Dry January and beyond - Thread 2

[BulldogMumma]

Hey everyone
New thread as the old one was filling up
@Flicitytricity @coastergirl @TimeForNosecco

@Sammy900 I had a 'MOT' liver function blood-test done in the midst of my worst steady drinking phase, and the results came back bang on normal!

I don't know, though I'd assume it would, if alcoholic fatty liver would skew the results towards abnormal, and while obviously blood tests can't measure elasticity (that's an ultrasound), it's better than nothing.

I am aware that there will be those who will instantly tell you that normal results today won't mean you won't go into catastrophic end-stage liver failure tomorrow... 👻 and I am aware that the liver can get into a state of 'limping along' til it does, quite quickly, give up; so I am not pretending it's all lies, but as I may have mentioned way upthread, I do liver CT scans every day and have done so for decades, and we just don't see those awful alcohol deaths that we are lead to believe surround us.

Please understand that I am not dismissing the risks, but a lot of 'the lit' is written by outwardly functional people who drink vodka from dawn til dusk in order to function, they are never actually sober, and their cited horror stats suit the narrative that complete abstinence is the only way.

This is one of the issues with alcohol- it is caught up in purity and abstinence spirals, implications of failure, weakness and moral dereliction. You can't have a normal conversation about it.

Day 31! Whoop whoop 🤩 well done everyone I will be celebrating this evening with a big fat Chinese no calorie counting tonight! 😆
Have had nearly every customer today ask me if I’m drinking tmw!! 🤪 and I was very happy to say NO in fact I felt empowered each to there own but I feel I’ve come so far to start again and i would end up binging and being back to square one being the crazy party girl! And end up doing lots of embarrassing and cringe things and this year is my year of change!
i am actually excited to see what I can get out of this year, last year was good apart from two really bad blackouts that always sets me back and gives me crippling anxiety for weeks! Also lots of missed days suffering with hangovers this year I will be so happy to have zero Of those days. But I did manage 75 days AF I have also moderated with no fuck ups through December shock horror! Probably the 75 days AF prior to December helped there! went on a dream holiday I worked hard on my fitness and business the only setbacks i had last year were down to alcohol so that kind of tells me what i need to do to make this year a great 2025!
finally entering the pink cloud phase now which honestly feels amazing so glad I never gave into on those really tough early weeks!
well done to everyone enjoy your weekend of out tmw night first sober night out and the way i am feeling today I don’t care about the drink!! I’m not bothered about friends reacting to me ditching the booze either I think it’s a great way to see who my true friends are and who I want to be around in my next chapter people pleaser I am not!! 😆

@Sammy900 just get tested I’m sure you’ll be fine! As@Fordian says our bodies are amazing and will compensate for a lot without the catastrophic outcomes that the media predict & our own brains concoct.

however and it is a big, however, for me how do I know I’m not in the minority whose liver will pack up tomorrow or that one of the other awful diseases that drinking contributes too isn’t round the corner! I wasn’t drinking daily but was drinking significantly more than I should!!

obviously there are plenty of diseases that just happen but I’d be so cross with myself if I lost precious time because of my active choices

I'm starting to feel that there is more joy & less stress to be found in an af life and I’m hoping I will get more of this as time goes by so if this is the case why would I drink? Dj has proved I can have nice times without it, I know it’s not good for me and I know I want to make better choices so right now while I have a choice so it feels like a no brainer!

im just hoping this feeling lasts tbh!!!! I’ve got a lot of years of reaching for it during tough times so time will tell!!

I'm glad people are sticking around here to share the journey!! It’s been a great thread so thanks @BulldogMumma

Out with DH to some bloody football thing as DS bailed and DH hates going on his own. FFS. I hate sodding football. Grimly having a Becks Blue and counting down the minutes until we can go home.

OMG Day 31 - we did it, everyone! Congrats all round whether you went completely cold turkey, did more than just January or had the occasional blip. You're still here posting so hurrah for us all.

