Quitting alcohol.

[lucybrown]

How are you doing Dave?

[Jaiysun4]

I'm from the UK so i can testify to your observations regarding our drinking patterns.

To be honest I don't think AA is the way forward. All you need to do in the short term, is plan your weekend 1 week min in advance, and have a number of activities that will fufill and excite you, other than drinking. A bit like being on holiday, be it climbing a mountain, playing sport, going to a restaurant, visiting some city, visiting family/friends...you get the idea. Try planning it well in advance on the premise that these are non-alcoholic weekends.

A month or so without drinking (4 weekends) and you will be well on your way. You will have gone twice your record. The longer term consequences of this are basically having the balls to not drink around your current social group, or gradually finding permanent alternatives for weekend activities. Both will not be as hard as you imagine once you start!

Good luck anyways, i understand the peer pressure to get hammered in this country.

[Dave Plaza]

Hi folks,

First off, thanks for all your words of support, it really is appreciated. I'm afraid that I didn't make it through last weekend unharmed and I succumbed to the thirst on Saturday night. That week had been a hectic work week, I had tons of pressure layed on me by my boss to finalise a major project, and maybe other peoples jobs rested on the outcome. Anyway, I know that's no excuse, I'm just trapped in this routine of blowing out after a hard week.... or maybe an easy week... I'm trapped in the routine of blowing out on the weekend.

Originally Posted by htasker

You mentioned your wife in one of your posts. What is her position in all of this?

She's pretty cool about it, but she also hates it. My wife is from Venezuela, so she doesn't understand my culture, so she gives me space to do my stuff... but she hates me drunk, not because i'm bad, just because she can see the uselessness of it all pretty clearly

Originally Posted by royster

Alcohol literally mutates the cells and nervous system over time to crave and accomodate the chemical. Tobacco does the same thing

.

Originally Posted by royster

"Once an alocholic, always an alcoholic"...this is just scientific fact. It is in accepting this fact we move toward keeping ourselves healthy

.

So if alcohol is like tobacco, then why was it easy to quit smoking for me? Maybe because i don't think once a smoker (alccoholic) always a smoker (alcoholic)... If I did that, i guess I would have to live day by day fighting off the smoke demons.. I think "thank god I'm free of cigarrettes!" But dude, cheers for your lovely thoughts, you're a kind person.

Originally Posted by joelr

You might want to consider that even getting really drunk 1x per week can be really hazardous health wise over a long term period.

Yep, I can feel this in my body... I'm looking into some boxing classes on Friday nights to keep me pumped up and focused, cheers.

Originally Posted by Holiday

Hey Dave-

I'm a rigorous weekend drinker as well, just started a 30 day no drinking trial, want to join?

Kevin

Sorry bud, thanks for the offer but I think I missed the boat for this voyage.

Originally Posted by lucybrown

How are you doing Dave?

I'm good Lucy, thanks for asking

Originally Posted by Jaiysun4

I'm from the UK so i can testify to your observations regarding our drinking patterns.

To be honest I don't think AA is the way forward. All you need to do in the short term, is plan your weekend 1 week min in advance, and have a number of activities that will fufill and excite you, other than drinking. A bit like being on holiday, be it climbing a mountain, playing sport, going to a restaurant, visiting some city, visiting family/friends...you get the idea. Try planning it well in advance on the premise that these are non-alcoholic weekends.

A month or so without drinking (4 weekends) and you will be well on your way. You will have gone twice your record. The longer term consequences of this are basically having the balls to not drink around your current social group, or gradually finding permanent alternatives for weekend activities. Both will not be as hard as you imagine once you start!

Good luck anyways, i understand the peer pressure to get hammered in this country.

Thanks for the advice matey, some good realistic points, I think sport is the way forward too.. cheers dude

All the best everyone.... And do you know how hard it is to type this multiple quote stuff? I'm a guy and can only do one thing at a time...

Cheers

[joelr]

Have you tried therapy? A counsler AND a psych might be helpful. If your health insurance covers it.

