The giving up/cutting down alcohol support thread!

eselt

alisong wrote: »

Hi all.

Thanks for the info eselt, I suspected there might be quite a few of us suffering! Any idea if it goes away if you stop drinking or is this permanent damage?!!

Morning all, hope everyone is doing OK.

Alisong, I think the acid indigestion will get better as you cut down on your drinking-for me it was worse if I drank on an empty stomach. It was also worse if I ate pastry,wholemeal bread, spicy foods or citrus fruit-for some reason fatty foods didn't seem to trigger it at all. It might be worth keeping a food and drink diary for a week to see if there are any trigger foods or time of the day similarities. Over the 7 months of not drinking I have lost my 'beer belly' (yuk!) too which seems to have really helped- don't know why! Even though I'm on the wagon the acid indigestion is still there and I take medication for it which helps-not ideal but along with the trapped wind it was all pretty miserable and I felt this knawing griping pain in my stomach pretty much all the time, along with a burning acid feeling at the back of my throat and just under my ribs. One thing to look out for which a lot of people don't expect is the damage this acid does to your teeth- I had to have the enamel on mine treated as the acid had worn it away (very very expensive!!!!) so make sure if you are having an attack to brush your teeth more often.

Finally, think about if you might have any food intolerances generally- a freind of mine had suffered for years then had some allergy tests which showed she was intolerant to nearly all grains- that didn't just mean bread and cereals, but grain based alcohol too (eg. whiskey, vodka). Hope you get some relief with this as I know how miserable it can make you feel.

Good luck with the new week everyone.

winebox

Yup, new week, good luck all. It's very quiet on the western front yesterday & this morning - is everyone busy? Sunny here today, of course it would be now I'm in the office. Still makes a nice change, tho it's not very warm.
Sorry! this is turning into the weather forecast!! I had a bad bad week last week but determined to do better this week. It's my birthday in a month & it would be great to feel I'm getting somewhere by then.

giddykipper

Hi there

I haven't read the whole of this thread (as it would take me all week by the looks of it) but have read a few posts and just wondered if I could join in?

Me and OH have been drinking daily for months now, I've been trying to lose weight, but obviously 8 or 9 cans of grolsch a night isn't helping. Recently the amounts we've been drinking have gone up and I feel terrible. Nearly every morning I say, right thats it, lets not drink anymore but then that night either me or OH will say, what are we doing tonight then? and that generally triggers a trip to the off licence!

Last night I drank half a bottle of vodka to myself and this morning I feel shaky, headachey and like I'm having an out of body experience type thing.

If I open a bottle of wine, I drink the whole bottle myself, if we get cans of lager - we can polish off 16 between us.

I'm really forgetful now - all the time, and I often can't remember going to bed. I'm 36 and am worried about the damage I'm doing to my liver and my brain.

So I'd really like to be AF during the week and be able to just have a couple at weekends. I don't even know where to start though.

Sorry to ramble!

Jo

Cornishpixie_2

Hi, Welcome everyone is very supportive here. Where would you like to start?. I guess I started by taking up exercise running, 3 times a week, which has encouraged me to eat healthy and stick to only having a few at the weekend. If you want to loose weight maybe you could start with walking everyday. I also found only buying enough drink in at the weekend, for friday and Saturday helped. So say you want to have 3 beers fri and Sat, just buy 6 pack on a friday. I have had to stop buying wine as I would just drink bottle and buy more. Or you could do it slowly, by buying less drink and pacing yourself. I wouldn't recommend going cold turkey without a lot of support. I have found now I drink less my Hubby does, even though I haven't said stop or that I am cutting back. Could you find a different routine to your evening, by taking up a hobby or going for an evening walk. I find once I get into a good book I don't mind having a cup of tea rather than a Drink. Anyhoo a lot to think about. You have to find what works for you. I also have no doubt that you are a strong person and with help and support(which we all need), you can get to where you want to be. Keep posting. Take care x

giddykipper

Thanks for your reply, I can see a tiny glimmer of hope already!

One thing I do know is that I can't drink after a meal, I just can't do it .... so maybe the answer is to have dinner on the table the minute hubby walks through the door then once we've eaten we won't want a drink.

At the moment I wait until he comes home and we cook together, usually whilst having a drink, then what we've cooked ends up getting eaten just before bedtime (if at all).

Drastically cutting down will help us in sooo many ways, we'll get off our backsides and finish the diy jobs in the house, we'll be healthier and less weighty ..... and i dread to think how much money we spend on alcohol a week.

