Just what it says in the title really. This is the first time in 5 years of extreme drinking that I have gone longer than 5 days without alcohol and even then, I only managed that once. Apart from that I was drinking around half a bottle of vodka a day (often more) for months and months with no break and hating myself for it. Now, I have been sober for 11 days and am determined to continue. The fog is already beginning to clear and I have been having the best sleep I have had in years. Also, even in this short time my psoriasis which only appeared a few years ago, is beginning to improve.
I am really writing this to give hope to anyone who like me thought they could never give up. I know it's early days for me but I honestly thought I couldn't go a day without drink. I tried counselling, hypnotherapy and AA. I used to ask anybody who had got sober what their secret was and how they made 'the switch'. For me, it was something so simple. I went back to a mental health nurse who hadn't seen me in over a year and she was really shocked at my decline. Although she was kind, she didn't mince her words. She said that I now looked like a person with an alcohol problem- that she could tell it from my puffy face, my dead eyes and just my general appearance. When I first went in to her I lied and said I had been cutting down to 200ml a day for the last few months and she immediately called me out on my bs. She said I looked like somebody who had been hitting the bottle hard for a sustained period and that she found it hard to believe I had really reduced my intake. I said to her that she must get frustrated when she sees somebody coming back after a year and now drinking even more. She said she wasn't frustrated but it made her sad as she could see I had so much potential but was wasting it.
I walked away that day and haven't touched anything since. I think I had a lightbulb moment and realise I don't want to do this anymore. I'm 36 and would like children someday. Even if I've left it too late for that I know my life will be infinitely better without the poison I was putting into my body everyday. Maybe a bad turn of phrase but here's to the future!!!:)
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Alcohol support
11 days sober- can't believe it!
41 replies
Lilyroo81 · 09/12/2017 14:56
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