I had both when I was working through crazy depression and when starting a addiction program.

A psychiatrist is good for suggesting possible short-term meds that might help you over the hump and be less toxic. They might let you take a benzo the first few nights you try to abstain (but you must never take them while drinking). Or even something really mild like Vistaril (it's just an antihistamine like Benadryl) that relieves anxiety (a little).

Or even an antidepressant would be better than drinking. Something mild. Stay away from Venaflaxine/Effexor.

A psychologist is good for talking things through.

[C33]

I have read somewhere that you can induce a disgust for alcohol by drinking or ingesting goldthread and goldenseal.

Anyone knows about this or has tried it?

If you know of the exact formula, please share!

[Dave Plaza]

Originally Posted by joelr

Have you tried therapy? A counsler AND a psych might be helpful. If your health insurance covers it.

I haven't tried it, I'm still denying that the problem is sufficient enough to travel this path. I mean, yes it's a problem, but am I in that deep that i need such radical action? Man, I don't know... Maybe!

Originally Posted by joelr

They might let you take a benzo the first few nights you try to abstain (but you must never take them while drinking).

Red rag to a bull... Thanks, but I don't like this idea. For sure I will be mixing them with alcohol, that's the type of stuff I will end up doing in order to challenge the universe to a battle of my existence... Anyway, enough about my madness. I just need to stay away from that. You seem to have experience with this s**t. But antidepressant/pain killers scare me, my best friend got hooked on them after a motorbike accident, and although he is now recovered, had to battle through a heroin/crack addiction to get back.

Cheers matey

Dave

[wobwu22]

Hi Dave,
I've lived in the UK as well and I know what you mean. It is hard not to drink. It is actually not really socially acceptable that you don't drink when you go out in the evenings. So here are some things that you might want to try as they helped me to drink at least a lot less.

- don't drink any spirits. That **** kills you. Just stay with beer when drinking. Make this your rule. You can easily say you don't like JD anymore and everyone will accept this.
- Arrive later. We usually went straight after work. So I could say that I still had some stuff to do and would join them a bit later. So you will miss some of the rounds
- Go by car. If you can arrange this somehow. It is then totally accepted that you can just have one drink as you still have to drive.
- Just go out one of the days in the weekend. Just go out Friday after work to socialise. Get a new hobby for yourself on Saturdays, or a new group of friends/social group for that night. Make sure this has nothing to do with drinking.

I still haven't managed to completely stop drinking. And I actually enjoy hanging out and getting drunk. But if you limit this to maybe once a month then I don't think this is really a problem. The problem is when you are actually just drinking because it is a routine that you do every weekend.

Hope this helps.

[KaleidoskopicVision]

If you are not a resident of the US or a country where this is illegal, some psychotherapists use psychedelic therapy to help people overcome addiction. The psychedelics in question that are usually used are ibogaine, LSD and psilocybin. The success rate is about 50%, as opposed to the 10% success rate of Alcoholics Anonymous.

I know it's kind of a taboo thing, but the scientific and medical community is really catching on to their potential in drug addiction treatment. It's much more effective than using other drugs such as benzodiazepines. As it is though, the high profit margin of the drug war drives many governments to demonize psychedelic drugs.

Ibogaine For The Treatment of Drug Addiction

That entire site is a valuable resource for this type of therapy. While ibogaine is usually most successful in treatment of opiate addiction (particularly effective in treating heroin addiction) it also has had some success in treating alcohol addiction.

[liamona]

You may want to look into taking large doses of B-vitamins temporarily.

Over-drinking can cause a thiamine deficiency, which can make you want to drink even more and further reduces your thiamine levels in a vicious cycle.

But you can't just take it alone, since all the Bs work synergestically together.

[LostMyMap]

Originally Posted by Dave Plaza

Ok, so where to begin?!? I drink far too much On a weekend I probably go through 2 bottles of JD. I don't drink in the week as I train most days, and I need to stay focused for work, but when the weekend comes a calling... it's party time, I just use the beers to take a mind vacation.

