Alcohol is not the answer!

Due to a recent family berivement it had come to my attention that I was drinking excessive amounts of alcohol to numb the pain. When I say excessive I am talking at least 2 to 3 pints a night during the week and double or even triple that at the weekend.

On the 1st of October I decided to stop, it has now been 25 days. Durnig this time I have been Ill twice and lost over 1/2 Stone in weight. I am now feeling fresh and stronger to cope with anything that is thrown at me.

I am going to give it another week then mabye try derinking socially again with friends but limit myself to just a few pints at the weekend.

Has anybody else here tryed to stay of Alcohol completely for any period of time? Or is there anyone who has had a similar problem to me? I am interested to know how people feel about this subject.

l never really drunk alot. l always had a limit were l'd be being sick long before being "drunk". l hated going out when l met my husband-to-be, because his friends couldn't understand why l was only starting my second drink when they were on there forth or fifth. l got alot of :
"oh you must be pregnant."
but really l was only drinking for enjoyment instead of "hey, lets see who can get drunk first!"
when l did get pregnant l stopped drinking completely. lt was great, because everyone was so used to my drink avoidance, nobody knew l was expecting.
now l don't get much time for a drink, but l love wine!
well done Willmolly3 on limiting your drink. and hope you feel better soon.
sorry to hear about the family bereavment.

Well done for having that kind of commitment! I gave up at the beginning of summer (for no particular reason, thankfully), and to be honest I found that I missed it terribly. Not an addiction per se, more of a habit. I don't know if that's as bad?

I have found that over the 25 days I have missed it although I dont have the urge to sink several pints like I was before. I would love a nice Cold Pint after work or chilling with friends! Or a nice Glass of wine with my meal.

Sort of realized the same thing a few weeks ago - that I was drinking way to much.
Not out of pain of bereavement but out of pain of being lonely and then going out with friends.
Not getting drunk...i have only been really falling down drunk 3 times in my life.
But it becomes a habit...like smoking. and then at one stage it becomes a problem.

Good for you!!!! I also have now cut down on the drink - not pints in my case but brandy and lemonade.

But it has become a social problem in our town (being a small mining town out in the middle of nowhere) because everybody does it.

But I am struggling with this lonekiness issue - there is not really anything else to do here but have a few with the girls

I am a recovering alcoholic. I am also a member of AA.

I have been sober for almost 2 years. This is a interesting subject for me as it's one that I can relate to directly.

If you drink to numb the pain (emotional, pysical or otherwise) than I would say you are doing the right thing in quitting. If, after you have been quit for a while you will try some contolled social drinking. If you succeed in that and are able to moderate, good on ya.

If you are unable to contol the amount of alcohol you take and cannot predict when you will stop. If you obsess about taking a drink and cannot stop thinking about it, then I would seek help.

I have many health issues relating to my abuse of alcohol that I would not wish on anyone. For an alcoholic, the only solution is complete absinance.

I hope that you will be able to moderate and drink socially, because in and of itself, there is nothing wrong with having a few with friends.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

Thanks for the support and views you have given. I congratulate you on 2 years sobre, and may long it continue.

I can not imagine what pain you have gone through to get to this stage, my problem seems small in comparison. I feel I have achieved something that I would not have been able to do before. Even if it is only going to be for a month. I am going to make it a habit to go without Alcohol for a longer period of time though as I feel fresher and fitter in health.

Take care in starting up drinking again. You might have been having withdrawl symptoms... or you might have just been sick. Congrats on the month free and good luck! (-:

And, as a bonus, all the money you spent on booze you now have to spend on other things you need, and even endulge yourself or a loved one a bit more. It's like quitting smoking, but my sister wouldnt know about that, [u:0411a9ba68][i:0411a9ba68][b:0411a9ba68]WOULD YOU[/b:0411a9ba68][/i:0411a9ba68][/u:0411a9ba68]? :drinkers:

Hey... no need to get personal.

I know smokinig is a bad habit. I have been trying to quite for 2 years now. Smoking is even harder to control than the drinking bit.

I just can't seem to kick that one. And with the stressfull job that I have and the sh*t place that I live in and being completely alone (have been for 2 years now, still not used to it and being a Saggitarius it will never work for me) it's hard to give up.

But I'm down to 3 packs a week - where at University i smoked a pack a day. I'm trying... DAMNIT.

