The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Staying Springy In Their Quest For Sobriety.

[Mouseface]

Hello, I'm Mouse I have an shockingly abusive relationship with alcohol, mainly vodka.

This Bus is full of drinkers, non-drinkers, thinkers and Babes, all trying to find their way to a happy, sober life.

Some are there, some are almost there and some are not. It really doesn't matter, we're all in this together.

Why not find a seat? Everyone is welcome, drinking or drunk, come and say hello.

HERE is the previous thread, with a link to all of the other wonderful journeys so far............

just been prescribed strong anti-biotics for UTI so will not be drinking for the course. the RELIEF at not having to drink because someone else has ordered me not to! How crazy is that?
even so, the fact that there is a chilled bottle of white in the fridge is niggling at me....
greyhouns bloody well done on cleaning the sink

Ooh thank you for setting up a new thread, Mouse! Hello all

I am feeling very happy. Had my appointment at the addiction clinic today. We've got a strategy in place. I have to tell my nearest and dearest about my problematic relationship with alcohol. Support is key to giving up.

I also have to get an ECG. Then I go back to the clinic next Friday, when they are going to give me something that gets me over withdrawal, and a prescription for Antabuse. This is one pill that you take every seven days. While the drug is in your system, you can't drink at all because it seems to give you the equivalent of a heart attack. This is the plan for the next three months.

I am so relieved. So very relieved. I feel I have a plan and a strategy. My problem drinking started around 3 years ago, when a bottle of wine a night became routine. Now it's closer to 2 bottles a night, and everything is being affected. I socialise a lot, and wine is always involved. When I'm not socialising, I'm drinking solo. It's affecting everything now. My work performance, my interaction with others. It's a fucking demon, frankly.

The good news is that my liver function is still normal. I was worried about my liver. I can't tell you how pleased I am to have finally admitted to someone in RL that I have a problem. And so glad I have a strategy for dealing with it.

Hooray for all and thank you, thank you all so much for your support.

Hey guys. Well done Greyhound:) And ferfux, good on ya. I'm on the soda and lime here.

Bathtime at Fizzy's house as soon as one last numtums is watched by the wee one. And dd1 away to visit her Dad's Mum in hospital and she really doesn't want to go with him. He is being arsey and normally wine would have been required. Day 7... x

Well bloody done Greyhound - that took some bottle (pun intended) !!

Wow, Hopefully, you have done so well. That is ace! I can totally relate to what you are saying - I can't imagine socialising without wine. In fact, my friends find it hard to accept. And I am not sure how it spilled so far into my daily like. Pervasive fucker, alcohol. Onwards and upwards... x

daily life, doh

taking the boy to bed then making a ginger and cardamon concoction - can i add some lemon do we think?

hang in there everyone.

Thanks all - found another half bottle down the sink. Hopefully that sounds incredibly positive. Just looked up Antabuse and it looks as though it makes you really ill if you drink on it. Seems that it had a very high success rate.

Dh is amazed I am still on the bus, given how many empty bottles are in the recycling. I explained that I scoffed four bottles over the weekend and threw one and a half down the sink. He asked whether that wasn't a waste of wine? I said I'd rather waste it down the drain than into my liver.

hopefully I've worried about my liver as well. Just seen yet another advert for wine - a glamourous lady preparing a dinner party... I wonder how true that image is? It's certainly not my reality

Hope thats fantastic. Im so pleased for you. Whats the ECG for? And how do I get help like that? Youve been so brave and Im so chuffed for you. Well done. Roll on Friday. Does your nearest and dearest not know about your drinking then? When are you going to tell them? Ill be thinking of you.

Greyhound - brilliant (sorry to shout). Now you can get on with your week as originally planned. Well bloody done. Strong girl. :)

Sarah glad your weekend went well. Sarah - is alcohol as addictive as heroin? Is that a stupid question?

Can I share my achievements chaps? Do you mind!!!?

1. I appear to be on Night 4. I am not drinking tonight either (chaomile tea and a Mars Bar). Im oddly ok and not sure why? I think that maybe all this talking, reading and thinking about how abusive alcohol is has finally sunk in. I still feel addicted but Im starting to not permanently have the knee jerk reaction of Wanting One And Bloodywell Having One When I Shouldnt Want One Which Is All The Farking Time And Every Day.

Maybe I have my inner child under control? She is settled? I dont know.

1. Ive nearly finished reading Kick the Drink Easily by Jason Vale. Its a good read but cant properly comment until Ive finished it.

1. I went for dinner yesterday and DIDNT DRINK. I cant remember the last time (because there isnt a time) that I didnt have pub lunch with the family and have 2 large glasses of wine to go with it. I had cranberry and soda instead and it was .....good?! :)

Thats it. Im good. Just good. Slightly dreading Wednesday when I have asked to be escorted to AA. Am hoping that the Lovely Lady on the end of the phone has forgotten (I know she wont) but still. If I make it there on Wed - that will be the biggest achievement EVER.