Thanks sooo much for your suggestions and warm welcome, I have a lot to focus on now.

Jo x

eselt

Welcome giddykipper You've found the right place and made the first step. It sounds to me like you have settled down into a daily habit/routine, and perhaps your first step needs to be to decide your short and long term goal and give yourself some achievable and realistic targets. Everyone has a different approach (just look at this thread: Mollypolly and Bismark have quit, Jo is steadily reducing, Winebox has cut down dramatically.....) and you need to think about how you would like to tackle this. Maybe first think about why you would like to rethink your attitude to alcohol: are you worried about your health? Do you want to save money? Is alcohol negatively affecting aspects of your life such as relationships, work and family? Do you feel you are in danger of developing a full blown alcohol dependance? Are you just fed up with feeling tired and hungover, and would like to get some physical and mental energy back? You also need to think about what motivates you, and what might be a suitable tradeoff for cutting back, as its important when you are struggling with this to have a goal which you feel is rewarding and worthwhile.

Keep posting and everyone on here will do their best to support you-we don't judge or blame, and we're all aware we are on different journeys, but have a common goal. Best of luck!!!!!

winebox

giddykipper wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, I can see a tiny glimmer of hope already!

One thing I do know is that I can't drink after a meal, I just can't do it .... so maybe the answer is to have dinner on the table the minute hubby walks through the door then once we've eaten we won't want a drink.

Welcome to the thread - I am absolutely the same - my weakest time is the couple of hours before dinner. Although I can happily carry on drinking after eating if I've had a few beforehand, I am very unlikely to start after dinner.

So to help myself not drink, for starters (pun), instead of thinking in terms of not drinking all evening & panicking about that fact, I concentrate just on getting through to the meal-time, & if I can get that far it's then quite easy to do the rest of the day.
And secondly, I do eat very early!! It's easier for me as it's just me & primary school DD in the house so we eat together. However, I think your idea of eating straight away is a great one & easy to do - does OH want to cut down as well?

shopaholictiedtheknot

Morning all (welcome newcomers)

Another AFD for me yesterday despite OH cracking open a can at 10pm, I didn't really want one :eek: can you believe it!!

Managed my 5 days AF and feeling very pleased with myself and positive that I can do 6 days this week - that is my goal!!
My 'danger zone' is just after dinner when I sit down to watch tv, also worst one is Saturdays which is why I have chosen that to be my one day I am 'allowed' to drink - for now anyway, my ultimate wish is to be alcohol free but just not sure if that day will ever come!!

Hope everyone is ok today and had a nice relaxing weekend.

barshamhillbilly

Afternoon all ...... better late than never

Welcome to the madhouse Giddykipper.

Well, mrs bhb and I have had a nice weekend though neither of us were any godd at staying of the belly warming stuff. I had 4 cans Saturday night and Mrs bhb had a bottle of wine and yesterday we shared a nice bottle of red. Very civilised yesterday but still too much really.

I have one bottle of beer for tonight and am hoping to stick to just the one.

Might even go for a dip in the pool if the sun is still out when I get home from work later. That way it will delay the 'start time'

Have a great evening everyone

BHB

giddykipper

Maybe first think about why you would like to rethink your attitude to alcohol: are you worried about your health? Do you want to save money? Is alcohol negatively affecting aspects of your life such as relationships, work and family? Do you feel you are in danger of developing a full blown alcohol dependance? Are you just fed up with feeling tired and hungover, and would like to get some physical and mental energy back?

That would be a Yes to most of the above, I'm really worried about my health, we are in a dmp so desperately need to save money (spending it on booze rather than decent quality food at the mo), I don't want to get to the point where I do feel I may develop a dependence, my skin is a mess, I need to lose weight and I'm just fed up of feeling crap all the time.

does OH want to cut down as well?

Yes he does, he's the same as me, would like to be AF during the week and then be happy just having a couple at the weekend, rather than just automatically coming in from work, cooking dinner then sitting down with a drink for a few mins (which then lasts the whole evening) and doing nothing else!

So tonight I'm going to cook dinner for when he arrives home (this should be fun, he's self-emp so his finishing times are quite hit and miss) and I have a list of jobs we could get stuck into after that - should keep us, full, busy and stop our minds wandering, plus, tire us out so we sleep better!

Well thats the plan!

Thanks again for the warm welcome and all the suggestions/advice, its really helpful.

x