Problem/Dependent Drinkers and Alcoholics (recovering or active) Support III

[ornamentalhaggis]

Time for a new thread already!

Welcome to the thread, the purpose of this is to give anyone who is having any trouble with their drinking, a safe place 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.

Thank you to all of those who have kept it going thus far, and welcome to anyone who has decided the time has come to ask for help.

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

Jump right in, the water's fine

kokeshi

It's just a social network site havalina. Kokeshi, teasle, Purpleone, jellibabe and Daisy are on it from this thread AFAIK. You can have chats with other members on there, like a thread, not real time like MSN.

brassic how on earth do I find these people though? As far as I know people go by their real names on fb, thats what confuses me, I can never find anyone lol

Ach, honesty - I'm crap at it and have drunk a fair bit tonight just to get brave enough to start posting on here again.

So sorry to hear about your mum havalina xx

Night girls. I'll be back on tomorrow afternoon. Sleep well everyone.

I'll CAT you with my user ID gerbra.

Guys at this point, I'm bowing out [drunkenly]. Have a GP appointment first thing tomorrow and want to try and mitigate the bloodshot eyes as much as poss...
good luck tomorrow brassic and nice to meet you and havalina
gerbra x

Oh, you don't accept CATs. I'm not sure how to do it then. My email address is my full name so I can't post it.

Got to go to bed now anyway. Speak tomorrow

Thanks gerbra - good luck at your appt. too xx

Good luck Brassic, you'll be fine (I bet you'll feel relieved).
Night all
Gerbra x
(ps. no idea what CAT is so not surprised you couldn't find me!)

Thanks anyway, nice to meet you all

Night Havalina,
catch up soon...
Gebra x

Hi all, great to see you back BM. It is really strange as I was going to post on here to today to ask where you are. Good luck today. You are such a strong lady (proof that you absteined (sp?) so long last year!) that this must just be a low period. I did drink last night unfortunately but will keep reading the thread to give me some inspiriation.
XX

Good to see you back posting on here BM. xx

Hello, anyone about?
Brassic, hope today went well...I had my GP's appointment but couldn't bring up the drinking...another subject for another time!
Aiming for another sober Monday, followed by (hopefully) a sober Tuesday. Have so much work on at the moment, I could honestly do without the hangover!
Hope everyone's well...

Thanks for the welcome back FT and Teasle

Gerbra, thanks for asking about my appt. It went really well and I was lucky that no-one else turned up so I got to spend the afternoon talking in depth about my history with alcohol and what they could offer me.

I'm sorry that you didn't get to tell your GP about your drinking. Well done on your Sober Monday this week though, and good luck for increasing it to Tuesday next week.

Is this a regular thing we could all try to join in with, the Sober Monday thing I mean? I think it sounds good, especially if we try to expand it by a day each week when everyone's ready.

Oh, btw gerbra, CAT means Contact Another Talker. There's a blue line above each post with the posters chat name to the left, and an exclamation mark and envelope to the far right. If you pay to CAT you can click on the envelope and send a message to other posters offboard. I tried to send you my Facebook ID last night, but it says that you've opted not to receive CATs. You have to go into My Registration I think to change your options. You don't have to pay to receive CATs, just to send them.

Ah - makes sense now - I will go into my settings tomorrow and change them.
Really pleasd to hear today went so well Brassic . I can imagine that's a huge relief to be able to speak honestly and get stuff off your chest? I've effectively fibbed to my DP, GP and everyone else I know (apart from my two best friends) about the amount and frequency I drink and it's very isolating...
Did you end the session with a plan of action?

It was a relief and it was much easier than I'd anticipated. I think we all lie about the severity of our drinking at first though. Tbh, I'm not sure I even knew how much I was drinking when I first realised that I had a problem anyway. I'd been subconsciously trying to hide it from myself, let alone tell anyone else how bad it had got.

I do have an action plan, but I'm still confused about why I need to do everything that's suggested. I have to go back next week with DS's dad, who's being my 'supporter' for want of a better word, so I can ask more then.

It wasn't anything to be scared about though, but I was absolutely shitting myself this morning.

FWIW, I felt like that when I saw someone for a year for 'eating issues'...they asked me to do various things every week and half the time I couldn't understand why it was useful or even relevant!
I did do what they asked me to do (reluctantly) - it usually involved me writing lots of things down (and getting my friends involved in character descriptions - which was v cringeworthy!), but I think the end result was positive - so there may be a method to the madness?
Well done you Brassic - I'd be really chuffed if I'd made that step (still very much in denial and hoping I can sort it myself ), it's a brave thing to do, and positive...
Gerbra x

God yes, that does sound cringey. I don't have to do anything like that thankfully.

I haven't read your previous posts on here so don't know anything about your alcohol/food history. I do think that it's common to 'switch' dependancies though or have dual addictions.

I'm off to bed now. Thanks for asking about the appt. gerbra. Night all xx

Glad to hear it went well...
Off to bed too - well overdue as usual!
Gerbra x

OOPS - tried in vain to keep 2 sep identities (ie. one reasonably normal and one where I could be honest about drinking - but being a drinker that's obviously not going to work in the long term! Sorry for confusion anyone...
Gebra x

Just finished mowing the lawn and having a think - feel a bit guilty about this dual identity.

It was never meant to be dishonest...

The only reason I did was because sometimes if I posted, (if my name was recognised), i didn't necessarily want to be recognised as 'the problem drinker'. Does that sound silly? I could be wrong, but at times I think it does affect how other people view you / listen to you imo.
Anyway, sorry guys, I will be putting greendays out to grass and will be just gerbra now

Gerbra x

Oh don't worry about it, I didn't even notice! I imagine you're much more bothered about it than anyone else. You can do whatever you like you know. I don't have separate identities purely because I'd end up doing something similar!

Thanks Kokeshi - to be honest I feel a bit but glad greendays has to go - it did get confusing once and got myself into a bit of a pickle - gerbra all the way from now on...
(have actually realised just doing a name change would be a lot simpler!)
Gerbra x

Well done for mowing the lawn, by the way, that's very productive. I'm nursing a swollen jaw - had my wisdom tooth out this morning and it's bloody louping, as they'd say up here.