The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Carry On Past The Offy!!

[Mouseface]

Well, this is our tenth thread so we are throwing a little party!

Everyone is invited! No booze of course, soft drinks and mocktails only!

I'm Mouse, hello.

There are all kinds of drinkers on board the bus. Come and join the journey, whatever stage you are at, drinking, cutting down, wanting to stop or sober already.

Everyone is welcome to post here. Come say hi.

The journey so far is below.

JWN's original thread

Thread two

Thread three

Thread four

Thread five

Thread six

Thread seven

Thread eight

Thread nine

I don't think i'm strong enough first week in to get through this weekend.

I want to see how it goes, and my aim is to keep drinking to the weekends at the moment. If I can get to friday or saturday without doing it i'll be happy and then i'd like to cut fridays out completely after that. If I can do that I can see where I can go afterwards.

My problem is I really really like wine. I like the taste of different wines, the smells, and I like it so much I've got myself educated about regions, countries, grapes, vintages etc. and we drink really nice wine. DH loves wine so we spend a lot on it, and then I chuck it back like it's 1.99 a bottle stuff.

I have also turned into a very very shouty mum. losing it and screaming at the kids (4 and 2.6)for instance the sunday evening because I couldn't find a key (that was already in the door...)

I'm off now.
Hammermouse hope you had a good night, and haven't melted your chocolate eyeballs
Red if your out there HI (big wave)
Pav Where are you? (big wave)

Hi daddy - it sounds like alcohol has become a big part of your life. Try not to think so much about the positives - there are, I am sure lots of negatives for you as well.

I also felt thought that one of the reasons that I drank so much wine was I liked the taste so much, and food tasted so much better with it. My original aim here was to cut down - especially when I was on my own. What I discovered is that I wasn't really drinking for the taste - just the feeling - or my case the'not feeling'.

Setting targets is good, but most importantly of all, be honest with yourself about what and why you drink.

daddy I'm afraid for me wine is wine. You can dress it up and pay £30 for a bottle or you can drink £2.99 crap. The ethanol in it remains the same. The effect it has on your mind and body remains the same. I am sorry if I sound pompous or harsh, this is simply a fact that has fairly recently dawned on me too.

thanks MP - I think that's why I'm just downing it. I like how I think it makes me feel, even though i feel like crap the next days, shout at my kids, and am generally pretty horrible to be around.

that's why i want to not do it.

I also used to have a rule that no drinking before they were in bed at 7, and no drinking at lunch at the weekends. Needless to say this has gone out the window with a bang, and will be reintroduced.

I'll get there.

Good Morning Brave Babes and those who are hungover too.

Luci - here..... and here

Wasindie - hold out your hand You've been doing this for a while now, you know how you'll feel on a school day!

And you had an early meeting. See me after school to discuss how we are going to break this cycle ok? In the meantime, water and painkillers and please eat something too. xx

Hump - fab post froom you and so positive, thank you

daddy - Hello! Welcome on board

diabolik - I hope I didn't scare yo off with my hormental Michael Douglas rant last night. I'm as soft as a tiny mouse really

Morning MsGeepers - how are you holding out with the pending completion on the house? And how is LittleMsGeepers?

Busy day for me so I'll be on and off the bus!!

daddy I've got to go, but before I do, I also had lots of rules surrounding my drinking. It is a sign I think that we are desperately trying to control it. Sadly Im my case I failed fairly consistently for years. Keep posting there is so much support and wisdom on here. See you later

morning all- day 8

welcome to to all the new comers it will get better in the end - and for those in an ongoing struggle keep going and be strong its all worth it in the end ..

Mouse - still here .. all tho I believe there are some serious anger management issues you need to deal with lol.

Knackered - GF called at 1245 AM that she was stuck down a road with a flat tire ( funny that, I actually posted something about flat tires yesterday - karma lol ) - She had been out for a meal as a colleague was leaving .
Went out there couldn't get the #$%^&%$# thing off as trainers really don't help when you need brute force. So all in all got back to bed around 0230 AM and dropped her back to her car this AM. Turned out the guy from the AA had a fight with the tire as well and needed a sledgehammer to get it off - which tickled my ego no end ( hey Im a bloke :) )

Wondering about one thing tho -for the last 4 days I am having head aches every night - Is this to be expected ?

Anyway back to work - I have an angry American lady on my case that needs sorting out :)

Hi diabolik - sounds like a fune night!
Stating the obvious, but if you were pissed you wouldn't have been able to go and help and would have felt shit about it this morning.

