Alcohol advice please !

[Twosugarsplease]

Since giving up smoking last November, I am drinking most nights ! Like I've given up one habit and clung to another. I drink vodka and coke ( used to 2 or 3 nights ) but now most. I have 3 in a large glass so maybe an inch of vodka and about 6 inches of coke, ideally ice too ! Lovely.....and my time to chill after a long and busy day. But I can't go on doing this ! Decided to just stick to weekends, chatting with dh were getting healthier together, he plays golf a lot, dc's do too, I'm kept going all day but need to find myself some thing to enjoy when little dc is in bed or when dh is in. So that's decided, I've made a promise to myself, also I've applied to do a course at college. What I am really concerned about is how my body will react to no alcohol all week ! It scared me, as I'm thinking about getting healthier....Amy whine house died trying to do the very thing !!!!!!! I'm scared. I sound pathetic I know, but I never gave that a thought. I had to wean myself off cigarettes will I have to do this with alcohol. ? I know I am not a shaking wreck without one and head stuck down the loo etc. I just love to chill out with a couple, I'm happy with a cuppa or a fizzy vimto too, but need to limit alcohol to weekends only, maybe sometimes not at all. Will my body suffer with the change ? X

I am struggling to know if you are serious or not!

In case you are, you aren't drinking at anything like the level of frequency or dependency where stopping is likely to cause any problems at all. Just do it.

Hi cakesandale....... Yeah I'm serious, apparently when you drink regularly or every night you need to cut down at first rather than just stop. I drink a 1/4 bottle, yeah it's the smallest one, but every night ? I have to stop this, and planning on a healthy alcohol free week, but wondered if it is enough to have to reduce gradually or am I being daft...that it is safe for me to just simply not have any mid week ?

It's only in serious alcohol dependancy that it is dangerous to just stop - I assume you do not have withdrawal symptoms such as tremors and hallucinations if you don't have a drink every day? That you don't crave a drink when you get up in the morning? If it's just the case that you enjoy a drink or 3 every evening, having functioned normally all day, it is perfectly safe to just stop drinking.
Proper alcohol withdrawal is dangerous, far more so than withdrawal from heroin for example, and should never be done without medical support but there is a big big difference between drinking maybe a bit more than the suggested daily amount and actually being physically dependant on alcohol

Hi Sally, thanks for your reply, feel a bit better for that. I am a bit of a worrier, I have been reading a vvvvv long thread about a mn'er struggling to give up completely....never got to the end, didn't have the time ! Really good thread with a lot of support. This was back in 2007, my little problem seemed so small, so kwym. Wonder how she did tho, if anyone knows ?

Current thread with support

Hi again, Twosugars. I hope you didn't think I was being dismissive, you just seem like someone who has got into the habit of enjoying a few drinks, more than a serious problem drinker.

It is quite hard changing your habit, just because it is so pleasurable and a quick way to relax. But if you are keen to do it you will be fine, whether you opt to stop altogether, or just drink on fewer days.

I am cutting right back myself - I was a very frequent, though not a problem, drinker. I have found it easier not to make rules that you then break and feel bad about, but just to decide not to have a drink unless you really fancy one. Ie don't have one just out of sheer habit. This is working for me, although I still have the odd riotous night out

I really wish you luck with it.

Thanks cakes, yeah I suppose putting it like that I shouldn't worry...just felt so bad, guilty too that my enjoyable chill time could turn into something to be concerned about. I'm 37 and have enjoyed having drinks prob since I was first married 15 yrs ago, prior to that your average teen on a Saturday night out, after that two nights a week, but since I gave up the cigs, I noticed I would quite like one every night. was starting to get a bit worried. when you said ' frequent' in regards to yourself...what quantity were you drinking ? If you don't mind me asking.

Well pretty much every day, maybe half a bottle of wine. Ish.

Though sometimes I'd cut back it always seemed to get back to that.

I have made the decision to cut back because i had breast cancer, got treated, put on weight with the treatment, need badly to lose it. And there is some research now to suggest alcohol isn't good for those who have proved susceptible to BC. Though the hospital told me moderate drinking was OK. But in any case I am losing the weight, and getting a lot more done with my time.

But don't feel guilty about what, from what you have said, seems like a relatively harmless bit of slight excess. We all have our vices, it's just a case of whether we can manage them or not. I am sure you can.

I am currently trying to stop smoking, I used to drink half to a bottle of red every day. I decided that since I associate alcohol with smoking, I'd give up the pop. Five days on and I'm feeling fine, in fact, I am sleeping much better than I used to with the alcohol.
I haven't had any withdrawel symptoms.

Well done kittens! I agree sleep is so much easier and better without the booze. For me, getting past the danger hour (between 8 and 9 at night) is the key. If I can do that, I don't even want it.

It's hard, but I guess it's worth it.

Yes, it had become a habit. I was making the dinner for 6pm so in my little world, 5.30 was a good time to have an aperatif. Ridiculous really.
Last night I decided I would have a beer, I went to the fridge, got one out, got distracted by DD and never drunk it. I've also managed to reduce my smoking by at least 50% without to much hard work.