- Hey everybody, happy Thursday.
When it's Thursday here at KatiMorton.com,
what does that mean?
It means that I'm answering your question,
and your question, then your questions,
and everybody's question, from my Monday video.
And also, on KatiMorton.com, under videos
and Q&A for videos, or Kati's videos, Q&A for videos.
So, I have a really cool question this time.
And I had something all geared up like a media question,
'cause I also on Thursdays, address things in the media,
but, your guy's questions are better.
Sorry, media person.
But anyway, so I have a really good question today,
about recovering from alcoholism.
And I know I have not talked about this much in the past,
I haven't talked about it how best to manage it,
because personally,
I don't have a lot of experience with it,
I didn't do much training in it,
other than the bare minimum.
And I didn't work at any treatment centers, and so,
I have reached out to someone who'll be doing a collab soon,
hey, stay tuned, for someone who knows more about it,
and can offer up some more tips, tricks
and ways to overcome it.
But, let's talk about it right now, a little bit.
So, the question says,
"Hey Kati, I'm trying to quit drinking after being a
"very heavy drinker. Mainly, whiskey, for a few years.
"I used to self harm, and I'm trying to quit self-harm.
"And in trying to quit self half,
"I started drinking instead.
"And it gradually got worse, without me taking notice.
"As a I was so focused on stopping the self-harm.
"Due to the withdrawal of alcohol,
"I get bad shakes, sickness, headaches,
"and sometimes I feel like my heart is racing so bad,
"I can barely breathe.
"And I then end up feeling like, it's not even worth it,
"and I start drinking again, and so the cycle continues.
"I used to go to AA meetings, but they made me feel worse.
"I feel like if everyone has managed to stop,
"why can't I? Most of my family drinks alcohol,
"so it's been a part of my life,
"But it's not gotten to the stage where
"it's putting my life at risk.
"And I'm 18, and I live in Scotland,
"so it's legal for me to buy it.
"I really struggle to stop, because it's so accessible.
"How can I break the cycle? Is there anyway to ease the
"withdrawal, or am I just gonna have to push through,
"until the symptoms pass."
Now, I really wanna talk about this for a couple of reasons,
the first being, that we're teetering and tottering,
with two unhealthy coping skills.
Self-harm, and alcoholism.
And like I talked about before,
with people who struggle with eating disorders and
self-harm, who would do really well in one capacity,
like, "Okay, the self-harm is getting better."
And we're like, "Yay."
But the eating disorder is, is like enraged and crazy,
and make our life really hard.
And it'll go back and forth, and back and forth,
because what we're really doing,
is trading coping skills.
We're like, "Okay, well I won't use this one right now,
"but I'll use a lot, because that'll make me feel
"a little better, I want to feel these feelings,
"or deal with the situations,
"or whatever's going on with me.
"I can numb out, using this unhealthy coping skill."
"I'm going to swap them back and forth."
And we can do that for a really long time,
without even recognizing it's happening.
And so, that is definitely what's happening
in that question.
That we're just trading off and on,
instead of trying to replace those unhealthy coping skills,
with healthy ones.
Now, I have a free self-harm workbook on my website,
and if any of you have tried to sign up,
and haven't gotten it, or had any troubles,
let me know below, I'll fix all yours problems.
Well, I'll do my best, okay.
But, there's this self-harm workbook,
and I know AA didn't work for you,
but there therapy and other things
that can help out with alcoholism.
So that was the one reason I wanted to talk about it.
And the second, is that withdrawal from alcoholism
is very dangerous.
I'm gonna say that again so you hear me.
Withdrawal from alcoholism is very dangerous.
It can be life threatening.
People could have delirium tremens.
I don't know if you really know what those are,
but I'm gonna you, I'm reading from WebMD right now,
because, I'm on my DSM, it's like right here,
holding up my phone.
But, I want you to know that it's very serious,
and that there are detox houses.
I know of different parts of the world,
let me know if you have an experience with this,
and you know what people are supposed to do, but hospitals.
Take yourself to the hospital.
And detox safely.
Because, delirium tremens, these,
it can make our heart race like crazy,
like she's experiencing.
And so, it's important to know that those things can be
really dangerous, and needs to be monitored by a doctor,
and there's detox places that you stay in for like
three to, I think, five days in the states,
that are covered by insurance,
that they make sure you do it properly,
from all sorts of drugs, alcohol, things like that,
because it can be really difficult.
And so it says, that,
where is it, here it is.
That alcohol withdrawal is a life threatening condition,
can occur in people who have been drinking heavily,
for weeks, months or years.
And either stop, or significantly reduce their
alcohol consumption quickly.
So boom, all of a sudden we're like,
"I'm not drinking anymore."
Which is an awesome decision,
but it's something that needs to be monitored by a doctor,
because alcohol withdrawal symptoms
can begin as early as two hours after your last drink.
Persists for weeks, and range from mild anxiety
and shakiness, to severe complications,
such as seizures, delirium tremens,
like I was talking about.
The death rate for DTs, delirium tremens,
which are characterized by confusion,
rapid heart rate and fever,
is estimated to range from 1-5%,
and I know that's not a huge percentage,
but it's still a risk,
and we don't know where we lie in the,
you know, mild to extreme situations,
when it comes to withdrawal.
So please, take yourself to the hospital,
call a doctor, find a detox house,
call your insurance, find if they take one,
and then begin your alcohol
you know, recovering from alcoholism,
and going through the withdrawal.
Now, the reason, at least that we theorize
why we have such intense withdrawal from alcoholism,
is because, there's certain neurotransmitters
that alcohol blocks, and make us feel like calm and relax,
like, "Hey, this is amazing."
And all of that that we experience,
that a lot of people like, right?
Even the stumbling,
it's our cerebellum in the back of our brain,
it's being submerged, pretty much in alcohol,
and it can't keep us walking correctly.
So, a lot of things are going on,
and it's affecting our brain in a lot of ways.
And then it gets so used to being flooded with that,
so the neurotransmitters are being blocked,
and we're feeling good, uninhibited, oh this is amazing.
Boom, it's taken away. And we have a flood.
Our brain is like, boom, neurotransmitters,
hitting all over the place, and they're just going crazy.
And that leads to the shakiness, the seizures,
the anxiety, the rapid heartbeat,
because our brain is like over stimulated,
instead of being unstimulated, like it's been for so long.
So, that dramatic shift, can lead to a lot
of the dangerous medical complications
that we're talking about.
So, if this is you, please reach out for help.
Go to the hospital, call the doctor.
Call your insurance, find a detox house in your area,
call a rehab facility, if you know one,
that's around you, call them, and ask,
if they do detox themselves.
Some of them do, some don't.
But, it needs to something that's medically taken care of,
and under the supervision of a physician.
So please, reach out.
Also, I'll put a link in the description,
for the national, and I'll see if there's other links,
for other countries for AA.
I know it didn't work for this person,
but I would encourage any of you who're struggling,
group therapy in the AA, whole feeling of group therapy
and support can be so beneficial,
and help us really get a hold on ourselves,
and overcome the struggle with alcoholism.
And, if you have a family member who's struggling,
or a friend, Al-Anon is there for you as well.
And that's for the families and friends of people
who struggle with alcoholism.
And that can be so catheretic as well, and so healing,
to know that you're not alone in the way you feel as well.
So, please reach out, please get the help you need,
and I'll see you all on Saturday, for the
Drunk topic, and Monday for another video.
Bye.