I found headaches were a problem - and still are sometimes. My only guess is that I used alcohol as a way to relax, and without that I think I am much more prone to tension headaches, not pleasant but so much better than hangover headaches. I probably take more painkillers now than I used to, but hey ho.

Obviously a 'fun night', no idea what a 'fune night' is?!

wichetychiky

was thinking that actually - and normally when she goes out I would have been down the pub like a shot ( Hey no adult supervision :) ) and stumble back home around closing time.

Will monitor the head aches - never really head em .. and unfortunately pain killers dont do a lot for me ( back problems history so I can pop em like smarties but thats another story )

head not had ... lol - this being sober stuff seems to be affecting correct spelling in this thread

Hey diabolik

Sorry that you had a night of broken sleep. But glad your GF is ok! And of course your ego

Re the headaches, all part of the detox. They should ease soon. I think for me, it took it good two weeks for the physical detox symptons to ease.

Plenty of water!!

Hi hammerhouse did you get soem sleep last night? How's little nemo doing?

Parenting teenagers has it's own challenges, but I hated it when my 2 were little and were ill - you can't explain what's going on, and they don't know how to just lie still and rest!

It's rainy and foggy up here - which means the start of croup season - my 2 were both in hospital with it when they were tiny - horrible.
x

Hey witchety

He's better but still not great thank you for asking. This is the time of year he is at risk or Bronchilitus (SP?) and could well end up in hospital because of his restricted airway.

We are now housebound until spring.

Deep joy. You may find me rocking in the corner one day!!

Is that something he will grow out of?

morning all - day 6 and certainly beginning to feel a bit more chipper in the mornings - no paracetamol first thing to shift the hangover. Still not sleeping very well but hoping that will improve. The damn wine o' clock bell still chiming from about 6pm onwards but am more accepting of the fact that this is not an experiment, this has to be a change of life-style forever
Trying not to project but it's hard not to.
Have had about a bottle and a half since Saturday (still plenty room for improvement) but previously that would have been about 5 bottles by now, so progress has been made and about £30 saved.

witchety

As he gets older and grows, his chin will grow too and hopefully his throat at the same rate.

Then his airway will be les retricted.

It's all a bit scary for him, knowing that he could die simply because they can't get a tube down his throat fast enough.

That happened a few times and he ended up on life support in PICU.

He made is though. My little fighter.

Hi dementedma In know everyone is different, but I have found even low levels of alcohol seriously disrupt my sleep. It was something I never considered when I was drinking - blames the insomnia on everything under the sun apart from alcohol - but since stopping completely - well almost - my sleep has never been so good.

Morning all!

diabolik, I'm on day 8 and right there with you. I was blaming the headache on DH who's just come down with a cold, but maybe it's not. Let's suffer together, eh?

wasindie - Bad you! But it is so hard working out how to deal with it when people want to be kind and buy you drinks. Does anyone have any strategies? I'm running out of inventive excuses about 'hmm, can't drink with this new medication, you know'!

I was wondering if anyone on this thread has experience of being completely 'out' as an alcoholic to friends/ acquaintances. A couple of my old friends know I 'used' to drink too much but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to tell others, or how. And like wasindie, I get offered drinks a lot because they know I like them.

daddy - welcome! Good to have you with us!

hammermouse so scarey for all of you ((( )))

Btw, *daddy, what you describe sounds familiar - I'm a poor student but (stupidly) I thought it was somehow ok that I was drinking so much, because it wasn't pints of Fosters or WKDboak, it was a nice bottle of chilled Sancerre ... or two ... so that must be civilized, right?

Sadly, my liver doesn't know the difference!

I do think there's a problem in how alcoholism is portrayed - I know people who think an alcoholic is someone who stinks of cheap beer, or who drinks spirits. I've been told by a mate that I can't have a 'problem' because even when I really want another drink, I don't go raiding the house and drinking foul stuff like Avocaat, and I don't have a bottle of cheap gin in my handbag.

It's true I don't do these things, but the only real effect for me is that being an alcoholic is a more expensive way of killing myself.

Sorry, not a cheery post.

Yes, I found a positive - but I was noly able to find that positive because i was thinking straight (not possible, for me anyway, when drunk) and facing, rather than running from or fighting, my true emotions (which is what drink helped me AVOID doing.)

"Told him it was only 10%....he wasn't impressed."

Get a measuring jug and measure out 7cl of water. That's two and a half fluid ounces.

Have a look at it, sitting in the jug. That's what 7cl of pure ethanol - "only 10%" of a bottle - looks like.

"Normal drinkers don't think as I do..do they?"

No.

"My problem is I really really like wine."

I really really like coffee. I normally stop after one cup, maximum two.

Why don't you?