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

shaggydoo

November:

= 7 Days AF

= 14 days AF

= 21 days AF
= 28 days AF

= 30 days AF

= target achieved


Alcohol Free Days

Alex 2/28

Barny1979 3/20

Chardonnay

Charmed /22

Cuppatea

Dansmam 2/30

DebJay 4/22

Desperado

Doshwaster 2/24

Gien 1/15

Lincs1205

Honey Bear 5/30

Maman 2/10

Milky 3/10

MissingMum /10

Piggles 2/15

Pricey 3/20

RolandTheRoadie /27

Satchmo 3/20

SandyPan 4/28

SmallHoldingSister 4 /29

Tee /15

WBF

Alcohol Low Days

DizzyImp 3/23

Shaggy 4/22




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!

shaggydoo

Roll up, Roll up. A New Month, A New Challenge.

SET YOUR

26 days up for grabs!

Everyone Welcome!!!

piggles1

graemecarter wrote: »

It's common for us to have bad sleep initially.
We can use alcohol as a drug to knock us out, but without it, can have problems sleeping.
That will hopefully get better.

Doshwaster wrote: »

Yes, I always find this when I come off a long period of drinking. Your body is so used to being knocked out by alcohol that it can't remember how to get to sleep naturally.

However, within a few days you will find your sleep to be much better.

thanks both I get to sleep about an hour and a half after I go to bed. That should improve, but I keep waking. I suppose I'm at the beginning of the AF days so I'll give it time.

Honey_Bear wrote: »

I'm with you on this one, Shaggy. I think we get better and better at breaking bad habits if we 'Never Give Up Giving Up' - one of the mantras I heard a few years ago. It helped me enormously knowing that any control, any control at all no matter how short-lived, is a great building block for the final successful attempt. Each time we don't have a drink or a cigarette we're breaking bad habits and creating new good ones. It worked for me with smoking and drinking and that's good enough for me.

It's normal, Piggles, to find sleeping a bit difficult when you stop drinking but it settles down relatively quickly. As to anxiety, that's not unusual, either, and it's worth having a chat with your GP to see what the options are to ease you into your new life. (I take a bit of herbal help for anti-anxiety and I know it helps me but there are a lot of other options available and the GP will be really pleased to hear anyone is cutting down or giving up on booze.)

That's a good mantra Honey Bear.

I'm already on tablets and have had the checking thing for over 20 years. It used to take me my tablets plus a whole bottle of wine or more to calm down. But yeh I hope the doctor will be pleased because he thinks I'm a daily heavy drinker from my notes.

My reasons for cutting down/having AFD days was for my physical health. My anxieties haven't improved, I've just lost a cushion. So for me I think the distraction technique is the best one. I also feel kindof brave to lose the cushion of alcohol when it would be so easy to use it to squish everything just for a few hours a night, but my physical health will eventually suffer.

I didn't manage an AFD last night because I was fed up and had almost 4 units. But every day is a new one so I start again and don't forget my original goal It's certainly a lot easier than it was.

debjay

5/22 for tonight please.

Doshwaster

An early declaration of 5/24 and I haven't had a drink since last Friday night nor have I really felt like one.

Tomorrow night will be my first test of the month.

Barny1979

4/20 AFDs today

AlexLK

5 including this evening, please.

maman

3 AFDs for me please Shaggy.

Honey_Bear

6/30 please, Shaggy.

satchmo1

4/20 AFDs for last night, which was another win for willpower because after a big meeting last night, we (the organising team) went into the bar for a wind-down drink, and I stuck to lime and soda.


Tonight is the monthly quiz night, which will be another test because it's Friday, parkrun-eve, so I don't want alcohol.