Less wets, more dry, sometimes damp. We are tryers to be dryers. Thread 3!

[Frouby]

New thread for those wanting to reduce alcohol. Always supportive and friendly. No judgements, just support to get to where we feel comfortable with our relationship with alcohol. All welcome.

Am a bit rubbish with clicky links but there are previous threads.

Hi everyone, can I join? I am going to try doing a month or two totally dry to break the wine o'clock habit and deal with perimeno symptoms. 1 week in so far - feeling surprisingly good. It's a bit weird and there are times when I really want a glass. But I had got up to over the government limit regularly so I guess that's to be expected What's helping most is having a selection of really nice 'grown up' non alcoholic drinks and having them in my usual glass (Seedlip Garden and tonic is gorgeous!)

dion that's bloody shitty about your car. Last thing you need. It all comes at once. Stupid phone wont put paragraphs in now. Grrr. Anyway. Auntie off for her big op tomorrow. Starting to get nervous for her now. She will be going from surgery to intensive care so it's a big op. And my sister her lump out as well. Currently dry and drinking ginger cordial with fizzy water but have a couple of beers in the fridge I might have later.

Another crap hosp app for dd today!! Moderating well considering!! Somehow!!!!!!

I had a wet Saturday night so my first hangover in two weeks. Day 2 dry... here we go again, weekly countdown

Ocelot welcome.

Half a bottle (wine, not gin) here, and I feel remarkably sober, so will not have any more as I can't be bothered, given the lack of effect... And my computer won't let me use the return key!!! Flossie, if you can moderate when that's going on, I admire you even more. Think it is for you, too, Frouby, and your auntie and sister. xx Ocelot, welcome from me too. I may rediscover the delights of grown up non alcoholic drinks when I have got over this crap phase (though Seedlip tastes like mouthwash to me DS ended up drinking it, which was a very expensive way for it to get used up...) Cotton, first hangover in two weeks is good going. And Anglaise... I hardly dared read to the end of your post for fear of what it might say - but I'm so immensely glad I did. Thank goodness FM has seen sense. I'm relieved enough, at a distance - so I can only imagine how you must feel. He is very lucky to have you. Here, things took a turn for the better due to an afternoon in bed .

Anglais - FM is indeed lucky to have you. You are such a strong woman.

Frouby - thinking of you today 💐

Dion - how are you doing? I’m still in shock at what crap you’ve had to deal with. Hope you ok lovely 🌷

Having an utterly stressful crappy day. Can’t go into detail as too outing but omg I’m going to be soaking wet tonight!!

Not dry here, 3 bottles of bud.

Auntie is fine thank fuck. Cousin been.to see her, she's pretty spaced out on morphine but doing really well.

So am celebrating. It's been a horrible, anxious day.

Frouby, I was checking in to see if you had posted. You have now reminded me that morphine is even better than gin . That aside, I am so glad she is doing ok in the circs.

3 bottles of Bud sounds pretty restrained to me. Another half bottle (of wine) down here. Have spoken to my mum, and then sodding DS was whingeing on about me not giving him enough money. FML.

Flossie, I am so, so sorry about your crappy day. Sending you hugs xx

Wow, it sounds like a lot of you are having a really tough time. I feel a bit of a fraud being on here. I am just trying to break a two (ok often three) glasses of wine a night habit. I've tried moderating two or three times before and felt bad about not being able to keep it up - stress usually does it. So I am trying something different - totally teetotal until the habit is all gone. That may be a few months, it might be indefinitely. I actually feel much more relaxed about it this time around. Not sure what's changed!

Flossie sorry about your awful day, hope today is better
Frouby good news about your Aunt I hope she recovers well from her op
Dion half a bottle of wine isn't too wet!
Ocelot good luck on breaking your wine habit. I managed to - I was similar to you, drinking wine most evenings (sadly alone, I never drank wgen out)and probably getting through 5-6 bottles of wine a week. I decided to stop Aug 2017 as was 52, menopausal and wanted to see if I was dependent on it or not. I cut down to AF in the week and one bottle of wine over the weekend evenings without a problem. I know some people find it beneficial to do a long AF stretch first, but I didn't need to. I don't miss it at all, or the tiredness and dependency of wine o'clock that I used to get.

