The Brave Babes Battle Bus - New Year, New Start And With A Firm Resolution In Their Hearts.

[Mouseface]

Hello, I'm Mouse and I have an ever changing relationship with alcohol.

This is the Brave Babes Battle Bus, it's a support thread for those who feel their drinking habits are not what they should be, or even those of another.

Sober, drinking or somewhere in between, come take a seat.

And for those who would like to know where this all started, HERE is a link to the threads before this one.

Make THIS year THE year that you change your life, for the better.

Have a Happy New Year, full of memories to treasure, not to forget.

Cristiane, hope you feel better soon. That was what kept me off the drink for several days at Christmas.

Now Day 2 of my new start, and slept well. I always find that not drinking makes me sleep much better - but it has taken a while to realise that the buzz I get from alcohol is not nearly as good as the buzz I get from feeling well, with no tiredness or general queasiness. Hope I can keep on remembering the next time I am tempted back. Today I am not drinking again, and travelling tomorrow, so that will be another day.

Happy days, all.

Metanium - THE BEST CREAM FOR SORE BOTTOMS ON THIS PLANET! FACT

I have used all sorts on his bottom in the past but following his heart surgery, he got such a sore bottom due to all of the drugs he was on, his skin blistered so badly he would sob every time he wet or soiled his nappy becaues he knew it mean a change of nappy.

So yes, thank you very much for the suggestions. I would walk (hobble) to the ends of the earth for it if that's where the last tube of it was!

Christi - Life is actually ok to be honest. My own health has taken a turn for the worst since we last spoke but I'm fighting it all the way!

Re Milk Thistle, yes, good t help repair the liver but I would also recommend a high dose of B vitamins. Venus will agree with me that a high does of the B vits, higher than the RDA will help the body to recover. You could look HERE for the reasons why. We'd all do well to take a good vitamin B complex.

SSSMum - Love the name. Now then, you need to stop beating yourself up on things have been and gone. Yes, you've lost those hours of you life, so have I. We all have. It's what you do about it now that matters most.

You've decided that you don't like the person that you'd become. The drinker. The mum who put a glass of wine before getting up to see what her DC wanted. You're not alone in that. The best thing is that you can make it up to them.

You still have your DC with you, you still have your health, you're still here, safe and loved. You have decided to change. YOU.

Let go of the past, the things that you can't change and deal with the things that you can xx

Afternoon all, just thought I would share a little something with you, on my walk this morning there was a lorry in my estate emptying out the recycling bins (glass bottles, plastic bottles, cans), this was at 7am and then when I was on my way home at lunchtime at 1pm the bin for clear glass and the one for brown glass were almost overflowing

Hello all. Just checking in for my usual post school pre wine o clock post. On day 6, Friday night glass of wine is tempting me but am going to stay strong. Read This Charming Man (Marian Keyes) book this week which has an alcoholic character in it. A very good description of how drinking can get out of hand and the denial/ guilt associated with it. Felt pleased that I am nowhere near that yet but many of the things the charcter did struck a chord so took a stern warning from it. Now is a chance to stop it before it starts.

Am still feeling v tired. By 8pm I am shattered - been like this for over a year now and was hoping that drinking less would lengthen my days and ability to just keep on top of stuff. I hate the feeling when housework is getting out of hand and dirty plates/ washing start piling up. Determined to at least get the Xmas decs down tonight and spurred on by lack of poo in DD pants today.

Good luck to all of you this eve - will raise a glass of tonic to you. Sorry am so rubbish at being able to do those lovely individual message posts that some of you, esp mouse are so good at - this bus is quite busy these days so I'm just sitting at the back trying to work out who is who ....

I will join you tonight msbojo in not drinking, am also on Day 6:)

Day 6 here too

TheBossofMe - the lime squash I really like is Rock's organic. It is a bit sweet but if you have it with sparkling water or tonic water it has a certain something about it, you know like a special drink and not just another cup of tea! I like it a lot better than Rose's lime cordial.

I am enjoying Belvoir's elderflower cordial. Amazing that I thought '£2.89, that's a lot!' for a cordial which will last five days or so, whereas I happily spend 3 times that on a bottle of wine...

Can I be cheeky and gate-crash to ask a question?

I found out yesterday that my cousin has been drinking heavily for the last 3 months, getting worse, and now drinking a 750ml bottle of vodka every day, starting in the morning and drinking steadily all day.

She doesn't work ( or drive), but is a single parent with an 18 month old son.

Today she rang an alcohol advisory service and has an appointment next week. They have advised her to reduce her intake by a small cup each day.

My question is about the quantity and my worries about her physical health. Obviously I know about the risks of dramatic withdrawal, but this reduction seems very very gradual. She will still be drinking what to me seems like a phenomenal quantity of alcohol every day for some weeks, and I'm worried about the physical damage it can do.