I just got back from a holiday in Santorini in Greece, and I didn't drink once, why? Because there was sh$t loads to do and discover, there wasn't time to drink... It was the last thing on my mind in that enviroment... My home life is much different!

So, back to the chase... I am a serious drinker, it really is a problem for me, and I wish i could control it... I'm looking for somebody who feels the same and wants to embark on a similar no drinking booze experiment, and we can buddy up

Maybe this sounds a little like I should contact AA... Trust me, in my position, as a regular drinker, this is not an option.

My hearts on the line. Thanks for listening

Dave

Sorry Dave, I'm going to be the one to smack you on the head. You can hate me, call me names whatever.

YOU ARE AN ALCOHOLIC.

YOU say you have a problem with it. If you think you have a problem with it, YOU DO. You say your wife hates it. "she hates me drunk." What more do you need?

2 bottles of JD in two days is a LOT of booze. You are slowly killing yourself. One day your body, mabye your liver, or stomach will say, enough of that.

You say you drink with the aim to get drunk and pass out. Big red flag.

So you haven't lost your job or wife (yet) because of it. You are a 'functional' alcoholic. So you only drink on weekends. Means nothing.

You make excuses, your boss, work pressure, your culture, whatever. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. They don't put the bottle in your hand. You do.

The GOOD news is that because you have posted here, you are starting to wake up. You are starting to realize what is happening. The fact you think you have a problem puts you way ahead of many addicts that can't get to that point. You are headed in the right direction.

Now what are you going to do? If you don't want to go to AA yet, I dare you to download their materials, read them. Or not, it's your life...

[Jaiysun4]

If you honestly go days without drinking in the week you are not a proper Alcoholic...because you get intense withdrawal symptoms.

But at the same time, you do drink stuck in a situation and circumstance that is very unhealthy, potentially dangerous and definitely detrimental...that you are adapted to, and can see yourself taking further.

I know you do want to quit, but perhaps it is time to take it further. Try yourself this weekend coming up maybe? If your that serious, dont drink this weekend!? If you keep trying but can't - THEN you know it is time for AA etc for real.

[LostMyMap]

No.

Sorry, don't want to be a butt about this. But just because you can go a few days without withdrawal doesn't mean you don't have a problem. People sometimes quit for days. Some people can even quit for weeks or months to prove to a loved one that they can "handle their liquor". But in the end, they go back.

You know how people go on diets to lose weight, then later bounce back with even more weight? It is the same exact thing. A temporary fix works for awhile. But if you don't deal with the addictive behaviour, you will back slide.

[joelr]

Originally Posted by Jaiysun4

If you honestly go days without drinking in the week you are not a proper Alcoholic...because you get intense withdrawal symptoms.

But at the same time, you do drink stuck in a situation and circumstance that is very unhealthy, potentially dangerous and definitely detrimental...that you are adapted to, and can see yourself taking further.

I know you do want to quit, but perhaps it is time to take it further. Try yourself this weekend coming up maybe? If your that serious, dont drink this weekend!? If you keep trying but can't - THEN you know it is time for AA etc for real.

There is a line between "proper addict" as you say but it can be hazy. He's obviously not getting the shakes in the morning that stay until you take another drink.
But unfortunately, physically 2 bottles of whiskey each weekend is far more toxic than taking most drugs on a daily routine. Except heroin which is a very non-toxic pain killer (metabolized into morphine) but extremely easy to get a too-strong batch and OD.
So the damage is being done.

There was a time I was using pain-killers daily but only 1x per day. I would occasionally take 24 hrs off and then say "cool, I'm not addicted yet" when I felt no withdrawals. OC is a short acting drug so after 24 hrs if you've felt no discomfort you're free and clear.
But that made no difference really, I could not have quit on my own (without a program) unless something drastic happened like running out of money.

Err...well, eventually that did happen.


