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Alcohol support

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Original poster

How can I help myself

6 replies

Twinklestar1 · 02/02/2022 11:09

Hello, I think I need help.
I use alcohol as a crutch, I binge drink several times a week. My drink of choice is 330ml bottles of San Miguel lager. Last night I drank 7 of these bottles, a few nights ago I drank 10.
I drink them incredibly quickly as I am chasing that woozy feeling.
I rarely wake up hungover and the worst part is that if I start to feel too drunk, then I will deliberately make myself sick so I can drink more. I am disgusting.

I have severe depression and anxiety, I have recently started medication for this and am waiting on therapy. I have zero impulse control, I don't drink every night but if I even have a fleeting thought of "I'll get some beer tonight" then that's it I will go and get some.
I live alone and work shifts, the last 13 months have been the worst of my life after making a huge decision to leave my fiance which I regret. After talking with a counsellor it seems I had some sort of breakdown at that time of my life.

How do i even start to tackle this Sad
Please be kind

OP posts:
Lemonweightloss · 02/02/2022 12:12

Afternoon! First of all, you are NOT disgusting ( I have a similar problem. Would you call me disgusting?! Stop all negative self talk from now on !). Secondly, well done for recognising you have a problem. Thirdly, have you sought any outside help or is it all new to you?
A couple of years ago, I was drinking 7 bottles of wine a week. Now I drink 1 or 2 a week. Help I got ;

  1. Annie Grace 30 day alcohol experiment. Log on and start today or as soon as you can ? It's free, really makes you think and there's a chat forum that's great to be a part of.
  2. Club Soda or Soberistas type forums are really helpful - lots of help, advice, support.
  3. I had hypnotherapy recently. That's helped too.

Do any of these appeal to you? How strong do you feel on a scale of 1 - 10 ?
Sorry to hear about your depression and anxiety but this should improve immensely once you quit.
You can pm me on a daily basis if you want. I don't mind.
I think the first step is getting off the treadmill. One day at a time. Oh and good news for you - there are some great af lagers on the market. (.af wine is atrocious!).
You can do it !

brightspice · 04/02/2022 13:46

I help people do this every day and want to reassure you that what you write is not unusual. I completely agree with @Lemonweightloss that you are not disgusting. You are unique. You are you. This is to be celebrated!

You say you have zero control if you have the thought to drink a beer tonight. This is a sign that your brain is working correctly (won't go into all the details but it's to do with evolution). This is what most people suffer from (I certainly did). I hope this reassures you.

In case it's of help, what I would suggest is that right now you decide what you're going to drink tomorrow. Just write it down. Will you drink 7 bottles? 10? 12? It doesn't matter how many but what is critical is that you create a plan that you can achieve. Don't write you'll drink 5 when you know you'll drink 10. Put 10 down. Then STICK TO IT. The next day do the same thing. Don't try to reduce the number of bottles until you are sure you'll be able to stick to the plan. The reasoning here is that you are using the human area of your brain (the bit that wants the best for you rather than the bit that just reacts in the moment) to create a structure that will help you when in the moment you want to drink. You can create a plan also for today, but these things work best full 24 hours ahead.

Lemonweightloss · 04/02/2022 13:53

@brightspice, I like that idea.
I do that to an extent but actually this is something I could do with a bit more effort. It's interesting. I've never heard it before.

brightspice · 04/02/2022 15:19

@Lemonweightloss this is exactly what I did and how I annihilated my desire for drink. I think the thing that helped was that as I was the one responsible for writing the plan there was no one to get mad at if I didn't achieve it (I'm a perfectionist at heart so this was really important), especially as I was allowing myself to keep it super-mega easy at first!

Original poster
Twinklestar1 · 04/02/2022 17:54

I wrote this thread and then couldn't come and look back at it for fear of judgement. I will write a proper reply later but just wanted to say thank you thank you thank you, for being so kind. It's made me a bit emotional actually Blush will be back later to address replies.

OP posts:
brightspice · 07/02/2022 15:17

@Twinklestar1 how are you doing?

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