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Original poster

Alcoholics or Dependant Drinkers Club

791 replies

Rhubarb · 24/04/2006 12:43

For SoftStuff, tyedye and anyone else who wants to join.

The rules are that you HAVE to sign in every night to let us know TRUTHFULLY how much you have drunk. You need to let us know your triggers too. So if you resisted for 12 hours but then cracked and had a beer - what finally snapped?

We'll be here to give you encouragement, support, advice and opinions.

OP posts:
kokeshi · 17/05/2006 23:43

Yum, hope you enjoyed your Ben and Jerry's Moony! Sending healing vibes for your ankle to get better! Pepperpots...I don't think 2 glasses is a failure! Just a blip. Don't give yourself a hard time hun.

Best wishes to everyone else as well xxxx

kokeshi · 17/05/2006 23:45

Oh martian, I didn't get your email, so I CAT'd you. Hope yout evening was good for you xxx

dandycandyjellybean · 18/05/2006 07:53

Pepperpots, totally agree with kokeshi, although I know just how disappointed you are feeling (been there a million times!!!!) it is just a blip and not a failure at all. Success is continuing to strive for your goal, and, overall, you won't have stopped that will you? Hang in there, today is another day.

I managed to stick to my limits Shock(except for a couple of swigs of some concoction dh had cooked up and wanted me to try) so am extremely pleased. Grin Slept totally crap though Sad. In bed for 11, awake again at 1.15, and just kept dropping off/waking up all through the night. Felt like I spent more of it awake than asleep, so feel extremely knackered this morning [baggy eyed emoticon!!!]. Never mind, feel good that I stuck to my limits. Hope you all had a good night. Talk tonight. SmileXXX

dandycandyjellybean · 18/05/2006 07:55

Oh and well done themoon66 for sticking to things despite your ankle set-back. Martian, hey-ho, I know the scene, story of my life! We'll get there in the end, we just have to keep on trying...Grin

themoon66 · 18/05/2006 12:50

3 alcohol free nights and now starting to feel a bit better. My sleep has improved dramatically, although I seem to suffer very vivid dreams and nightmares. Is anyone else getting theses?? Also wake with what feels like a hangover in the mornings, which I can never shake off till lunchtime. Skin is looking better as I treated myself to posh face cream at the weekend, seeing as ive saved money not buying cava, stella etc.

butty · 18/05/2006 13:00

oh well,

i blew my one night a week rule and got totally leathered last night.

I ended up going out with my bro as back from uni for a week and i darnk far too much, then to top it off, i got a takeout on the way home.

Feel like total shit today and i am beginning to wonder how i used to manage it on a weeknite???

Well my decision is to stay home tomorrow night and watch big brother, whether i acheive staying in or not i don't know,but i will give it a crack.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Speak soon.

Butty.xxx

tyedye · 18/05/2006 13:23

major domestic crisis,BBL,good luck all.

OneDayAtATime · 18/05/2006 16:40

well I got bladdered last night too! I can go a few days without then one night on the piss and I am back to square one!
I will give up again on monday for the week as friends birthday sunday and going out for a meal, although I have volunteered to drive so will not be drinking! Taking the kids too so definitely not drinking.
How is everyone else? Good on you themoon66 keep it up.

dandycandyjellybean · 19/05/2006 08:03

Not quite so good last night. Stuck pretty much to my pre-determined amount, but dh had the whiskey bottle out coz he's got a rotten cold and was making hot toddys, so I couldn't resist the odd extra swig or two.....Blush Sad never mind....on the up side I slept better Grin. How's everyone else today?

martian · 19/05/2006 11:40

I did bog standard yesterday. Two large cans of 4% lager. Rotten headache today though ...

themoon66 · 19/05/2006 12:02

Well - I managed another night on the cranberry and lemonade. DH even decided to forgo his lager after the gym. Seems I'm inspiring him to think about his alcohol consumption too. This morning we woke up and he said 'god I feel worse than if i'd been drinking'. He had headache and felt woozy. He said if he didn't know better he'd have sworn he'd been mixing his drinks all night!

I too have woken with a headache and dizzy, spaced-out feeling every morning this week. I also get very vivid dreams and nighmares.

I work in mental health and one of the doctors over-heard me discussing this with a colleague about an hour ago. He went on to tell me it was a mild form of DTs Shock. He said alchol stops you dreaming so when you stop drinking your brain has to catch up with that type of sleep.

Softstuff - didn't you complain of nightmares too?? Now we have our explanation (this doctor is the drug and alcohol specialist too).

Bumblelion · 19/05/2006 12:14

Thought I would log on and record my success (well, to start with anyway). Have not had an alcoholic drink since Sunday. How I have managed it I do not know, for me it was such a habitual thing - get in from work (or work from home), drink coffee all day (caffeine rush) and then vodka and diet coke all night. Now limit myself to 2 coffees a day (two days I have got by on 1 coffee) but fill up on water in between. Cannot find a drink to replace vodka and diet coke yet indoors but am drinking lots of water.

Tonight is my night out with my boyfriend (only get 1 night a week when children are with their dad) but it will make a change not to go out "already on my way". My BH said he would bring in some vodka and diet coke so I could have a drink while I am getting ready (not that it takes me that long) but I don't really feel comfortable having vodka in the house as I know that will mean I will drink it tomorrow and also Sunday (if I don't finish it before then).

I don't want to deprive myself completely, just don't want to drink indoors really.

Will let you know how the weekend has gone on Monday.

If worse comes to worse, I can always start again Monday. I have never had a night off from alcohol (this being my first week) and, for me, 4 nights is very good.

butty · 19/05/2006 13:37

Hi everyone,

sounds like everyone is doing really well, and as for my promise of stopping in tonight, i don't think i shall be keeping it.

