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

[kokeshi]

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

LFT is a liver function test. As far as I can remember, it was my gamma GT that were ridiculously high.

Here's a wee fact sheet about LFTs and what's tested.

Enjoy the ring!

indeed!

Watched the film. DD1 into bed and asleep. Her sodding guinea pig bit me. I know they dont bite (much) but he took a chunk out.

Not feelng so well right now, but hey, time for bed.

Goodnight for now and sleep well everyone.

Hi everyone, hope you all had a good Friday night.

Last night was really weird for me. Went out with friends for a really nice meal, but I can't remember the last time I celebrated a birthday without a drink. I always said the next time my birthday fell on a Friday 13th I'd be too old to enjoy it, but I didn't know abstaining from alcohol would be the reason why! Still, I'm glad I didn't. I think it's finally dawned on my that one glass - for me - is one glass too many. Like someone in an AA meeting said 'It's like a theif in the night'.

H is going out to a party tonight and dds will be very tired and fractious because they came out with us last night. They're scaring me already and they're not even up yet!

Love to you all and good luck with the rest of the weekend!

Well done to you 2sugars, are you very proud of yourself? Keep it up.

How are you feeling today purpleone? Hope you're not too bad.

How is everyone else doing?

Hi all, still lurking as ever. I joined weight watchers last week as thought it may help me to cut down drinking. My logic was that if I have to have my weight loss announced each week then I would be determined to lose some. I switched my wine consumption each night to 2 x gin and slimline tonics. I lost 3lb. I will keep on going as determined to stop drinking wine every night. I wonder how many people use weight watchers to help them stop drinking?

Hope you are all ok. Read with great interest all the posts and must say have never encountered such bravery and inspiration as you read on here.

Much love to you all.
XX

Hey Flowertop, great to see you posting. You know, whatever method works for you is absolutely the right one. If it motivates you and gives you a target to work towards (and support of sorts) then it's all good.

Drink is loaded with calories, especially beer and wine. I don't think folk realise actually. I was quite fat when I was drinking even though I hardly ate anything. when I did I ate all the wrong things and I looked awful. Seriously, when you start to feel better about how you look, it gives you the drive to keep going.

Take care

It's true what you say kokeshi and flowertop, about the calories.

A lady in the supermarket really put her foot in it last night and asked me when it was due! . If I stand to the side and look in the mirror, I do actually look about 6 months pg. Damn Gok and his 'slimline sihouette'!. Usually wear joggers these days as nothing of mine fits me anymore. Oh, how the kids laughed at me when the button pinged off my jeans.

Just been looking at this cider label on the bottle and it says 193 calories PER PINT. 1 pint = 0.5 litres. 3 litre bottle is about 6 pints. 1158 total calories. .

I don't eat much either. Have a main meal in the evening but not much more than that. Eating all the wrong crap late at night, and feeding my huge passion for cheese, crisps and biscuits.
5 years ago I was 9 stone, size 10/12. Am only 5 foot 4 also. I now weigh in at 11 and a half stone and wear a size 16.

I do have a stepper machine and weights, and I do use them. Kinda defeats the whole object when I'm chucking gallons of calories down my neck at night, then going straight to bed.

It's a beautiful day here - hoping everyone is well x x

Fio- I've lost over 2 stones since I stopped drinking.

Hope evryone os ok tonight. x

God- sorry about the spellings ladies! Hey and I'm sober...!

Hello everyone.
PO am in awe of how you have picked yourself up, well done!
Daisy, how is your ds? Is he still dining out on it?
I've had a bad few weeks and thought I was falling into a black hole but I seem to have picked up a bit. I phoned a local womens centre and spoke to someone very friendly on Friday. They do cofee mornings and relaxation sessions so I will be popping in (taking a deep breath). They also do counselling so I might put my name down (a waiting list of a couple of months). I know the only way to make yourself better is to help yourself (get off your arse) so I will prioritise this now. I spent most of the week off last week (and don't want to go back but have to). I will be taking regular time off now.
Oh no here comes ds to help with typoing

Kokeshi
Have just read your reply to the poster re; pulsatile (sp) tinnitus. God I've had this for about 3 weeks now. It doesn';t happen all the time but is quite annoying. I have just put it down to stress, don;t want bother the gp with it. ( I know you are very knowledgable in all things ears). Although having said that I'm not sure it is in time with my pulse unless my pulse is all over the shop. Maybe should pop to gp's, God they'll be seeing alot more of me now I think!

He's fine glowwormish, but yes, still trying to dine out on it

I think my pregnancy weight loss is probably due to my lack of drinking as well....although I did have a glass of wine last night. But really because it was there rather than because I needed to iyswim.

glowwormish, nice to see you again. I'd definitely go to the Gp and ask for some advice, when I lost my hearing one of the most intolerable aspects was the tinnitus. Awful. And the more you concentrate on it, the worse it gets.

HAve you ever tried any meditation or relaxation techniques yourself? A simple deep breathing could ease it a little. My sympathies.

Hi daisy

Hi all,

I did it...I didn't drink last night and I will not drink tonight! I am going to beat this demon and thanks to everyone for the support.

PO - I get where you are coming from ref the beer belly. I have noticed that mine is getting less pronounced and it feels great when I put my jeans on and don't look like I am trying to fit into jeans 2 sizes smaller.