I'm a British university student, which means I live in a heavy drinking culture. I'm part of my college choir, which has a heavy drink ethos, since we get a free formal meal a week as part of the payment for singing for chapel. I play lacrosse, which also carries a big team-bonding-by-drinking thing. However, I also have sincere problems with depression, and recently ended up in A & E having over-dosed on paracetamol while (actually only mildly) drunk. As a mark of trying to turn a corner and get myself mentally back on track, I gave up alcohol on the 8th of October. I turned 21 9 days later, and still managed to stay sober, despite the traditions that go with that particular birthday. Lots of people are asking why I've done it, and I can't really tell them, since it would just worry a lot of people and the reasons are so private - the online anonymity is a great thing. I have been very proud of myself in managing to take hold of at least that part of my life, and it has definitely meant that I sleep better and have had fewer really bad spells in the last 2 and a half weeks than I had before. Just hope I can keep it up...it's more a representative action than one that will have direct bearing on my health, but it has helped me feel a bit more in control of things. So good luck to everyone else who is trying to do the same thing - and you really can have just as good a time sober as drunk on a night out...you just need to cultivate the art of sober silliness...!

Good for you Jazz!!!!!
Here for support....
Now the sober siliness - i can agree with that. It's actually much more fun.and you can remember>

Also you get to watch the detiriation of all your friends as they slump in to a drunken state. It can be quiet amusing sometimes, but it is also worrying how fast alohol actually takes a hold of you.

I don't really drink much. I still have half a bottle of brandy left over from july (hostile celebration, don't ask) and havent really touched it.

PS: I hate beer. The aftertaste, i am assuming it is from the hoppes, makes me sick. Really, i am not being picky here. Whene i drink beer i want to thow up after half a bottle. I drink whisky, brandy (and coke) or ciders instead, that is if i drink of course.

I'm not a heavy drinker at all. Partly because, like Gnu, I just don't like beer. (Although, to be fair, it's Pilsner that I don't like. A dark beer or a "Weissbier" can be nice)

It is rather funny to see people get drunk.
It can also be highly annoying. Add to that the "need" of my generation to get stoned... (I don't smoke. Anything. Yes, I *am* dutch)
This probably explains why I don't enjoy myself that much in bars or discos, unless either the music is REALLY good, or I'm the one DJ'ing (*).

I do enjoy a glass of wine at dinner, or a bottle of wine shared with my girlfriend on the couch, watching TV(**).

[color=olive:1e0309f5e6]---------
(*)Which, selfevidently, means the music *is* really good.
(**) Well, the TV is on... Oops, Overshare... [/color:1e0309f5e6]

I have cut down a bit due to work commitments although I do like a few pints at the wekend or when the footie is on. I have to admit that i'd really really miss booze if I had to give it up for medical reasons but I suppose it's the same for anything we enjoy.

Er Rinso, have you got "Always allow BBCode" set to "No" in you profile? I keep seeing you post a lot of nonsensical characters, surrounded by BBCode which should format it nicely, but doesn't.

Fool.

[quote:f69fb715bd="Electric_Man"]Er Rinso, have you got "Always allow BBCode" set to "No" in you profile? I keep seeing you post a lot of nonsensical characters, surrounded by BBCode which should format it nicely, but doesn't.

Fool.[/quote:f69fb715bd]

Aren't Rinso's posts supposed to be full of nonsensical characters, like letters in the wrong order and such like.

I seldom drink alcohol, when Jon and I married, he asked me not to drink, and promised he wouldn't drink or do drugs. Mostly drinking is just not that attractive to me any more. I sometimes have a glass or two of wine, especially the wine my brother-in-law has made, but I couldn't even finish the last beer I tried, nearly two years ago now.

I did have some trouble with alcohol in college not enough to be addicted to the stuff but it certainly could have happened. I don't think it was the only reason or even a main reason I failed at university but it surely didn't help.

I happen to be one of those people who actually likes the taste of alcohol, I had almost all of the warning signs of impending alcoholism at one point. I am very glad Jon had sown his wild oats and that he was willing to go alcohol (almost) free, we have had enough problems without the ones that alcohol can bring.

I have enough family members who do have drinking problems to be anything other then very cautious with alcohol. I hope everyone dealing with this issue prevails.