Dependent Drinkers and Alcoholics (recovering or active) Support Thread II?

[kokeshi]

Welcome to the thread, the purpose of this is to give anyone, who is having any trouble with their drinking, to come and post about it honestly and without judgement.

There are many of us that use the thread for support and encouragement: some in recovery, others just needing a place to share about their worries. It's been going on in one form of another for a while now and has helped many people.

Everybody's welcome, no matter what stage your drinking is at.

Jump right in, the water's fine

can i buy vitamin b at the chemists though as you have to cough up at least one major organ to get an appointment at our GPs ?

mind you if this cold/cough continues i might be able to manage a lung!!!

The vitamin B supplements that they prescribe for people with alcohol problems tend to be extra strength, but I'm sure the OTC ones (don't forget the thiamine - B1) will help anyway. Alternatively, there's an injection you can get (pabrinex)that gives you a large dose in one go. It depends on whether you wnat to be honest with your GP, but don't minimise the what you're doing, it's a huge life change and you need support.

It's especially important if you have been drinking very regularly over a long period; the physical withdrawal effects can be quite a shock and in some cases make you feel quite ill. If it were me, I'd go just to get checked over. They'll likely take bloods to test for liver damage and may offer you some further support.

So do you think i will get withdrawl symptoms then? so far i feel fine ,no shaking or feeling ill ,how long is it before it will kick in ? now been alcohol free for 34 hours. Will definately go and buy some tablets though , I ate loads of wholemeal bread and green veggies while i was drinking in the vain hope that i was at least boosting my vit b stocks !

Thanks kokeshi for all your help and support and of course everyone else who has been so kind on here

Hi JWFMT, if you haven't had any withdrawals in the first 36 hours, it's likely you will be fine. Other things to watch out for are restlessness, anxiety, insomnia which may last a bit longer. Don't worry about this, it will get better as your body adjusts, but I think it's important to at least be aware that these are normal reactions.

Great that you were eating well when you were drinking, the only problem with that is that alcohol decreases absorption of the B vitamins. So even if you did eat fantastically well, the chances are you weren't able to store them properly. Keep up with the good diet now and make sure that you drink plenty of water/fluids. I would recommend trying to cut down on coffee and tea as they might excaserbate sleep problems, but don't worry about this too much. It's way better to hit the nescafe than the offie!

Keep talking and posting about feeligns that may crop up for you. Alternatively it's good to keep a journal or diary to chart your progress.

Hey Fio! CAn you really buy high potency B vits? That's fab. I had a look about a year ago in Holland and Barratt and they only had the amateur versions. How are you doing?

Cheers fio ,theres a couple of health food shops in town. No problems with sleep so far ,although i am one of those incredibly lucky people who can sleep anywhere anytime anyhow ,regardless of noise ,light ,comfort ( even when i wasnt mainlining pinot grigio )

Will keep on with the caffeine for now ,because i definateley get withdrawls from that. Probably drink about 6-8 coffes and 3 cans of diet coke a day . One thing at a time though

Fio i dont mind wierd coloured wee ,but will they give me a nice shiny coat ?

Wow, that's a lot of caffeine! Yeah, I agree, one thing at a time and if you can sleep on that you're doing really well! I wish I could sleep .

I'm good Fio, apart from chronic insomnia I'm well. Today at least

yes i am now immune to the effects of caffiene , when my dd was tiny and woke through the night i would often have a cup or two of coffee and go staright back to sleep . You hate me now dont you

speak to you all later must do one useful/productive/soul destroying piece of housework today

Hi everyone

Justwater well done on your first 36 hours

Fio - I'll have a look for those B vits tomorrow while I'm out. Thanks.

I'm shaking with rage and posting on here so that I don't have a go at ex-p again. He's on holiday from work and still living here, even though we'd agreed that he would move out early this month. I've got raging PMT and all the things that irritate me about him are in my face and pissing me off. We've just had a blazing row and I wish he'd piss off out for a bit.

