So a little back story…I’m a fairly long time drinker roughly half a gallon of whiskey every 2 days for roughly 5-6 years. Over the past few months I’ve physically and mentally just wanted to stop. I DO NOT WANT TO DRINK ANYMORE but, I haven’t had luck finding a detox center and my doctor won’t prescibe me anything so, I have been terrified if I quit I’ll get seziers and/or DTs. Here recently I got the dreaded COVID and read it’s bad to drink when you have it. I made it almost a full 72 hours with zero alcohol and noticed the only withdrawal I experienced was insomnia. I physically was not tired enough to sleep until 3-5 in the morning and was up by 6 or 7. Now I’m finally putting my foot down and making today the day I quit. Does anyone have advice on how I can get to sleep without alcohol? (Keep in mind if recommending any kind of medicine I take Trintellix for depression and Alprazolam for anxiety so I don’t want something that may interact with them)
Thank you for the advice and congratulations!
I’ve been sober for 22 days and change. I’m no expert. I was drinking 20+ ounces of vodka nightly. I tried to ramp down and detox on my own and ended up in the emergency room. My blood pressure and pulse rate was dangerously high and I was shaking badly. Thankfully the ER doctor refused to let me go home and admitted me into the hospital to detox. They kept me hydrated via I.V. drips 24/7 and pumped in thiamine. I still don’t yet know what all the drugs were that they gave me. The only one I remember was they used valium to control seizures. They frequently asked me basic questions to determine if I was delirious and or hallucinating. Be careful. I wish you well.
If you don’t mind me asking when you tried to self detox how many days did you go before the withdrawal symptoms got bad?
Welcome to sobriety!
From my understanding, if you haven’t had any serious issues within the first 48 hours, you likely won’t, so that’s good. 
Sleep early on is hard to come by, it’s par for the course. Fortunately, it doesn’t last long, maybe a few weeks.
A few weeks sounds dreadful, but we all went through it and we all survived, in hindsight, it wasnt THAT bad. 
I found that poor sober sleep was still better than “good” drunk sleep, because drunk sleep does prevent going in to deep restful sleep.
Anyways, melatonin (3-5mg) an hour before bed, no screens an hour before bed, vitamins, exercise, good diet, consistent bed/wake time all help a little.
Time helps the most.
Good luck.
I wish I had some wisdom to share about that. I should have properly documented exactly how much I was drinking using a scale then slowly ramp down over a weeks time or more. I apparently cut back too much that first night. I’m guessing I consumed 15-16 ounces. I ended up at the ER the next day. My resting heart beat was around 160 bpm. I normally take blood pressure medications and my blood pressure was way too high. I thought I was having a heart attack. I live alone and agree with what others said that it would be best to have someone around to watch for seizures or DTs. Those call for an ER or 911 to deal with.
I agree with @Dejavu If you’ve already abstained for 72 hours or more you’re likely over the dangerous phase. The above sentence made me wonder exactly where you were. I spent 3 days and two nights in the hospital and they were sort of on the fence as to whether to keep me one more night.
I just ran across this article regarding PAWS and found it useful.