The Giving up/ Cutting down Alcohol support thread- number 10

maman

So glad you've perked up a bit cuppatea. Haven't seen markman posting in ages but lots of 'old' friends still lurk to keep them on the straight and narrow!

My 'story' is simply one of bad habits that I needed to break. I've always enjoyed social drinking but got to the point where I felt I deserved a drink after work every day. It was my way of separating my stressful working day from 'me' time. I'd open a bottle as soon as I got in and DH and I would enjoy a few glasses while I was getting dinner. Then I'd just carry on. We always had two bottles every night and I knew I was having more than my share. I felt groggy every morning but not really hungover because I think tolerance increases when you're used to it. I think it was all the publicity about units that made me come on here plus I was putting on weight from the empty calories which was making me really miserable. I found it really hard to start with as I didn't know what to do with myself. I've drunk gallons of water because I needed a glass in my hand.:o That was January 2010 and over time I just accept that I don't drink during the week unless it's an occasion or holidays. I jump back on the wagon quite easily and happily. I still drink at weekends but I get more of a hangover cos I'm not used to it any more:(.

It's done me good to remind myself where I've come from. Thank you, and have a good evening with your friend.

CuppaTea

Thank you maman, that's really encouraging, i think im similar, a habit and feeling or finding excuses to derserve or justify a drink. I'm seriously going to cut down, i think to stop completely would be unrealistic, but over the weekend i went back to measuring my vodka and was surprised to find how small the unit looked in the glass to the ones i was pouring.

I've just sat and drunk a glass of orange fizzy, which i'd normally put a vodka with, it tasted the same and i almost forgot that i hadn't had any alcohol in it.

Does anyone else fancy sharing their story or how, why and how long its been, its inspriational to read and it would help me identify myself, if that makes sense?

Have a good evening everyone.

legsand

Evening Everyone,
Thankyou all so much for your kind words,if you want the truth the feeling I got on the way home was far better than the drink would of given me.I also know that if I had just one glass of champagne I would of drunk everything that was offered. I've learnt that I cant just have one glass.

Cuppatea,
I've only just started my journey to give up alcohol Why did I drink I think I have lots of reason but really I liked it I used to enjoy the burning sensation when I drank on an empty stomach,I would drink a bottle of wine while cooking dinner then open another one with dinner. My thoughts were its only wine justifying to myself that it was ok its only wine not hard alcohol. Stupid things you think so you feel better So for me Ihave learnt need to be AF I connot just have one or two glasses.

Its thanks to the kind people on here that I have got this far.

AF for me please Shaggy 5/30

Hope you all have a good evening

legs xx

fakeplastictwee

My story.... just a bad habit really, been drinking nearly every day since I was about 20, and drank a lot before that anyway as I was in a band and we spent a lot of time hanging around in pubs waiting to play. At the worst I was drinking a bottle of wine a night and I felt ill all the time at work. I've suffered from panic attacks and anxiety before now, nobody has ever linked it to alcohol but I don't think it ever helped the situation.

I haven't been so bad the last couple of years, still drank every day but maybe only 1 or 2 glasses of wine. But I knew something was wrong when I was missing alcohol if there wasn't any in the house and going and paying £7 for a bottle in the local newsagents. Also worrying was the fact that I didn't like the feeling of being sober in the evening as I was so used to feeling a bit merry. I'm actually enjoying feeling clear and level headed now, and have retrained myself to think that drinking during the week is not a good thing regularly.

fakeplastictwee

Still the bells are clanging slightly this evening, after all I just said! There's a glass of wine in the fridge that I've been avoiding. However I'm planning on putting it in a risotto at some point, usually I have to buy a bottle when I make it and end up drinking whatever I don't put in it :rotfl:

So I best decalre day 4 AF please!

AnnieG

Hello
I'm very sad... getting excited about having 'splashed out' on a bottle of Robinson's Barley Water!!! It was a whopping £1.50 (BOGOF though). I'd never usually spend that much on squash although would happily spend £8 on a bottle of wine. But, it's lovely and as it's also got no added sugar I can drink it to my heart's content.
So, AF for me tonight!!!

Chloris

fakeplastictwee wrote: »

Still the bells are clanging slightly this evening, after all I just said! There's a glass of wine in the fridge that I've been avoiding. However I'm planning on putting it in a risotto at some point, usually I have to buy a bottle when I make it and end up drinking whatever I don't put in it :rotfl:

So I best decalre day 4 AF please!

You can freeze red and white wine in freezer bags or ice cube trays. Very good for cooking with - I have never tried to drink it defrosted :eek:. I often freeze the dregs of a bottle as it comes in so handy and removes any temptation :A.

5 AFD and 1 SNC. x

fakeplastictwee

That sounds like a plan chloris!

Forgot to say 1 for the SNC too please.

penelopedee_2

AF for me tonight please Shaggy.

I find it too easy to have a glass of wine after tea, that turns into a bottle. I can remember being horrified years ago when a workmate told me they have a glass of wine every night - at that point I only drank at weekends or on social events! Funny how things change.

I get lazy with it, use wine to entertain in the evening rather than getting off my b*tt and doing something. I can quite easily moan that I don't have time to do the ironing or something daft around the house but the reality is I am lazing about drinking instead.

So I like having my life back now. I have free time at the weekends because I'm keeping the house up together in the week. I still can't break the Friday night habbit but I'm getting there

Hope everyone is getting on ok tonight x

prettykitty

Good evening regulars, and welcome new people!! :hello:

Well I had my birthday on Saturday - I did have a drink or two on the Friday night and during Saturday but did not get drunk, actually found that I have severely gone off my previous favourite wine :eek: and I have completed three days AF so far in September - please can I rejoin the list with a target of 14 Shaggy??

wow - that means I have done three out of five days this month without a drop of booze - it's a start!!!

I've had a couple of cigarettes but have gone off them too. I just keep thinking that however I might feel, a fag is not going to make me feel any better and neither would a drink. Still, one step at a time hey.

Cuppatea - hello, well my drinking has been going on for about 10 years now, since the end of my first long relationship and I went off on a crazy mission for a year. I tend to drink emotionally i.e. when it's a happy time, when it's a sad time... I struggle socially so I used alcohol as a crutch but ironically the invitations have become fewer and further between over the last couple of years as I don't always behave myself.... :A I really want my current relationship to work out and for my career situation to get better, so I am working on myself and focusing on what is important to me, to try to keep on the straight and narrow.

So no drink tonight, or tomorrow night, maybe Weds as I have a work function but we will see. Happy AF evening to all