When you’re drinking lot, sometimes you’ll have a moment where it just hits you: I need to stop drinking.
This thought might be in the back of your mind every single time you pour a drink.
That’s pretty normal, for people who drink a lot, especially when they’ve started to notice negative impacts on their lives, their relationships, their careers, and how they feel physically.
It can take time for alcohol to really cause all of it’s damage, it’s usually something that builds slowly over time, which can make it much harder to notice the negative impacts of alcohol.
When the negatives of alcohol start to outweigh the positives, you might know it’s time to stop, and you might be ready to stop, but there’s one more nagging question, is it even safe to stop suddenly?
Is It Dangerous To Stop Drinking Cold Turkey?
Many of us have heard horror stories about heavy alcohol users who stop drinking and have brutal withdrawal symptoms, sometimes even requiring hospitalization.
Those stories can scare people away from stopping drinking, because it makes it feel a lot more difficult than it might be.
But to be totally honest, sometimes it is really difficult! It can make you feel physically ill to stop drinking cold turkey if you’re a heavy alcohol who drinks a lot everyday.
What is a high functioning alcoholic? It’s someone who might not experience all of the same detrimental effects of drinking, on the surface, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t suffering, or at risk.
You Might Need Help To Stop Drinking
Is it possible to stop drinking on your own?
But it’s still something that’s important to do. The fact that you get these awful withdrawals when you don’t drink for half a day or a day, is kind of proof of how much of a toll alcohol is taking on your body, and the harm it’s doing.
If you’re a heavy drinking, it’s a good idea to just make a quick trip to the doctor’s to tell them how much you drink, and that you plan on stopping suddenly, and to make sure that you’re within the range where this will be safe to do.
If you’re someone who binge drinks on weekends and doesn’t drink much other than that, your body is already used to going days at a time without alcohol. But if you’re drinking a lot everyday, and you feel physically terrible if you don’t drink for a day, then just a quick and easy visit to the doctor’s office is a good idea, just to be 100% safe.