Damp Feb here I come, but I'm hanging on to how good the feeling is when you wake up sober, so def want to carry on with a much reduced intake. Wishing everyone the best for whatever happens next and whatever you each decide to do. I'm up for popping back here or joining a new thread as it's been lovely to hang out with you during DJ.

@Hedjwitch hope it goes fast!!! That wouldn’t be my idea of fun either!!! 😂

Evening all!
Last day of january - woo hoo! We did it 👏👏👏👏
I will definitely be staying on the thread I hope everyone else does too regardless of if you're staying AF or not.
DP expected me to be on the wine tonight, I told him January isn't over just yet then he told me I've done really well. I feel bloody proud of myself and all of you whether you've had blips or not, we've all stayed on the thread and spurred each other on.
I forgot to buy batteries for the scales again!! So I'm still no wiser to knowing if I've lost weight or not. I feel like I've maybe lost inches rather than weight, I definitely think my skin is clearer though

So damn satisfying!!
Fresh February here we go. Absolutely ready to take on another booze free month.

Well done everyone xx

Happy Friday all!

I for one am glad we finally at the end of January, it's felt so long! The last few days have been a struggle for me, not with wanting to drink but due to tiredness - weirdly my sleep has really deteriorated in the last week or so after being mainly much better.

I've been tired and grumpy and to top it off tonight had a big row with DH and we are not speaking. Wish I was ending the month on a more positive note but hey.. things will be brighter in the morning hopefully.

Well done to everyone for their achievements this month and I hope we can all go into February feeling inspired to make changes.

Hope to keep checking in with whoever is want to keep going with a new thread.

Wowee here we are 31 days of DJ completed. Nice work everyone taking part

It's definitely worth doing for the hidden and obvious benefits and shift in mindset. I've got the most out of reflecting on my unhealthy behaviours and feeling able to change them and taking back control when I can see I'm going a bit wayward.

I've enjoyed being hangover free, having loads more time to focus on other things and thinking about my overall health and what that means for the future at my age. I've seen and been with my family and friends more doing other activities, I've got out for walks or been swimming, health centre, out with the kids, meals out, etc rather than just sitting around drinking and being an idiot or missing out on things due to feeling rough.

I've still got a long way to go but needed this kick start. Onwards to AF Feb for me...be glad to have those that are staying around too and good luck to those leaving and sticking to new goals :)

Congratulations 🎊
I think I'm sticking with it for now. Not in a hurry to drink again yet

Congratulations and thank you for all the positivity and encouragement. After being a bottle a day drinker, I honestly never thought I could do a day let alone a month without wine. So proud of all of us!

I am up for continuing so look forward to hearing everyone’s ups and downs. Onwards and upwards!

End of January At LAST! (I'm carrying on into February tbh but m just glad we made it!)

Day 33 for me as I started on the 29 th of December. I had 2 red wines tonight much to dh's surprise as he thought I would wait til tomorrow night.

Yes I know it's still the 31st January but drinking tomorrow night is not really an option due to DC1 having a special birthday on Monday and most of our family descending on us on sun. I think they would have liked it to be on DC1 birthday but he wanted to go out with his friend so I put my foot down and insisted they all come on sun afternoon or not at all.

Neither of set of grandparents have been particularly supportive or spent any real time with him or showed much interest in him or his siblings but these friends are brilliant friends to him so I will be taking them all out on Monday. Somehow I have been stronger when I pushed back on them all this month.

I simply cannot be bothered anymore with people who think they can pick and choose when to have a relationship with my kids. These people will now come and see the kids when it suits us, if the kids want to go play with their friends when they are here they can do so. My kids have been bottom of their grandparents list of priorities over the years because there grandparents chose to play favourites and my kids have my full permission to treat them the same way.

Anyway I decided to have a AF cider after my wine and enjoyed it more than the wine. I moderated and had no issues in doing so 😁. I took great pleasure it updating my app which shows I drank 116 units less this month than normal. I also feel better.

I've just updated my trydry app to staying AF for the month of February, so I will definitely be popping in and out of this thread😁

I’ve extended mine till march, which is my birthday month but am still hoping for an AF birthday it will be my first in over 20 yrs!! so that’s my next challenge 😆

We can do it!
I'm doing it month by month, hoping to stay AF I think, I don't know if I can ever trust myself to drink sensibly🤨
I'm on holiday the last week of Feb, so that will be interesting😅

We can 🙌🏻 that’s exactly how I will do it also going forward, one month at a time.
like yourself I can moderate for so long then all bets are off 😂 also I’m really enjoying not having a hangover feels great to wake up on the weekend and have 2 days for myself and actually enjoy my time off instead of wasting money and literally paying to feel like shit when did that become a thing! 😂
why would I want to drink on my 2 days of rest from a long week!
ahh I’m sure you can do a sober holiday just think how rested and great you’ll feel after and what a great achievement that would be you’ve got this 🙌🏻

Well done everyone! I was very tempted last night after a shitty day - DH gave up a few days ago so there was wine open but I gave it a miss. Wine is still our ‘go-to’ when feeling stressed so I need to think about that - DH made a positive choice to have a day off DJ to drink with my brother when he visited (and turned up with a nice bottle of wine) and went back to it, but the last few evenings I felt like it was a response to stress from work which is less positive. I won’t be drinking this weekend as driving both evenings so am going to push in through to next weekend and see how I feel.
Well done to everyone that completed dry or drier January and thanks for the thread @BulldogMumma .

I've created this thread in Chat if anyone wants to do Damp Feb, alcohol moderation, into Feb.

I've found this thread massively useful for accountability and insights- thanks to all- but I don't want to annoy people who have decided to stay AF going forward (well done!) with chat about actual drinking!

All welcome!

Damp Feb! For DJ survivors and Feb drink moderation fans! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/5265391-damp-feb-for-dj-survivors-and-feb-drink-moderation-fans

That’s a great idea@Fordian shall we just keep this thread going for the DJ and beyond?? @BulldogMumma how does everyone feel about that? It doesn’t bother me if users are abstaining or moderating I think we can all learn something from both but as I plan to stay AF and this thread has been a massive help for accountability and relatability would be great to keep it going also 😊

Morning all. Mission accomplished! 😃🎉

Well done to everyone, especially those who were drinking more than they were comfortable with before - it's a massive achievement to break a longstanding pattern and make a positive change, whatever that looks like.

Looking back, the month seems to have gone quite quickly, but I'm pleased it's February - the white Bordeaux will be going into the fridge later😊.

I had started to get tired of the alts. The beers and fake gin are lovely, but I don't want to drink them every night. The CBD drinks are too sweet for me (apart from a couple of the Trip ones). I had a Little Rick the other night and there was so much sugar in it - I felt quite sick! I'll be giving those away to a TT friend!

Thanks to @BulldogMumma for starting this thread, and to @Fordian for the new Damp February thread. We're all on very different journeys, often with quite different perspectives on alcohol in general, so having two threads might be a good idea.

Is anyone doing the sober spring? It's a longer milestone but I have high hopes.

I've taken on the sober spring via the try dry. I'm hoping it's going to help my journey to 1.5st weightloss. (5'6/81kg)

Ok going to go for a liver scan and full bloods too once I've saved enough money to have it all done privately.

Good for you!! I was going to sign up for sober spring but decided to do it monthly I think that runs till June and I didn’t want to set myself up for failure but given my recent out look I’m pretty sure I will be on board!!
Goid luck with it and with your tests I will be having my bloods done also!

I meant my weight was s currently 81kg, I'm aiming to get back on the 60'kg range like I was 5years ago!

I think getting our bloods done will give us some reassurance 😀