Old habits DRY hard! It's DRY JANUARY thread #2... newcomers always welcome!

[HPLikecraft]

Here we are, a shiny new thread to help us stay dry.

Thread one has been great and supportive; and thread two will take us through further challenges and milestones. Hop aboard; you're all doing brilliantly!

Woke up without a headache today! So that's a step forward. Adult DD coming to stay tonight and we normally drink far too much prosecco, but luckily she's doing DJ too, so I've ordered 2 bottles of nosecco and 3 bottles of kombucha.

40% is fantastic. I still can't believe I've made it this far without a drink and would not have been able to do it without this thread, so thank you all.

I have a very challenging weekend coming up with several social events, but knowing that I'll be halfway through DJ if I get to Monday is good motivation to keep going.

I'm going to a market town near me tomorrow to treat myself to some delicious... coffee. A local roastery has a stall there and their coffee is not only delicious but also organic and ethical. I'm also planning to bake.

I am feeling so tired today even though have been sleeping quite well.

Evening out with work friends tonight. I nearly always drive to the restaurant so never drink. Might get the bus but pretend have driven to avoid having a discussion about it.

Things are dragging a bit but am determined to get back on a better footing with drinking so I m not going to crumble yet.

Knitting is very helpful for cravings

Friday night. Good luck everyone. We can do this!

Day 13 ! Starting to think of alcohol today but know for health reasons, being in 50s, need to scale back big time. My dad died last year of pancreatic cancer and it was so tragic. He was not a big drinker but is also associated also with those that drink a lot so it’s not just the liver that is affected! As it’s in my family history I have a slight increases chance of it but then you look At Patrick swayze and stars like that! Makes me laugh when drs ask you how many units you drink and say it’s poison. While you need to be honest you should ask the Dr how much they drink lol. I have friends who are drs and they are the Worst in terms of drinking!

I'm feeling a bit flat this afternoon - work has been busy and the DC have been full on recently. I do miss my evening wine to relax.

Finding it hard today - the last 2 days have been really full on work wise and the temptation to cut loose & sink a bottle of wine tonight is strong. Definitely recognising that work stress is a bit of a trigger for me

Whoop, 40%!
@Wishmelucknow Patrick swayze was a big smoker - 30 a day kind of thing which is also linked to pancreatic cancer. Might've more the cigs than the booze on his case.

Tonight is going to be a massive test for me. We're having steak and we always have a glass (or 4) with it. I know how much my DH loves a his glass of red with dinner so I picked up a bottle of red in the supermarket when I was in there earlier. It's going to be tough. But I've loads of chocolate and crisps in to scoff instead 😂

I can do this 💪

Isn't pancreatic cancer the most common form of cancer in men? Many who have it are non drinkers and non smokers, so I'm not sure it's related wishmeluck.

Alcohol and cancer risks are: breast, liver, oesophageal, voice box, colon, mouth :(

But on a very positive note, I found this paper if anyone is into that kind of thing...

https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article/55/4/433/5835641?casatoken=HPuEjZ29q2sAAAAA:YRB1alXbUWFmenqfHPsSUlEUt1T6orbuiWUgpAYiFHHxwyakDyvZp9vQFwcRvAHh514jxCnn_g9SBLQ

Basically high risk drinkers are more likely to do DJ and that there are long lasting positive effects not seen in non abstainers. Also those who sought email support had better outcomes.

This thread has been a life line for me for sure, which is a kind of email support I suppose

prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer in men. I don’t think pancreatic is even in the top five.

There is an eye opening article about pancreatitis in the Guardian (am also doing DJ!) so if anyone is wavering and has a few mins to read, this is quite off putting for the 10 mins you might have a craving for. See also Louis Theroux’s “Drinking to Oblivion”.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/30/one-weekend-bender-can-ruin-your-life-pancreatitis

Thanks @Greatly and thanks to everyone else on this thread.

I have made many attempts to tackle my drinking and have always failed miserably, usually within the first couple of days! I do think the difference this time is having these threads as motivation and encouragement.

Hope your weekends are good and not too trying 🙂

@Oblomov22 I think it's prostate that's most common with in men. Also begins with a p! :)

@InterestQ cross post!

I'm struggling today. Still not sleeping so I'm really tired, job is busy and stressful and I'll be working over the weekend so my brain is telling me drink will help me relax and sleep. I'm on day 10, when will I get a good nights sleep 😩

Happy Friday everyone. Friday evening usually has me reaching for the corkscrew (or more likely screw top). I struggle with how to make a Friday & Saturday evening at home feel any different from a Tuesday evening when I'm not drinking. Wine is definitely how I switch off from the working week & signals 'me time'.

We are quite earnest in our group but one of my friend in it we do encourage each other to drink - everyone was lovely about it last night though

Happy Friday all! I've been feeling really positive about DJ, feeling energised and not missed wine much, which was reassuring.

I've just been very tempted by cooking aubergine parmigiana though. I would normally add red wine to the sauce and then think its criminal not to have a glass with it. It's one of my favourite treats. I'm on a long day tomorrow so very happy not to partake but the temptation was real.

Good luck everyone for avoiding temptation over the weekend.

I would really love a glass of wine right about now and am feeling a bit grumpy that I can't.

We're off out shortly for a drink with a neighbour. I'm resolved to drinking AF and surprisingly, I'm reasonably OK with it.

DH will have a drink, but that's fine with me.

Me too

I'm alone in the house. Dinner is made. Its Friday. I'm in front of the woodburner. Would normally be curled up on the sofa with a large glass of red 😭😭😭😭

I'm exactly the same. I'm also having thoughts such as, "I've almost done two weeks, so a few glasses now won't hurt." I'm sipping a Diet Coke but it's hard!

Me too. I just said that to the kids - I really fancy a glass of wine. This is a tricky bit.