What Causes Fatigue, Night Sweats And Anxiety Post Withdrawal From Alcohol?

Posted on Sat, 14 May 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 14 May 2016 Answered on

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I'm a 41 year old female. I use to drink 1-2 bottles of wine at least 5 nights a week (sometimes more when binding). I stopped. It's been just over a week. Symptoms are typical, but are less severe than I thought they would be, still, I'm experiencing, fatigue, night sweats, slight anxiety, but no shakes or cravings. Right, so, even when I was drinking I ran five days a week with a duration of 7-18 km each day depending on my long slow run weekends – so roughly 45-55k each week. I rarely missed a run, even when hung-over – no excuses. I had a slight injury and took off a week to rest. This has happened before as it does with most runners and have never had an issue getting back in the game. I've been back at it for the last three days and get winded about 2km in to the point where I have to stop and catch my breath and am totally winded. I can't even get through 3k without having to walk 3 or 4 times and finally stopping the run. I do not have a cold or the flu or allergies, as otherwise I feel fine. Can you please advise on what is going on?

Answered by Dr. Ivo Ditah (30 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
The stop of alcohol intake is responsible for this!

Detailed Answer:
Hi and thank you so much for this query.

I am so sorry to hear about this change in your stamina. This is most probably explained by the changes brought about by the stop of alcohol intake. The body is still adapting to the changes and it will take a while for this to be over. I will suggest that you exercise patience and observe how you would improve over time. Understand that the body is trying to adapt to changes and this is important for your health that you stop drinking alcohol this much on daily basis.

I hope this helps. I wish you well. Feel free to ask for more information and clarifications if need be. Above all, thanks for using our services.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar