Giving up/ Cutting Down Alcohol Thread Part 16

3/16 for me last night.

Hi there 3Catssooz

I just wanted to say howdy and thanks for coming back on here to post again. I think we can all empathise on here. I hope you find coming on here more often is helpful. It's hard not to but try wnd be kind to yourself today rather than beating yourself up. Big hugs from me. As you can see from my totals I don't have all the answers but welcome back!

PS I love your username!

6/17 please. Bliss, slept like a baby.

Season_of_Mist wrote: »

Another AF weekend reeled off.
Units of alcohol: 0
Litres of ice cream consumed: about 437

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

3Catssooz wrote: »

I am ashamed and need to stop, I don't seem to be able to moderate.
Spoke to a very dear friend the day after the overindulgence, her husband, (who has passed away) had a drinking problem. She said I need a plan. I know I do, but what? How can I stop this destructive behaviour??
I will log on more often to help beat this thing, as many people said this is an invaluable place to be.
Thank you for reading.

(((Hugs))) 3 Cats Sooz. I feel your pain because not long ago that was exactly how I felt.

Your friend is right. Expecting to carry on living day to day life exactly as you do now and hoping that willpower alone will be enough isn't A Plan. It's how most people behave though and then can't understand why they find taking back control from the effect of booze over their lives doesn't seem to be working.

Other people can tell you what worked for them, but only you can decide or know what's right for you. There are masses of options. Do you get the most from yourself by talking to people who've succeeded, or do you work best on your own? Do you enjoy reading? Are you an active person? Do you use the internet happily and enjoy it?

Those are just some of the questions that might point you in the right direction. I'm not a fan of Alcoholics Anonymous but some people swear by it. It's useful to know where your local group(s) meet and think about whether going to meetings might help you - it wouldn't have been the right answer for me and I'm not advocating it, just a place to start thinking through your options.

If you enjoy reading, do you read blogs or books by people who are stopping drinking, or have stopped? Are you a member of your local library and do they have books written by people about stopping?

Does your social life revolve entirely around alcohol? Do you do any sport?

Have you considered stopping for a week / a month / only drinking on weekends, only drinking on high days and holiday?

I read and read and read and read and read during the first few weeks, starting with these old threads (see Page 1 for links to all of them). It was all I had the energy to do because stopping suddenly meant that I wasn't getting the same amount of sugar into my system and felt exhausted for the first couple of weeks. Reading was about the only thing I could do!

It works, though, having A Plan. When you've decided how you're going to tackle this horrible feeling of being out of control, then it becomes The Plan because it's yours and yours alone. Everyone needs something slightly different that they believe in, in order to succeed at this. Knowing how you're going to tackle social situations (I avoided as many as possible for the first three months) needs to be part of The Plan, because there will be pressure on you to, 'Go on, just have one' and from my perspective actually, it would have and I'm really, really glad I didn't.

Good luck with it.

Arkers wrote: »

I'm not feeling great as a result of meds I'm taking this is for the long haul so not good. I suspect I will have to give it another month before Dr's will look at changing.

(((Hugs))) Arkers. Sorry it's not going smoothly at the moment. I hope the drugs situation resolves itself really soon. Have you got a post-surgery follow up appointment when you can discuss it?

13/31 please, Shaggy.

Sorry to hear that the medication isn't agreeing with you arkers? How long before a month is up.:)

3Catssooz wrote: »

Hi
Sorry for going Awol, especially after the very warm welcome. Glad to see everyone is doing well.
I however am not.

Well done for posting cats. That's a start. It means you really do want to do something about your drinking. The others are right that everyone has to work out their own way of doing things. Most of us find that having some (or all) alcohol free days is helpful. We have had posters who counted units so they could quantify cutting down in a different way.

Whatever you decide definitely won't be easy. When I first started I had to have a glass of something (generally water) constantly with me and found myself pacing about unable to think of anything else but that I'd really fancy a drink. I didn't post my AFDs until very late at night just before I went to bed because I couldn't trust myself not to cave. One thing that helped me was to get out of the house and do an activity that didn't involve drinking. I went to a dance class on a Monday which got my week off to a good start.

They're all ideas but you must try something (anything;)) that fits your own lifestyle. Whatever you decide, you'll get plenty of support on here.:)