I asked him to put an old PC up in the loft before Christmas. It was for DS's room but I didn't have time to rearrange his furniture so wanted it stored. I've been on at him for 2 weeks now to get it down so we can set it up. Turns out he didn't store it in the loft but in the fucking airing cupboard, which has a heater and is always boiling hot. I never keep anything electrical in there as it doesn't seem safe - he knows this! So we've been screaming at each other about whether the computer is going to work now or not, when actually I don't even care that much. What I care about is him ignoring me and doing what he wants with my things in my home. I've asked him to store medicine in the lockable medicine cabinet in the bathroom - will he do this? NO. Instead he stashes packets of tablets in the kitchen cabinets, in my desk drawers, hides them between books in the bookcase etc. I don't want them locked away because I think DS will take them - I don't think he would. I want them in the medicine cabinet because that's the obvious place to store medicines FFS! When he's looking for his tablets we have to hunt all the usual hiding places to track them down.

He's just come in here again to apologise for shouting. I don't give a shit about shouting! I just want him to live by a few simple rules while he's here. His retaliation is that I keep leaving a razor blade on the side of the bath and DS might pick it up. I know this is true and if he mentions it's there I run to the bathroom and lock it away and then come back and apologise. I don't start a fucking argument debating the risk/ non-risk of leaving razor blades about. I accept that I'm wrong and deal with it. Is it just him or are all men this fucking irritating and difficult to live with?

Oh definitely don't do anything about the caffeine at the moment! I was actually the same at one point, I think when I first stopped drinking I was hitting the caffeine as a replacement. I remember going to Bar Budda at one point and ordering a triple espresso, because my friends were drinking and I wanted a 'hit' too . Caffeine withdrawals are nasty.

Oh poor you BM. Well, I guess you could always become a lesbian .

My sympathies really, men are just a different species IME. Have you tried to see if the PC works yet?

My caffeine and nicotine intake have soared since I stopped drinking - not that they were low before. I can easily drink 3 cans of diet coke and smoke 6 cigarettes before the school run . I don't think it's because I'm looking for a hit. More that I'm very edgy and nervy now.

I think I'll tackle the nicotine addiction before caffeine. Actually when I stop smoking I don't drink as much diet coke. I think nicotine chases caffeine out of the body, or actually it might be that alcohol chases nicotine out of the system. I'm not sure, I know there's something in one of those though.

Thanks Kokeshi. Unfortunately the PC does work. So now he's being smug and keeps coming in here shouting at me that "heat RISES". I don't even really care about the computer, or about his tablets. It's him treating me like I'm a neurotic control freak that really winds me up. I dont accept that it's unreasonable to ask a guest to follow a couple of simple rules.

Oh I hate man-smuggery. Will he keep it going for aaaaaaaaaaaaaages? Maybe time for a bit of a sit down talk p'rhaps? You know without shouting and bawling at each other? MAybe best to let things settle down first (and maybe not when you're premenstural). I don't think it's unreasonable at all to expect guests to live by rules actually. Especially when it's important to your own well-being. Hope you work it out.

Wow! that's expensive for those B vits! I don't think mine cost as much as that. I've been taking the heavy duty tablets for about a week now and the ordinary ones for nearly 2 months. TBH I can't tell the difference. That make of high dose B doesn't have much Folic Acid in it. I don't know why not. At the moment I'm taking quite a lot of folic acid too, but again I don't know if it makes any difference.

I was given a depression questionnaire by my gp, and it looks as though I'm getting pretty gloomy. I think I've been trying hard to self-medicate with alcohol, which is frankly dangerous. My appetite is all over the place which is a bad sign, and I am gagging for a fag!

Has anyone else forced alcohol down their throat when they don't want it? It feels the same as eating when you are full (I'm doing that quite a lot at the moment too). It feels very very bad indeed.