Anyone gone teetotal after heavy drinking..if so how did you do it and for how long have you kept it up ??

[no1andno2]

Anyone ? I need some help and fast..........

CB Im with you. Thats exactly how I am. Cant stop at one and at a party I just go round mine sweeping until I fall over.

I have found this week if I keep focussing on the hangover feeling it has made me stay away.

Hold how you are feeling today and then keep remebering when you are tempted. Im 8 days in 9 tonight. Cant say I feel that much better but I am going to tackle the healthy eating this week and see if that makes a difference.

Craving a drink like mad but I am determined to stay strong.

keep posting here CB. We can help each other. I know its only a metter of time before I fall off the wagon and then I will need your support too.

x

You are doing v v well, no1andno2! Bloody hell, it's a long time not to have a drink! I had a half of cider at lunchtime then thought oh bugger, that's another unit. Last night dh and I shared a bottle of wine and ate a lot of supper. I am pretty fed-up with all this unit counting - it's like counting calories, and calorie counting is doomed.

I agree its very dull but it does focus the mind !

I am sure that more peolple are way over their units than let on. Or perhaps even know as they arent unit counting.

How are you doing CB ?

Hi n1&2, thanks for your support. Was so embarrassed and disgusted with myself and just feeling so vile yesterday. And, of course, was cramming junk into my mouth to try and make myself feel better. Anyway, back on it today, pouring water through myself and eating healthily. NO more alcohol (need to hide party leftovers, or at least take white out of fridge so not tempted later in week). Ugh.

today is a new beginning. We are off to a very expensive hotel this weekend en famille to chill out and it will be hard to refuse.

Not sure I will manage but then I will have managed 12 days without by then so maybe the odd g and T at the weekend will be ok ?

God I so hate being here. Why cant I be normal ?

You are perfectly normal!! I think a huge percentage of women are exactly like us.

I guess part of the issue is not knowing what the ground rules are...? Yes, for me a G&T would be fine (altho' would be V not G as still can't bare even the smell of G after overdoing that after a ball as a student).

But then there'd be a bottle of wine (or 2) over dinner. And maybe a couple of whiskies (thanks, DP). And then spending the next day feeling VILE.

yes yes yes. I have been out for meals where we have had 3 bottles of wine between me and DH. Disgraceful. But we wouldnt have whisky afterwards.

But if I say I dont want any wine then he would abstain too so that is a good thing.

My problem is once I have a tsate for it I cant stop and I never give a thought as to what I will feel like in the morning.

Bad news. Decided I am going to sih=gn up with a personal trainer and nutritionist and see how I get on. Will make some calls later.

be strong tonight CB. I will post here later.

I haven't gone teetotal but have cut down considerably from drinking nearly a bottle a night to one glass (a proper small 125ml one!) or nothing a night.

My trigger was putting DS to bed. As soon as he was in bed I went straight downstairs and opened a bottle. I have found the only way to avoid this is not to have any white wine in the house in the first place.

DH has also cut down. We both needed to but me more than him.

being extremely skint cured me!

That too expat! Actually it is amazing how much money we are saving - shaming too.

But we have just booked our summer holiday so something to look forward to.

The lighter evenings are going to be a challenge soon - weather permitting used to spend most evenings in the summer on patio with large glass of something chilled....

Oh, living in W. Scotland solves that problem, too, GM!

If and when the temp finally climbs, it's usually raining and if it's not, the air is clouds of midgies.

I use a little creative imagery: instead of seeing a bottle of wine, I see a really cool framed picture, or a CD, or tickets for a cool day out.

I'm not teetotal but Could count on one hand the number of times a year I drink more than one glass.

I've sustained it for just over 10 years and now it seems normal to me. I was lucky that I never drank much at home, it was always in the bar after work (yes we had a bar in work). I rarely got drunk just because I had such a high tolerance for alcohol, or at least not as drunk as everyone else in the bar so it didn't count right?

I got to the point where I just couldn't hack the hangovers - one night drinking was taking two days to get over and I could hardly remember what it was like to wake up feeling fine. Did some stupid things when drunk too that I like to thin kI wouldn;t have done sober.

So I started by cutting back.

Started driving the car as much as possible so I had an excuse not to drink, went home instead of going out more often. I gradually just reduced my drinking.

I now chose not to drink mostly - I have lost my taste for it.

When anyone asks me now I just say "I've drunk my share, its someone elses turn now!" and they can interpret it as they like.

I saved a fortune and feel better than I did when I was drinking. The only downside is you find out how dull people who are drunk really are!

I have found kindred spirits on this thread! I recently posted tthe following under mental health :

POST NUMBER 1

It is so blindingly obvious.

