Posted on 07/24/2026 2:34:13 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The death of Joanna Ruth Shields, the 37-year-old woman who was found along a remote Big Sur hiking trail in April, has cast a spotlight on a little-known but deadly affliction: alcohol withdrawal syndrome.
According to an investigation by the the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, the Carlsbad native had died of “probable alcohol withdrawal seizures due to chronic alcohol use disorder.”
...
While getting off the sauce is often considered a good thing, quitting cold turkey can prove problematic due to alcohol’s sedative effect on the brain.
When someone drinks for a prolonged period, their brain chemistry adjusts to compensate for booze’s depressant effects.
Stopping abruptly can result in overstimulation that experts have compared to “accelerating vehicle that has lost its brakes,” according to Harvard Medical School.
...
While symptoms may resolve on their own in people with mild to moderate withdrawal, patients with severe or complicated condition can suffer from hours-long, life-threatening seizures, with the greatest risk occurring 24 to 48 hours after they quit drinking.
One of the most serious complications is delirium tremens, a potentially fatal condition marked by disruptions in respiration, circulation, and temperature regulation. Suffers can experience a racing heart, blood pressure fluctuations, and even a temporary reduction in blood flow to the brain.
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And while many peoples’ condition improves sans medical intervention, those with moderate cases may require medications such as Diazepam or Lorazepam to mitigate risk of seizures and the development of delirium tremens.
Failing that, beta-blockers or clonidine may be prescribed for constant high blood pressure and an accelerated heart rate.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Of all the infirmities, aches and pains and infirmities and now this. Old age just sucks.
And shingles and itching. lol
That was my minimum. Sometimes I would follow that with a 12 pack of beer. I use to drink insane amounts of alcohol and did all my drinking after I came home from work so did so in a compressed time period. I was a serious alcoholic.
It sounds like you were very good at it.
I think my body adjusted to it. I didn’t get hangovers and it would take me 6-7 beers before I would begin to feel a buzz.
Every night before dinner I have three and a half drinks of bourbon neat over a period of a couple of hours. It never varies, more or less.
I asked my doctor what his thoughts were on that and he said that’s not an excessive amount for you as long as it’s completely processed through your system before you go to bed otherwise it wreaks havoc with your R.E.M. I don’t go to bed until afer midnight so that’s no problem.
I’m 74 and as long as my health is good I see no reason to change my habits. Eventually I’ll probably have to abstain
That actually was the excuse given by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during her strict and severe Covid lockdown in Michigan.
You could not go to a church or synagogue, a prayer meeting in a home, entering a hospital for non emergency surgery or procedure and tests, a school or university in person, or a restaurant and so on.
She ordered state police to patrol to watch for people walking or driving outside except for: to get and return home with a prescription from a drug store, to go to an abortion center or to buy packaged liquor. The liquor? Because abrupt cutoff of liquor causes many people to erupt in violence such as domestic abuse. Affects the brain and mood control.
Turns out she was right. But still a vicious hag.
That’s not the only desire that has dwindled.
That is another blessing. There is no yelling anymore. It is only loud around here when the grandkids are present. No sex = peace. lol
Or you could be seeing pink elephants in your bowl of Post Crispy Critters cereal. They were there for a while (mid-1960s or so).
Also, no liquor sales meant no taxes on liquor sales coming into the state treasury.
LITTLE KNOWN!!
DTs???
Are you joking.
30% death rate with untreated full blown DTs.
That is why the liquor stores stayed open all through covid.
Approximately 10% of population has problems with alcohol. Probably 5% drink enough to detox badly.
Imagine that many clogging up the ERs. There is not enough benzoyl on the planet to treat them all at once.
This is a common issue and one all medical and emergency personnel are aware of and know to treat.
Benzos
See my above post. Violence? More sick than violent.
Very true I have found personally. It would be a chire to drink until drunk for me at age 71, when for decades it was a pleasure to do so.
Really.
Worked with both.
Heroin addicts are working off nasty flu-like symptoms. And whining.
Alcoholics are having a system wide neurological potentially lethal event.
On the other hand heroin addicts put on some of the best drama I have ever seen.
It kills heavy users young.
True.
Love Dalrymple.
Pikers.
Saw handles a day in one facility.
Had to really stairstep them down.
We let them lead the detox.
After a 45-day mandatory jail term for DWI #2 I had to attend AA for 6 months (Tennessee don't play). What wore me out wasn't going without alcohol - it was the never-ending horror stories from the other people. I was so glad to stop going because sitting there listening to that stuff was the only thing that made me want to drink.
Still "social drank" very lightly after that but I learned my lesson. I occasionally stop at an "Our House" to scam a free cup of coffee. (Always make a fresh pot before leaving.) No desire for it, nor for cigarettes after 40 years of smoking. I was mentally attached to those bad habits while not knowing God gave me a unique resistance to physical addiction.
Hell of a great joke, learning one was unnecessarily a self-destructive idiot for half one's life. It's all good.
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