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

shaggydoo

October:

= 7 Days AF

= 14 days AF

= 21 days AF


= 28 days AF

= 31 days AF

= target achieved


Alcohol Free Days
Alex 15/TF
Barny1979 20/25
Chardonnay 8/21
Charmed 16/31
Cuppatea 8/21
DebJay 10/13

Desperado 4/21
Gien 7/10

Lincs1205 /31
Honey Bear 21/31

Maman 5/10

Milky 3/15
Pricey 10/20
Satchmo 11/14
SandyPan 15/21
SmallHoldingSister 9/21
WBF 7/21

Alcohol Low Days
DizzyImp 19/22

Piggles 4/8
Shaggy 14/25




Everyone Welcome! It's never too late to join....

Please highlight your AFDs in Red

Don't hesitate to let me know if I've made a mistake!

Dizzy_Imp

20/22 for last night please. Went to my evening class and so avoided temptation

gien

AF yesterday - a friend rang just as I was contemplating having a glass to watch 'The Apprentice'.

So that's 8/10 AF but the drinking days have been low alcohol days.

Alex, have you tried herbal remedies? There's a plant called valerian which is very effective against sleeplessness. The only trouble is that and it really smells bad so it's not so pleasant in things like night time teas and tisanes. I had a period of real anxiety and my doctor gave me some herbal tablets called Hova - they contained hops and valerian and were really very effective. Not sure if you can get them in the UK (I live abroad) but it might be worth looking for something similar to help you sleep.

Honey_Bear

Valerian is available in the UK but shouldn't be taken in conjunction with alcohol and is available in tablets. They smell and taste like dirty socks but they do work. I've used it occasionally and it's one of the very few sleep inducing drugs that doesn't make you feel bloggy the morning afterwards. It occasionally didn't work for me at the suggested dose, but always relaxed me when I needed it. I wouldn't touch any of the other sleeping drugs.

How much tea or coffee are you drinking, Alex? They both contain caffeine, as does hot chocolate. It took months for me to realise I just had to tackle a serious caffeine addiction but I've found a decaffinated real coffee (Lavazza, but Taylor's is excellent as well) that to my tastebuds is just fine. I had to add a teaspoon of instant to each cafetiere's worth for the first month or so to stave off the caffeine withdrawal symptoms and then reduced it to half a teaspoon for another month or two, but I'm off it at last, after about 20 years of up to five mugs of seriously strong real coffee every day.

It is very likely that your poor sleep is due to several causes as mine was. I always assumed all of my niggling problems were down to alcohol, but after stopping drinking they didn't all miraculously go away. After the first few months of going boozeless, each month or so I'd have a go at eliminating just one thing that other people said was problematic for them and see if after a month I noticed any difference. Currently I'm not eating wheat and I've realised my energy levels are quite badly affected by eating too much of it, although I can now, after six weeks, get away with eating some occasinally. I'm longing to go back to eating my own bread which I really love, but it turns out it was probably eating that, pasta, and a pile of Twinks Hobnobs every day that was the problem.

What I'm trying to say is that it's a work in progress, getting our lives back on track but each culprit that stops us living the life we want to live can be identified and eliminated. If you can identify if there is anything you're eating or drinking that is causing your sleep problems, you'll at least start the day feeling 'well.'

As to the radio thing, I couldn't bear the thought of having headphones on while I'm trying to sleep. I use an earpiece which I swap to the upper ear when I turn over. They're cheap as chips and I keep a big pile of them in the bedside table drawer for when the current one conks out - the wiring seems to give way fairly easily with the amount of wear and tear, and always in the middle of the night in the dark. *fumble fumble fumble*

piggles1 wrote: »

I'm not alone

I tried other things including music, but the drones of radio 4/world service are much better for sleeping. The only annoying thing is the argumentative breakfast people in their interviews.

No Piggles, you are not alone, and I couldn't agree more about the 'dingdong' interviews and discussions.

22/31 please, Shaggy.

AlexLK

Shaggy: I wasn't aware. However, with how bad my sleeping habits are I wouldn't be surprised if I'm doomed anyway. Hardly getting any sleep most days and getting far too much on the days I end up staying in bed can't be good for health. Ultimately, I'm fairly certain I've messed my future health up.