Good to hear Anglaise. What's weirdest is people's response - when I tell them I am not drinking. First they ask if I am pregnant, then they ask if I am attending AA, then they just look at me as if I have two heads

ocelot in the UK there is a definite drinking culture and it seems to almost frighten people when you say you don't drink. I'm lucky that in France it is socially UN-acceptable to drink more than one or two glasses when out, and many women don't drink at all, so questions are never asked. If I drank even half a bottle of wine in an evening with French girlfriends they would all think I was an alcoholic.

Hi can I join too? I have been reading through the last thread over the past few weeks, and that has given me the kick I needed to go 2 AF days a week (thanks ladies your an inspiration!). I've also been exercising more and have lost a couple of pounds :) I'm day 2 today, and finding it so hard though. Evenings are long and hard and boring, after a hard day at work. Then 2 insomniac DC. DH often gets home after 10. Wine is my wonderful treat when the DC are in bed. I sleep really badly (restless legs) so without a few glasses, I have nothing to look forward to (other than the gym 3 times a week). I'm seriously seriously tempted this evening, although had hoped to do 3 AF days this week.

They are both screaming and fighting at each other just as I'm trying to type this :(

Mind if I join you all? Have gone from drinking every night to dry Monday- Thursday but it’s bloody hard! Wine is my escape, whisky is my “forget the ptsd and panic attack’s” cure however I’m trying camomile tea

Posted too soon! So far I’m trying to convince myself to look forward to the tea and having exceptionally early nights to avoid my trigger times

Waves to fellow cheese. Wow monday to Thursday is my aim. I honestly don’t think I want it enough to do 4 AF days atm though. Pathetic I know. I’m feeling pretty tired now so going to try and get an early night and that will be day 2 for me :). I hope this gets easier as I’m finding it miserable atm

Not pathetic at all! My reason for trying to get to non school night drinking is my dds. I have zero self control so once I start I can go until the bottle is empty, whatever the bottle has in it and I know when I’m not hungover I am a better mum in the mornings. It’s extremely hard though, I’ve given up smoking after 15 years of 20+ per day and that was a breeze compared to this!

I’m the same- if I open a bottle I will often finish it. Then regret it the next day. You must feel so proud giving up smoking too.

Toast, welcome. I will empty the bottle, too. And I am a much nicer mum when I have had nothing at all. Exceptionally early nights are one of my solutions, though it's difficult when I have to hang around in order to remove phones from the teenagers overnight.

Half a bottle turned into a whole bottle and more last night, so I have felt rubbish all day. AF this evening, not surprisingly.

Phonecheese welcome to you too. Agree about long and boring evenings. And it's not as if I don't have things to do!!

How is everyone else?

Welcome everyone. You all sound strong already!!
Yup me too..if I open a bottle, I finish it!! Although I’ve been challenging myself to leave a bit in the bottom!! Last night I finished the glass that was in the bottom of the bottle from the previous night. However then I opened another bottle and finished it!! Fml. Woke up this morning feeling wrecked!! So am AF tonight. By default really tho..got stinking head cold and feel rotten!!

Morning all.

AF not going well this week. Have drunk every night since Tuesday. Or maybe Monday, can't remember. I can resist wine and gin, but little bottles of Budweiser are harder. But it's been a tough week. That's my excuse anyway.

Have noticed I have felt very meh this week. Was much more productive last week. Will probably drink tonight though because there are a couple of bottles of bud left, then it's the weekend. Sigh.

But after Saturday I am AF for at least 4 nights.

Auntie is doing OK. Was rough yesterday but feeling a bit better this morning. Hopefully home for the weekend.

Frouby, I am keeping everything crossed for your auntie. Cancer is, as someone once memorably said, a cunt. I am not having a very dry week, and tonight will probably be more of the same as I have had DD at home all day as she was up at 4 AM vomiting. Which meant I was up, too, ferrying cups of water, hot water bottles, etc. I still went to work, but obviously felt hideously guilty (even though she is ok now - a bit peaky, but has spent the day in bed with her phone and some crap on her laptop). Fingers crossed the vom was a one-off, though she claims she's got tummy ache again.

Flossie, has your DD's chest infection cleared up? Sorry about the head cold. I tend to use a drink as medicine, which is never a good idea.

Not even trying tonight.

Not even trying either..... fml