DRY JANUARY 2023! Been overindulging? Drinking crept up? Want to begin a healthy new you? This way please. All welcome!

[HPLikecraft]

It’s that time of year again... the late Christmas present to our livers!
You may be thinking of doing Dry January to:

*detox a little after seasonal overindulgence, or
*help you cut down a bit generally, or
*help you start to get out of a harmful alcohol habit, or
*just be a bit healthier for a month...

It’s good for all of those things!

I find the MN DJ threads excellent for support, encouragement, sharing info, ‘we’re in this together’ camaraderie, suggestions for grown up drinks, aversion techniques and just fun.

This is my sixth year of DJ and I swear it may have saved my life; it was so hard first time, but having succeeded I did dry June and October after that, and do so most years. It has broken my habit, banished much of the craving and reset my relationship with booze. I imagine it's added years to my life.

I won’t be finding DJ too difficult this year, but some will. Hopefully this thread will help.

Throw your hat in the ring, pull up a chair and let's do this together. Everyone welcome 🙂☕️🧃

The DJ2022 Wagon creaks to a start in just 4 days, but always stops for latecomers 🙂

It's a bit rich to even think about judging people who are managing AF, even for 30 days. Their livers will be far healthier than yours, for a start. Unless you drink so much that it would be dangerous to give up straight away then cutting down is nowhere near as healthy as giving up. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that people who manage DJ go on to drink less than those who don't.

I specifically said I wasn’t judging so not sure why you think I am. I only mentioned it as I didn’t want people to think I was.
And yes, I said upthread I have been on about 80 units a week for a long time, so I am wary of just stopping completely. I tried once before and the effects scared me so I’ve researched and think this is the best way for me.

Good morning.

I slept a lot better last night. I still woke up at 2am, but rather than being wide awake like I often am, I was dozing on and off - so that’s an improvement. I had weird dreams again, but much less intense.

I was up at 6:30 for the first time in weeks. It wasn’t that pleasant getting out of bed, but once up I was fine. I know I’d be so sluggish if I’d been drinking.

I’m on my way to work now and about to start listening to another chunk of ‘Alcohol lied to me’. I not that keen on the author, but having purchased it I’m going to get through it. I don’t want to spend all the money I’m saving on wine on buying replacement audiobooks!

Good luck today everybody.

Morning everyone, on day 3 here. Children still off today and I'm on my own until late which is the scary one as there is a lot of alcohol in the house so I'm hoping I will be distracted somehow all day!

Morning all
I successfully managed night 2! I had a really restless night, but hopefully being back at work today will help.
Have a great day all you gorgeous sober people xxxxx

Are you cutting down with a view to giving up completely?

Slept a bit better last night, but up to the loo three(!) times - which is not like me. Anyone else weeing like a horse!? Could it be some kind of fluid retention issue?

Yes, ideally I’d like to finish January by not drinking at all. That’s the goal.

Because if you are getting withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop drinking you need to give up completely - apologies and good luck if this is your plan.

Hope you don’t mind me asking but I noticed you said you had cut down to half a bottle a night. What was your average? Could you start mixing your drink with Tonic water and having more and more tonic water? Could you alternate drinks such as a no alcohol drink then a very small alcohol drink? I always find i drink much less if I have a large glass of water in between drinks. Do you know what your triggers are or do you have a trigger time? If so can you fill this time differently maybe by going to the gym, for a swim, visit a friend or have a bath? If you have certain emotional triggers can you try find other ways to manage these?

It’s day 1 for me as we have been on hols - I have a party on fri but will get some nice non alc drinks in. I want to sit down with my diary and work out when the pinch points will be.

Good morning everyone, I hope you're all feeling well. Well done if you managed to get through the day yesterday, that's fantastic!

Welcome to our newcomers, good to have you on the wagon. I love how busy the thread is this year. I think the last couple of years people may have needed booze to help with all their COVID/lockdown/isolation woes!

As for cutting down vs. dry, well different strokes and all that. Cutting down, going dry, giving up... we're all trying to kick booze's arse here, and gain a bit of control and better health. I personally find complete abstinence easier than careful moderation: as soon as I have one I just want to keep going 😔

If you faltered yesterday, don't worry; just start again... it does get easier.