Having a bit of a bad day with yet further developments regarding my son and the need for more restrictive special equipment.

God, i just wish everything in my life could be normal for a change rather than have to face all this stuff i never imagined as a parent i would ever go through.

Sorry to rant, just really need to vent and get it all off my chest, i do think a night out is in call for and although i have made a promise, i couldn't care less today, and that is really bad considering how supportive everyone has been to me and others, but then i have done pretty well over the past 2 weeks with only the odd blip.

Hope everyone else is coping a little better than my sorryful self at the moment.

Speak to you all soon, although not tonight.

Butty.xxx

kokeshi · 19/05/2006 13:57

Hi all,

I think the bravest thing you guys have been is totally honest on this thread...despite the fact the it would be so easy to gloss over your "blips" and pretend they didn't happen. There is a lot of strength, courage and determination in all of you. Even if you feel like you go back to square one, you most definitely don't! I know how hard it is to even contemplate an evening without drink when it's such and ingrained habit and you've all moved mountains by talking about it, one day at a time. Your honesty and candour is a real boost to all who read it.

Bumblelion · 19/05/2006 14:59

Butty, don't be too hard on yourself. I also have a child with special needs and sometimes we all need a break from being a parent in circumstances which we would not wish for. Saying that, I feel that if I have a night out to recharge my batteries when my children are with their dad, if anything it is good for me. Reinforces the fact that I am not just a single working mother to 3 children, one of who has a few problems. Makes me feel like a person again.

Don't be hard on yourself. We have all been there. We each need to take that little bit of time to ourselves and be selfish and do what we want (without hurting anyone else). What I am trying to say is I am going out tonight, will probably end up inebriated but as long as I don't hurt anyone with my actions or words and if it makes me feel better in myself (although probably not physically in the morning!) then everything will be fine.

martian · 19/05/2006 16:59

I can't help but wonder, for all those fabbo people on here who are succeeding in cutting out alcohol but waking up feeling grotty etc., didn't you also feel pretty shite waking up while being a boozer? I feel lousy every morning really - headachey, tired, yuk.

themoon66 · 20/05/2006 13:17

Martian - I had/have amazing tolerance to alcohol and used to drink a full bottle of wine, plus spirits (pernod or vodka) and still get up for work the next day. I rarely had a headache, although when i think about it, i wasn't really 100% and it would take me till about 11am to really feel with it.

sansouci · 20/05/2006 14:00

I have a question: how do you know you're an alcoholic? My GP said it was when you drink to relax: IMO that would make most of us confirmed alkies! Seriously, how do you know?

martian · 20/05/2006 19:25

How long did you keep up that rate of drinking, themoon? And how old were you at the time? Because I've noticed now I'm nearing 40 that my tolerance is lower. At my heavier drinking phases 10 years or so ago I rarely had a headache, but now i feel it's taking its toll ...

themoon66 · 20/05/2006 19:31

I was drinking that amount up to 2 weeks ago when this thread started. I'd only got that bad since Xmas really.

Overall i think my drinking goes up and down. It creeps up over months, then I cut down (like now), but then I start again, thinking I can control it, but up it slowly creeps again.

I'm a bit older than you (wrong side of 40) and can honestly say age has made not difference to my tolerance.

martian · 20/05/2006 22:30

Well, themoon, maybe only drinking heavily for a few months means you've done no lasting 'damage'? I feel as though I've been a fairly 'soaked sponge' alcohol-wise for quite a few years now (5 I guess honestly speaking) and I do feel the effect of it now. At the beginning I could drink much more than now and not feel anything much the next day whereas now if I drink more than my 'quota' of beers per day I instantly feel it the next day.

themoon66 · 21/05/2006 09:16

No Martian - not months. I've been up and down, on and off for flippin years... probably about 10. I tend to get really bad in the run up to Xmas, then cut down in Jan/Feb, then it starts to creep up again over the summer and peaks in my summer holiday. I get home but carry on drinking each night at holiday levels. Then I get out winter clothes and think I need to lose weight. So I cut down again. Xmas comes up again and - hey-ho, mooney is back up in piss-head land again!

I can really do without spending so much money on alcohol too. 6 bottles of wine a week and a veritable crate of stella artois is such a huge waste of money.

By the way, I'm typing this after drinking 4 tall cans of stella last night, getting to bed at 1.30am, and not a sniff of a hangover this morning.

martian · 21/05/2006 13:27

Ok, ok, you've convinced me, you have better hangover resistance than me! Smile

tyedye · 21/05/2006 16:28

Hi all,sansouci and everyone else,ive been doing some research,alcohol dependence syndrome is characterised by;narrowing of the drinking repertoire,problem drinkers tend to drink the same type of alcohol,and the same amounts irrespective of situation etc.
Problem drinkers devote alot of time and effort in maintaining their supply of alcohol.
Increased tolerance,repeated withdrawal symptoms,ie,sweating, the shakes,depression,irritability etc....
Compulsion to drink,the feeling of being "driven"to drink,loss of control.
Relief or avoidance of withdrawal symptoms by further drinking,
Reinstatement of dependence after abstinence.
Well,explains alot to me!

themoon66 · 21/05/2006 20:33

Tyedye - reading your list just now... a lot of it sounds pretty familiar to me. I stick to same sort of drinks (cava, lager) but i gave up vodka last year and haven't gone back to it.

About spending time and effort getting my supply in .... i take a detour on way home from work to go to Lidls for their delicious fizzy italian white wine and german pils lager (nicer even than stella).

And, last monday morning my hand was shaking so much I had to go to work without mascara!

Nuff said Sad