I have battled depression all my adult life. Drugs, counseling, etc and have mostly got it under control.

However a big glass of wine(and to a lesser extent overeating) provided INSTANT escape from any lingering sadness.

Temporary of course.
Not sure what to do with this information

Anyone else thought this?

POST NUMBER 2
oops I think the way I put that was misleading.

I am not saying - hey i have found a cure for sadness - WINE!
I am saying I have just realised what is behind my destructive overdrinking. It's about getting rid of the sadness that I thought had mostly gone. It hasn't gone.

Using alcohol to cure sadness is clearly a very bad thing. It is just that I really had not realised that was what I was doing

no1andno2 the similarities between us are alarming.

My DH did, last september. He was regularly drinking 3/4 of a bottle of wine most nights (I would have one glass, he would finish the bottle) and was trying to cut down but with little success. Then: he had a works do, got absolutely blitzed, threw up on the bus home, couldn't make it up the stairs so slept on the dining room floor until 4am (having spent some time retching & throwing up in the downstairs loo).
the hangover next day was fearsome, plus I wouldn't let him rest as much as he wanted to, and we had to go to Proms in the Park that eve AND I wouldn't let us leave before the end (the best bit!).

Next day he decided that was it. Initially he wanted to do it for a month, until we went to Australia for 3 weeks, when he might have a drink. But no. THne it was until Christmas, when he might have a drink. But no. Then new Year - same. Now he is pushing for 6m off the booze. Then maybe it will be aiming for the whole year.

He is keeping going until he feels that he can have one drink and enjoy it, rather than have one and feel the need to have more.

I think part of his success is that he only set himself small targets to start with - but also when he puts his mind to something he is very determined. He gave up smoking quite easily shortly after we met as well.

The only other thing I would say is stay away from anyone who is likely to undermine you and say things like "oh go on, it's only one, one won't hurt, you know you want to, everyone else does it, you'll be the odd one out" - a friend of mine who was trying to give up smoking socialised regularly with people like this and she could not give up because of it.

HTH! And good luck.

That's interesting thumbwitch, I think I remember you posting about your husband a few months ago. Well done him.

I also found giving up smoking very easy, once I actually wanted to do it. Has been three years now. I knew I would find it easy to cut down on drinking, once I was ready. But I wasn't ready. Now I am.

i do that Mrs Blanc..............I have a lingering sadness.

parents divorced when I was 7 , stepfather died when I was 12. I was the eldest. Mother very harsh on me and not so on younger siblings. Black sheep of the family. still heavily criticised by my mother now. Can never accept I have done well in life.

Thumbwitch thats what I am doing at the moment. Its by far the way to go. Not sure I will manage 6 months though I have to say the urge to drink is passing slowly.

I gave up smoking over night funnily enough!

DH actually seems to be further and further away from wanting alcohol - he says he feels so much better off it that he's not sure he will ever go back to it.

I think the other really important thing about it is that it ALL came from him, I had nothing to do with his decision. So I agree with Georgimama - it's down to when you really want to do it.

thats me thumbwitch, never intended to give up for as long as I have btut it is lovely just feeling normal in the morning.

Can;t imagine how I would have coped with a toddelr with the hangovers!

yep clear heads is what I am focussing on..........but I would kill for a glass of cold chablis right now !

I haven't read all the thread but I am another one who has stopped drinking.

I stopped 14 days ago now, going from 1 bottle a night to nothing. The only side affects I had were feeling a bit hot for the first 24 hours, nothing else fortunately.

I have also been to see my GP and confessed the amount I have been drinking. I was given a liver function test and an external exam of the liver. Fortunately my liver function tests have come back well within the normal range.

I found the first night quite tough, as it has become a really bad habit for me. But I can honsetly say that I feel better than ever, I am eating much better, sleeping much better and have lost over 6lbs. I have more patience with the kids and now wake up each morning feeling that i want to get out of bed rather than crawl back under the duvet.

I haven't read all the thread but I am another one who has stopped drinking.

I stopped 14 days ago now, going from 1 bottle a night to nothing. The only side affects I had were feeling a bit hot for the first 24 hours, nothing else fortunately.

I have also been to see my GP and confessed the amount I have been drinking. I was given a liver function test and an external exam of the liver. Very happy that my liver function tests have come back well within the normal range.

I found the first night quite tough, as it has become a really bad habit for me. But I can honsetly say that I feel better than ever, I am eating much better, sleeping much better and have lost over 6lbs. I have more patience with the kids and now wake up each morning feeling that i want to get out of bed rather than crawl back under the duvet.

Not sure what happened there!

well done thats fantastic. I felt hot too and I have to say I am not sleeping too well.

How long had been drinking a bottle a night ?

How long had you been drinking a bottle a night ?