induced
00:15:18
unconsciousness which is not really
00:15:20
sleep and serious good REMS
00:15:23
which you will get once you quit
00:15:25
drinking you might have to use some
00:15:27
herbs passionflower l-theanine is an
00:15:30
amino acid CBD oil is really good for
00:15:33
sleep as well I've been using that since
00:15:35
I discovered it and I've slept even
00:15:37
better than I did before you know and
00:15:39
I'm in my fifth year alcohol free lots
00:15:42
of lots of emphasis should be put on
00:15:44
sleep social support is also very
00:15:47
important and can help to lessen
00:15:49
post-acute withdrawal you know I have a
00:15:51
lot of people who like to think of
00:15:54
alcohol addiction in terms of
00:15:55
biochemistry and that's great but we are
00:15:58
social we are social creatures and if
00:16:01
you want to think about social support
00:16:03
biochemically then you could say that
00:16:05
most drinkers most very heavy drinkers
00:16:07
who confine themselves and who you know
00:16:10
live with their alcohol instead of with
00:16:12
real people in their moments of free
00:16:15
time don't have enough oxytocin in their
00:16:17
brain so you're actually fixing and
00:16:19
reversing an oxytocin deficiency and
00:16:22
probably an endorphin and dopamine
00:16:23
deficiency by getting social support
00:16:26
spending time with people after you quit
00:16:28
drinking exercise is another awesome way
00:16:31
to shorten post-acute withdrawal most
00:16:33
people who are addicted to alcohol have
00:16:35
EDS or endorphin deficiency syndrome
00:16:38
exercise will fix that you know in
00:16:41
conjunction with supplements such as DL
00:16:43
PA which provides precursors for
00:16:44
endorphins but exercise also rewires the
00:16:48
brain and facilitates neuroplasticity
00:16:49
which is our brains amazing ability to
00:16:52
rewire itself another strategy that is
00:16:55
awesome after you you know make it
00:16:57
through your particular timeline is to
00:17:00
start building new neural pathways so
00:17:02
what I mean is just make other
00:17:04
activities that are actually good for
00:17:06
you habits I like to say I got Kross
00:17:09
addicted to exercise after I quit
00:17:10
drinking and that was one of the best
00:17:12
things I ever did it's not just that I
00:17:14
got Kross addicted to cooking myself
00:17:17
good meals to making sure I wrote down
00:17:21
lists of things I wanted to do in life
00:17:23
that would actually be fulfilling trying
00:17:25
to help other people I actually became a
00:17:27
personal trainer after I quit drinking
00:17:30
and I was shocked at how much more
00:17:32
fulfilled I felt just dealing with
00:17:33
people on an everyday basis and
00:17:36
introvert so you know building new
00:17:38
neural pathways is really important to
00:17:40
make the alcohol neural pathway dissolve
00:17:43
and that's what's going to happen that's
00:17:44
what's really going to put an end to any
00:17:46
post acute withdrawal related issues
00:17:48
that you have but all of these
00:17:50
strategies in conjunction are important
00:17:52
so you know as I said I wanted to keep
00:17:55
this video fairly short but if you do if
00:18:00
you have found this useful please share
00:18:02
it with someone who you know who might
00:18:05
need it you know perhaps you're the
00:18:06
person who needs it at one point in time
00:18:08
I needed this video and it wasn't out
00:18:11
there so that's why I decided to make it
00:18:13
today but you know I hope that you've
00:18:16
taken something valuable from it and if
00:18:18
you did like it please give me a thumbs
00:18:20
up and subscribe to stay posted for more
00:18:23
I will have a lot more videos out very
00:18:25
soon I love doing this so best of luck
00:18:27
to you and thanks for watching
