The Giving Up/ Cutting Down alcohol support thread - number 13

Barny1979

9/25 AFDs and 180 in a row :-)

Honey_Bear

shaggydoo wrote: »

Oh my days - you guys have definitely put me off ever owning a dog.:rotfl:

I adopt older dogs, so I never have to go through the puppy thing again. The current dog wears an adapt!1 collar which mimics the pheromones their lactating mums give off. He was tired and wanted to go to bed the other night but won't go up without me, so he settled down on his favourite blanket in the sitting room and sucked it for an hour or so. He's 9!

Wanna_Bee_Free wrote: »

I didn't have a great night last night but hopefully tonight will be better. I don't know why I feel that I 'deserve' to sleep 100% through on my first AF night. I think my expectations might be a bit high.

I keep telling myself it will get easier - onward and upward.

It does get easier and much, much better, but the sleep thing takes maybe two or three AF nights in a row to kick in. Well done for sticking with it.

9/31 please, Shaggy.

Sandypan

8/21 for me tonight please and could i have a lovely leaf Shaggy, thank you.

The sleep thing is one of the main reasons that keeps me AF. If I'm tempted to have a drink I think do I want a good sleep tonight or not? When i wake up the next morning feeling refreshed I am so glad I abstained!!!

satchmo1

6/14 AFDs today. A celebration day tomorrow, with mum's 86th birthday. I went and set her hair this afternoon, so she'll look lovely for her big day.

Dizzy_Imp

Nope. Run over by the wagon, horses and cart. Ooops. It was going so well...

graemecarter

Keep going Dizzy. :T

My experience was that it's only when I tried to stop drinking that I realised how difficult (impossible..) I found it was for me to stop on will power alone, and that I was addicted.
I didn't drink everyday, but I couldn't go a long time (a month for example) without a drink, despite a strong personal resolve at the start of my period of abstention.

It took my a while to realise that it was the sober me that picked up the first drink, so my problem with alcohol was centered in my mind, not my body.

chucknorris

I've stopped counting the way it's done on this thread because weekly units is my method, I am targeting keeping below 21 units/week.

After seeing my Doc a couple of weeks ago and telling him that I was going to cut down, he sent me for a liver, gall bladder and pancreas ultra sound scan. I am going in to discuss the results with him on 23 Oct. But the lady who did the scan gave me some immediate feedback, which was my pancreas and gall bladder seem fine, and there is a small amount of fatty tissue in my liver, but nothing too bad. I'll get more detail later from the Doc, but bearing in mind how much I have been drinking (about 90 to 100 units a week) and for how long (about 38 years) I think I have somehow gotten away with a 'get out of jail free card'.

I'm 5 weeks into my new regime now, and I have had:

3 weeks with 19 units
1 week with 23 units
1 week with 37 units (poor, but still an improvement from my past).

Barny1979

10/25 AFDs today

Honey_Bear

10/31 please, Shaggy.

Desperado_2015

Hello.

I have been posting in these forums for years, masquerading as a normal forty-ish mother of three - a lot of you will know me, and I am aware my writing style may give me away. But heyho - I need help. I am very happily married, have the occasional problem with OH, DS x 2 and DD, I have a dog, a pension, I bake (thank you Bake Off) and I make soup (thank you Delia) and I post recipes. I followed Madeleine when she went missing - was flamed by all the theorists - and subsequently shut up for a month. I post questions, and reply to questions - about dental problems, menopause, marriage problems, gay children, problem children, student children...dog poo problems, thinning hair....you name it - I sit here and pontificate on it.

But for me..there is just one HUGE problem. I have been drunk for about seven years. It used to be weekend drunk only. Then it was 'after seven o'clock at night' drunk. For a long time, it was 'oh thank GOD it's five o'clock' drunk. Then the time got earlier and earlier...and now, it's waking up in the morning and 'let's get drunk, just to get through the day'. One glass of red at 9am won't hurt. I don't have to drive, and I never do when drunk, which is why I know I am probably an alcohol 'dependent', instead of a complete, !!!!!! faced, full blown alcoholic.

It all started when I was in my early twenties, and worked for a very British Airline. When you checked in for a flight with ten complete strangers...your only defence when socialising was drink. Get through the flight - then drink. My parents were drinkers. Their parents were drinkers. No excuse I know. But, the point of all this is I have been drinking for YEARS. I guess it was 'cope-able' for a long time, although I always knew I was on the edge. But for seven years..it has been creeping up until I now feel it is out of control.

I recently lost my sister to suicide, and my father to AD. All that happened was I cried...then drank even more.

I have had enough. I know I have a massive drink problem, and so now, do my family. I recently fell out with my sister in law - purely through drink. I am a gobby, nasty biatch when drunk. I've burned my bridges there - but I need to sort this before my husband - a good, lovely man - gives up on me and so do my kids. I've tried self help. Allen Carr, AA.

Please. Can anyone help? How can I stop drinking before it kills me.