But maybe I'm being naive, and this is a quantity that many people drink without killing themselves in a matter of weeks? She's quite small, only 5'3".

Any thoughts?

The alcohol advisory service will be the experts, surely?

I guess so,assuming she told them the truth.

Hi Midsomer, if your cousin has been in touch with AAS then she is seeking help which is fantastic. They will advise her what to do for the best re withdrawing from alcohol. If you want to help, and she is happy to accept your help, you could offer to have her son for a night, or let her know that you are only a phone call away for example. You could also point her in the direction of this thread where she would be most welcome .

Reducing by a small amount each day makes sense to me, but I am not a professional.

Hey Midsummer

Drinking that amount per day over a course of hours is heavy going. However, I'd be more worried if she was drinking that amount in 3/4 hours.

Reducing slowly in her position is the best way to ensure that she doesn't start to withdraw and suffer the physical and of course mental side effects that stopping all together or reducing more would bring.

You can trust the AAS, they will have spoken to her and taken her as an individual case, not just another number. I have had help from them in the past, I was drinking up to 90 units per week, not as much as your cousin, but a very dangerous amount non the less.

Why not keep in touch with us and let us know how she gets on? If you have any more thoughts or worries, there's always someone here to help.

Plus, she has YOU. You clearly care about her.

Sorry - Midsomer

Just popping in to say G'night. We've had a take-away curry tonight. I had two Morrisons cheeky bottles of shandy. It's less than 0.5% but I can't have a curry without a larger!

So, off to bed now, well, watch a bit of TV and then sleep.

Night night wonderful Brave Babes. I hope that wherever you are, you're all safe and well xxxx

Evening all. Day 5 for me (guess who needed hair of the dog new year's day?). Sat in PJs already, have downed a hot chocolate and yet another packet of Jaffa Cakes . Well at least I'm sober! I'm going to make Day 6. Blimey. Mouse, thank you for your kind words. I'm going to cling on to just a smidgeon of guilt, just enough to keep me focused, but not enough to get me down. All I can change is today, but I CAN change today

Obrigada I think your neighbours need some serious help!

Midsomer, what the others said! Good luck to her. Maybe you could get her a ticket for this bus?

Isinde, well done for resisting. Too late to give in now, you're almost at day 7! That's, like, a whole week! I was just looking through some of the old threads before. Was it you who had the liver function test? I don't know whether I missed it but did you get the results back? Hope the results were OK. Hope you don't mind me asking. I do worry about the damage I've done. What's the recommended weekly limit? 14 units? Did that in a day sometimes

Anyway, I hope everyone's OK tonight.

Night Mouse, sleep well x

Hey trinity. How is it going?

isinde how old are the DTs now?

DH has had another depressive slump. It's awful to see. He's eating his dinner in bed while I sit at the kitchen table.

checking in - just got back from Mum's after doing tea and helping her to bed - she wants to have a night without any of us staying to see how she gets on....atm she's is improving massively day by day - when will this fecking roller coaster stop

Hello to everyone - just haven't got the energy to name check.

Doing shite with the booze.................AGAIN.

talk tomorrow babes

Hey Trinity - welcome back xxxxx

Hi silver, sounds like you are run ragged. Ca you get a good night's sleep?

Lurker here.

Can I stick my oar in Silver and ask you are you on Librium? You REALLY need to be careful drinking on it,please,it's a super strong tranq.

Are you being breathalysed while taking it as in,do you have a proper detox plan in place? (I know about this personally btw).

Tell me to shove off if you like but I for one am worried about you mixing those meds with drink-librium has a very long half life within your system.

Take it easy eh?

Hi all, just posting to say goodnight, Day 6 done and dusted.
Will read through properly in the morning. Am too tired at min!

Morning everyone! How are y'all?

Both dd s in my bed, snoring DH, not too much sleep. But think how awful I would feel if I had been drinking but I haven't!

Also, have more energy at night so house is much cleaner. And made friend a cake so yum.

Taking dd1 to her first ballet lesson today, she is so excited. We are gong to see Sleeping Beuaty next week together. I am excited about that!

DH still miserable, stayed in bed all evening.

morning all, and nice to see you again christi
Had a crappy night with DH again last night, so took myself off to bed at 9,30. Three benefits - it annoyed the hell out of him, kept me warm, and kept me off the booze.
Dd2 leaves tomorrow to go back to Spain - got a hectic day sorting her out. She will no doubt wind DH up enormously because she isn't doing things HIS way, so not anticipating a particularly cheery weekend tbh.
Silver good news on your mum. Drink free tonight, me and you?