Another % for you... if you've managed dryness up till now (8.5 hours into day 3) then we're 7.6 % of the way through! Woop woop!

Thanks Greatly
I usually drink a bottle/bottle and a half of red wine per night. So my plan is
week one - half bottle a night
week two - quarter bottle a night
week three - quarter bottle every other night
week four - no alcohol which I would then continue past January.

my biggest trigger has been where I work from home and 5pm switch off the laptop and pour a glass of wine. I drink coffee during the day so I needed a different drink to mark that time so got some herbal teas. I go to bed quite early (usually around 9) and only drink in the evenings, so the more of the evening I can stay off alcohol, the less I’ll drink.

So I know I’m not strictly doing a dry Jan but the aim is to be where everyone else is in week 4 and being on the thread is motivating in that it gives me a way to be accountable and there are some good tips.

Sleep. Well.. I think I'm sleeping better than before (wouldn't be hard) but the dreams... weird, vivid and sometimes inappropriate!
It's so nice though to wake up without that knot of regret and panic in my stomach, and without a hangover.

Good luck. A bottle a night should be fine to give up cold turkey.

Good luck with your plan @Fuwari I hope the thread is helpful to you.
I think the fact you have such a defined and considered plan means you have better chance of success 🤞

Hello, can I join? I'm doing DJ to support my DH who has developed an unhealthy drinking problem. The first 5 days or so his bad mood is the worst part of it but things always end up much better after a while of not drinking. I wish he would kick it for good tbh. I read Jason Vales book a few years ago and ever since then I've felt I could take or leave drinking - I'd be happy to spend life alcohol free.

Did not sleep well. 😡

Great plan do you drink wine? Could you go for a walk after work to mark the time then warm up with your herbal tea? I know I feel I need a treat so will be having some non alcohol wine which I did on the 1st and really enjoyed. I also find if I exercise and eat better I don’t feel the same need for a glass of wine.

I wish I could bottle the feeling in the morning after not drinking the night before. It's not necessarily that I feel physically amazing, but the lack of shame/sense of achievement I feel for not having not drunk the night before is fabulous.

I'm not sure what's happened this year but it's like a switch has been flicked and I'm focused on the positive benefits for my body, rather than the negatives of what I can't have. Not at all sure it'll last but I'm making the most of it whilst it does.

Reading the messages upthread, I hope I'm not doing anything dangerous by going from 70-90 units per week (which I had been consuming for a long time) to 0. I'm on day 3 now and feel fine - I don't have any of the serious withdrawal (DT) symptoms mentioned on the Priory website. I don't think cutting down would work for me unfortunately, because I know what I'm like - my alcohol usage would slowly creep up and up until I was back to square one. I feel I need a complete reset to give my liver a rest and break the habit.

Unfortunately I had a bad night's sleep again last night, but I think it could be because I restarted my anti-depressants on Sunday. I remember last time they did disrupt my sleep for a week or so in the beginning. I will start taking them in the morning rather than the evening and see if that makes a difference.

One positive is that I didn't get any night sweats last night, which I did have the previous night (while still recovering from the NYE hangover).

I'm feeling pretty good physically and a little better again mentally this morning.

We're 6.5% of the way through Dry January now too - hurrah!

Obviously I am not qualified to give medical advice but I have spent a few weeks now talking to a liver surgeon who would recommend cold turkey for a bottle of wine a day as long as you monitored any symptoms.

I wish I could bottle the feeling in the morning after not drinking the night before. It's not necessarily that I feel physically amazing, but the lack of shame/sense of achievement I feel for not having not drunk the night before is fabulous.

I feel the same - it is fabulous. Could it be worth writing down how you feel and reading it back to yourself in the evenings if/when you feel tempted by a drink? I might give that a go.

Thanks @Greatly - I think the

Sorry, posted too soon!

I think the first 48 hours are deemed the worst from a withdrawal point of view, and I've made it through those with no major symptoms. I will keep an eye on things just in case, but I'm already feeling better physically than I have in months.