Well done Zarah, that's the attitude to have. It is possible if you put your mind to it, and you feel really fantastic about yourself afterwards eh? Keep stringing those sober days together, one at a time: that's how you beat this.

Simple

Morning
Well done to everyone, your efforts are inspiring

Haven't been online for a few days so here's my wine update from last week. Think I could have done a bit better tbh so this week I am going to try harder.
Going to list it so I can look back over next few weeks and hopefully see a dramatic reduction! No wine on Mon-Wed, 3 glasses on Thurs night and 1 glass on Friday night. We were away at the weekend and wine consumption was a bit excessive, overall think I drank a bottle over the course of Saturday night and the same again last night. So 3 bottles altogether last week (approx one less than usual), this week's aim is to cut that down to two bottles or less and have a four day run of wine-free days. Small steps...

Re: the weight thing, a few lbs off would be great here too! Alcohol is so blardy calorific! Lol at WW points on wine, Fio - I used to do the same..at the weekends I would only have 10 pts to 'spend' on food because I had to allow for my wine consumption, crazy isn't it. Another health reason for trying to cut down is that I exercise regularly and know that I don't run as well after a night glugging wine then eating rubbishy snacks.

All the best for this week x

Good for you funkydory! I've mentioned this on the thread before but alcohol doesn't just affect the liver, it impacts badly in every organ in the body, and much more so in women than in men.

It's really sad to see middle aged career drinkers drinkers walking with wizened faces, and zimmer frames due to peripheral neuropathy. If you're a runner, it may give you that extra motivation when you think of just how damaging alcohol is to your peripheral nerves as well as wrecking your brain.

Also recommend taking lots of B vitamins, eating cereals and green leafy veg. Alcohol promotes depletion of our body's stores of these vits and decreases its ability to absorb them. Double whammy really.

It frightened the life out of me every time I read the damage I was doing to myself.

How's everyone today?

pregnant. I had a scan today to see what's going on, and yes, it's true. I still have my coil in place and am on drugs for one thing and another. Not planned and don't know what to do. Could do with a drink but I feel sick.

BlaDeBla

I don't know what to say - have you got any support in real life?

TBH I've only told a few friends. DH doesn't want more children and frankly I would prefer not to. The thought of babies' nappies fills me with some horror.

My family, as I expect some of you know, are dysfunctional at best. I do not plan to tell them. I am currently thinking about seeking an injunction against my father - he has been sending abusive letters, again. He has also started to threaten violence against my family and even my mother, again.

Morning

Bladebla, from me too.

Last night off the wine was much easier than last week. Slept really well which was bliss, no waking at 5am when the alcohol's worn off guiltily thinking 'why did I drink?' last night. Kokeshi, the health issues scare me enormously too. I used to convince myself that my 2 to 3 glasses (pretty large glasses so up to two-thirds of a bottle) of red wine in an evening were beneficial to my health as they were helping me destress, anti-oxidants in red wine etc (totally deluding myself obviously). But waking dehydrated and feeling crap really doesn't make me feel healthy at all! I think the size of the wine glasses we've got used to is crazy here. If we've been on holiday in France or somewhere on the continent then a glass of wine is still served in what looks like the little 70's style wineglasses to me, so it is just the one unit. Much healthier than the huge glasses we're becoming accustomed to that can hold a up to a third of a bottle.

I really should be more mindful of the health risks of alcohol. It's the 'would never happen to me' thinking trap even though I have worked directly people with alcohol-related illnesses in the past: mobity problems, peripheral neuropathy, end-stage liver disease etc. Not pleasant. I think my consumption of 3-4 bottles of wine a week is too much but probably typical of many women nowadays unfortunately. What has scared me into cutting back is the worry that it could become a physical dependency over time. It certainly was becoming a psychological habit as I was using those few glasses in the evening to wind down.

HI Funky- you're sounding really good.

I worked with people with drug and alcohol problems too, you'd think it would help make you 'immune' to it, but of course it doesn't!

I had a friend came to see me ages ago, really upset as one of her family had collapsed due to liver failure- alcohol induced- and was near death in hospital. I was sat listening to her talk about the devastation their alcoholism had upon the family, sipping from a mug-full of vodka...
It took me a while to kind of accept that I couldn't really rationalise my way out of it at the time.

HI bladebla- hope you are feeling ok and can work your way through this.

Hi everyone else.

BlaDeBla, I hope you are ok? I was in a similar situation 18 months ago and i did have the baby and dont regret it at all now. At the time though and all through the pregnancy I was in complete denial I was even having a baby (though I stayed off the wine) Now I look at him though and think he was just meant to be here. Good Luck with whatever you decide though, no-one will judge you here x

I am off it again. Slept loads better and blah blah blah. Just wish I could keep this mindset for longer. I seem to go through periods of either.

Ikwym about knowing people etc. Why on earth doesnt it sink in? My friends sister is dying in hopsital as her 2nd liver transplant is in chrocnic rejection (not alcohol related) and everytime I speak to her I feel like shit about my own behaviour I really need to get a grip

Bladebla I read your post on the other thread and didn't realise it was you, how dumb am I? How many wks pg are you? Don't really know what to say really, just hugs. I often think about 'what if'. We have 2 and dp definately doesn't wnat any more. I am quite happy not to be waking with a baby in the night and right now it would be a catastrophe. I feel like 100 right now anyway (not 39).
Any more thoughts on what you are going to do? Sorry if that's nosey!