Gien: Not tried any herbal remedies, nor are you selling it to me re. the smell.

Honey: I stopped drinking coffee a while back because it was causing a different health problem. I do still drink tea but not to excess, 2-3 cups per day. It's a very rare occasion I drink hot chocolate.

My work in progress has been going on for years now but I'm not improving. Lost cause, I think.

maman

I'm really not doing well this month and I'll have to work hard for my target. A week's holiday didn't help. I had wine again last night as I'd endured a meeting that went on for 9 hours:eek: so decided to treat myself.


I'm another poor sleeper that listens to the radio. I favour Radio 5 Live. Unfortunately when my last clock radio expired I bought a replacement that I'm not that happy with. Unlike piggles, I don't leave it on all night. I like it to go off on its own when I've nodded off and definitely no earpiece. My DH copes fine. The current one is really complicated to do especially in the dark. I can manage it but I'd love my old one back. That could be set permanently to go off after a set time. Any recommendations for brands would be welcome:).


Planning an AF night tonight.


6 AFDs please Shaggy.

piggles1

maman wrote: »

I'm really not doing well this month and I'll have to work hard for my target. A week's holiday didn't help. I had wine again last night as I'd endured a meeting that went on for 9 hours:eek: so decided to treat myself.


I'm another poor sleeper that listens to the radio. I favour Radio 5 Live. Unfortunately when my last clock radio expired I bought a replacement that I'm not that happy with. Unlike piggles, I don't leave it on all night. I like it to go off on its own when I've nodded off and definitely no earpiece. My DH copes fine. The current one is really complicated to do especially in the dark. I can manage it but I'd love my old one back. That could be set permanently to go off after a set time. Any recommendations for brands would be welcome:).


Planning an AF night tonight.


6 AFDs please Shaggy.

I wish my radio alarm clock would turn off when it knows I'm fast asleep and wouldn't notice, but it isn't that sophisticated. I might wake though thinking ooh, silence?!

I know what you mean about getting a new one and it's not the same as the old one. I struggle every time I need a new radio alarm and the one I bought somehow doesn't work the way I want it to and the radio is too loud, even though all the cheap ones are essentially the same. So I swapped back to the old one that has buttons that either do nothing, or the opposite to what they're meant to (the snooze button shows the date etc.!).

I plan another AF day as well because I had two units last night and felt it with being tired and groggy this morning although I slept a bit better.

My skin has improved though I'm sure. I looked in the mirror today and thought my face looked a bit more peachy, so that's good.

5/8 ALD please shaggy

piggles1

gien wrote: »

AF yesterday - a friend rang just as I was contemplating having a glass to watch 'The Apprentice'.

The Apprentice invites having a drink I find. I was almost up to my target and because I would have had another one watching it I left it for catching up today instead.

piggles1

AlexLK wrote: »

Shaggy: I wasn't aware. However, with how bad my sleeping habits are I wouldn't be surprised if I'm doomed anyway. Hardly getting any sleep most days and getting far too much on the days I end up staying in bed can't be good for health. Ultimately, I'm fairly certain I've messed my future health up.

I'm not sure how long you've been AF all told, but I had the same kind of trouble when I gave up completely and had terrible insomnia that used to bring me to tears.

This time though I'm having to get up earlier no matter what in an attempt to make me tired at night. It's not worked properly yet because I'm still awake a bit late, but it's got earlier by about 15 minutes which is a start. I'm going for tiny reductions in bedtime so I hardly notice it, and getting up at the same time, tired or not. That makes it a bit easier to cope with than forcing myself to bed at 10pm.

I also have to stop my brain from thinking about all the things it tries to figure out late at night. I can't do anything about anything at that time of night so there's no point thinking about it till the morning. When my brain is active and niggling about things there's no chance it'll go to sleep and I'm a real worrier.

It's very hard to sort out when it's a bit up the creek, I hope things start to settle for you but it can be an uphill struggle I know.

debjay

11/13 for tonight please.