Although Mon-Fri evening is a decent amount of recovery time, it's a lot better than daily drinking. Had I only used on Fri/Sat things would have been different.
With opiates you ARE EVENTUALLY going to start using on weekdays, there is no question. Almost 100% of weekly chippers get a habit.

With booze, I don't know what the stats are like? It's definitely not as sneakily addictive.
Being drunk is a foreign strange feeling, not always pleasant. Opiates trick you because you don't always feel "on drugs", you just feel incredibly positive, content and happy with life. But it wears off and you immediately start thinking about when you're going to use again.


One HUGE red flag is how much you think about using your drug when your sober? If you find yourself often thinking about getting buzzed or how great it is then your big time hooked.
I had a long period of 1x per week, maybe 6 months. But my thoughts in between were very telling. One week I had to skip and it was a huge problem emotionally. I tried to compensate with booze and a cigar but was horrified at how depressing that was.

[climbrainier1]

I hope you don't drink and drive. My husband just got a DUI and it's costing us $14K plus to make it go away, and even then there is no guaranty. Both of us have stopped drinking - not that I overdrank but I am trying to support him. It's not easy. You have to replace it with something else. Get active. Climb, hike = get outdoors.

[christiantighe]

I'm 24 years old, I used to be addicted to meth amphetamine and marijuana. I used meth every single day about 10 times a day, smoking it and snorting it for nearly a year and off and on for another year after that, if that's not addicted I don't know what is. I used marijuana since I was 16 years old and began using it daily when I was about 18 years old, I smoked weed since then daily about 5 times a day or more and thought I needed it to sleep AND start the day.

I then had quite a traumatic intervention thrust upon me and I was sent to a Christ centered rehab facility. There I sat 500 miles from where I lived with absolutely no one I knew surrounded by a other junkies who hit rock bottom and mentors who had been through the situation and were now at least 5 years clean and helping others get clean.

There it was made a habit to read the Word of God everyday morning, mid day, and night. Prayer and manual labor in between readings. I grew more in that single month of rehab than any other time in my life. My color came back, I gained weight and my eyes were opened to see more clear than I have ever seen in my life. Why? Because GOD worked the addiction out of me, I cannot explain it with mere words, but what you're experiencing is a spiritual battle. You are a vessel and dark spiritual beings currently inhabit you. Purge them by the strength given to you by God through Jesus Christ, only then can you truly come clean. Open a bible, if you don't own one, get one.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof."

Quoted from the book of Matthew.

Seek GOD first and all other things shall be added to your life.

Step one: realize your problem (looks like you have done this, good start)
Step two: Separate yourself from your everyday environment, and the people associated with your habits. you MUST separate yourself or you'll get sucked back into your addiction every time, and each time you go back it'll get worse.
Step three: Yes I'm going to say it in a world full of people who don't believe in God, SEEK GOD's HELP. Make prayer, fast, and allow God to cleanse the addiction from your flesh. If you ask and truly desire this to happen, He WILL do it!
Step four: Fill the chasm leftover once you have been cleansed. Once the addiction has left you, you need to fill the gap in with the Word of God or the addiction will return and bring more demons with it.

God bless you.
~Chris
Check my blog out, www.christian-mcguire.com - leave comments and post topics at my forums! I'm trying to get some momentum going. Thanks!

[shinyjourney]

Hi everyone,

Before, i used to drink every time i went to party a few years ago. I had this will to not feel in my normal state and feel the alcohol effects to feel more "free". Then i realized that freedom is not given by alcohol, it the opposite! I depended on alcohol to feel good on party.

I totally stopped a few years ago, and now i stand back from the situation i can say that it was in reality this "world" that didn't fit me. To party every friday and saturday night was an obligation for me to feel being part of the society and be as excited as my friends to go out.
Now i can say that it is not my way of life, i prefer other things than party and then i don't need alcohol anymore. Sometimes alcohol is just here to hide another problem which can sometimes just be a way of life that doesn't fit you. Social pressure is hard to overide but when it is done, you could never feel more free that i am now!

Virginie