Is mild thirst, dehydration and dry mouth normal with alcohol withdrawal/PAW?

[LonelyTraveler]

Hi

I'll be on my 8'th day sober tommorow and over the last 3 days (along with all of the other unpleasant symptoms of withdrawal), my mouth has been extremely dry and every now and then (especially toward the evenings), I'll get this sort of impulse to go drink something (not alcohol though). It's not like I'm extremely thirsty or anything...it's more like I'll just feel like I need to go grab a glass of water and when I do I might end up drinking just a third of it.

Well, to complicate matters, I also suffer from severe Hypochondria and Anxiety (and we have a lot of bats in our area) so every time I feel like I want a glass of water or I get even a little bit thirsty, I immediately start thinking that I have rabies or some other horrible disease .

I was on another forum awhile back and remember reading a thread where everyone was agreeing how thirsty they were while going through withdrawal and how all they wanted to do was drink, drink, drink.

Is this true or should I be looking for a tombstone first thing tommorow morning?.

To complicate matters even more, I have been having a very mild headache for about 4 days. I also have Tourette's Syndrome and one of my tics is to shake my head up and down pretty violently so maybe that's part of the reason I am having these very mild headaches. Or maybe it's alcohol withdrawal or even rabies or some other disease

What is causing what and is any of this normal?. I feel like I'm going through some sort of alien metamorphosis here with all these weird sensations and feelings...yikes!

Please help and thank you sooo much!! - LT

[LonelyTraveler]

Hi

Let me be honest here if I may. No offense intended...

Because I've recieved no replies overnight it looks like I am the only one here who has ever had these same symptoms while going through alcohol withdrawal. I feel all alone now and like maybe a really DO have some horrible disease that is causing some of these symptoms. I'm on so many drugs right now (Xanax, Lorazepam, Atarax, etc), going through detox and suffering from severe anxiety/hypochondria that I don't know what is going on right now or what is causing what.

Please people, help me. I told my friend this morning that I did'nt think I was going to make it and he said "yes you will" but I still feel like the grim reaper is clawing at my back.

- Thank you for listening, LT

[mpvt]

Hi LT: I think you're doing a wonderful job at battling with sobriety.The dry mouth is probably a combination of PAWS and the benzo your taking.Just try and keep your mouth moist either by drinking small amounts of water or better yet gatorade or some type of sport drink.If you can take a couple advil gelcaps for the aches and pains (headache).It's also really important that you eat well and get some exercise to get those endorphin's going.I go for a walk in the morning and again at night say after supper.This is really important.Good luck to you and congrats on your battle......Dave

[bkim]

Hey there. Im not sure about the w/d sym you are having. Stay strong and remember why you are quitting. I would get in with the dr. that gave you scripts for the benzos and other drugs. They will have a diff effect on you sinc you quit drinking. Good luck, tim

[slipperyslope]

LT Its okay. the W/D'S your having are not that bad, a little bit of a dry mouth isn't anything to get so worked up over. You don't have a horrible disease, its the hypochondriac syndrome you have that is causing you to feel like you have some horrible awful disease, but you don't. Do you see a Dr for that condition? Maybe you need to call your Dr and discuss your feelings with him/her as I am sure he is more familiar with your condition than people on this board are. I have never known anybody with it so I can't offer any support or help. It could also be a side effect of the new medication your on, did you look up the side effects online to see if that could be the cause?

Your okay there is nothing horribly wrong with you............. Also this could be anxiety, you may want to post on the anxiety board as well.

Good luck LT your doing really great being sober for 8 days now, that is really good and I hope it continues to be a success for you...