Well. Thats me.

Hope all are ok.

ferfux - well done on the alcohol free Becks. :)

casa - did you see what our lovely Venus said. She thinks there is a glimmer, a spark of you that IS ready to give up - and I agree. Is there? Keep posting because we might be able to blow that spark into a fully fledge fire that might help you.....

Ginger - I heard you the other night. Glad youre still here. Doesnt matter where you sit on the bus for now but please keep posting. :)

x

Thanks Blanket and that sounds great re. your four days, especially given the triggers you faced. It's strange how there are situations that one can't imagine coping with without a drink.

I've been incredibly secretive about my drinking. So, I'd have a couple of glasses of wine before going out, then go out, have a couple of glasses of wine more than anyone else, then finish the bottle when I got home.

DH has a bloody good idea how much I am drinking, despite my constant prevarication ('I'll just stay up for an hour and finish off some emails'. Finish off some emails is a codeword for drink this bottle of wine and then hide the empty in the boot of my car)

I'm so relieved to be able to be honest. When the addiction person asked me whether I drank in the mornings, I said no, which is true, because I only drink in the evenings apart from at weekends when I start at lunchtime. And trying to cut it out solo was useless for me, because I'd got to the point where I couldn't cut it out alone.

The ECG is to make sure my heart is capable of withstanding the impact if I drink on Antabuse. My heart is quite sound, so I'm not worried about it. I am truly utterly joyful. Thank fuck I could be finally honest with someone,

You are all wonderful and I am so glad you are here. So very glad, Thank you.

Hello all,

Having a really difficult time here tonight,

Worked all day, as I meant to , then my friend phoned to dissect Saturday night, and all my 17 yr old anxieties came back. How does that happen?

Really want to open the bottle left from Dh's party, just to forget all that bloody angst.
OK tea, maybe?
xxx

casa are you ok?
Where is everyone tonight?
DD2 comes home from Spain tomorrow and as I haven't seen her since Christmas I should be more excited..
Just the thought of the friction which will occur between her and DH after a day or two and then having two jobless teenagers hanging round the house all summer...

xposted Thurso my friend. What happened on Saturday night? Are you ok?
Dh leaving you in peace?

Distraction, Thurso. You need some distraction here. Tea is good. Ginger beer is good. Mumsnet is good. You need to do a little tidying up, that's good too. What about drawers? I betcha my house you've got a few untidy drawers. Go and sift through them. Read. watch something vacuous, anything. Distract yourself. Monday night is a bad night to be drinking.

Thurso chuck it down the sink. Honestly, it feels good, I know, I've done it. And it will help to make that craving go away. Babes if you have chilled wine in your fridge please chuck it away. It's so much easier to resist if it's not there x

(Or put it into a plastic bottle or ice cube tray and freeze it).

Hopefully that is such good news! Looks like things are on the turn for the better for you

Blanket a meal out without wine! Yay, go you. Isn't it great to discover we can do all the things we never thought possible and to realise how happy that makes us feel x

Thurso - you are not 17 anymore. You are not that girl any longer and more than that you are Our Babe and we love you!

Please dont drink. Or if you have started - please stop. Go to bed and wake up feeling good.

x

Thank you my friends,

Big (pint) cup of peppermint tea here! But, dearly want to have wine, and I can only say that here! So can I talk instead?

My friend brought up all the memories of how I felt so the outsider with "the gang", all so clever and sorted.All went to university,and London, and are major high flighers, and I have been a mum. They didn't make me feel like that, they are all very lovely (maybe with an exception).

Gah , sorry for being a mope, I do feel better for talking to you. Thanks (doesn't say it, really!)

Ma I will pm you, no-one would really like to know!!

Thurso that must feel awful. I felt like an outcast at school too.

Greyhound

It takes a lot of time to get over it, and I'm not sure that I have!, hence the mad worrying !!
Anyway, no wine
Thank You , crikey, I hate this one!!

There you all are!

I did a stupid thing, I decided I didn't need the Babes anymore and hid the last thread, then I missed you all, and wondered how you all were getting on, but couldn't work out how to unhide you! I've been knocking around relationships for ages waiting for a new babes thread to turn [daft bint emoticon].
Thurso you did a great job with your family and made the right choice for you, don't be sad about about that.
Ma I hope you feel better soon, that sounds ouchy!

Hello lovely babes.

Day 7. Who'd have thought it? Not me, certainly.

Very productive day today, which is most unusual for me. This afternoon I tackled sorting out the loft, which I've been putting off for... wait for it... two and a half years!

Mia I need to go back to the house we left five years ago and get the rest of my stuff out of the loft!!

evening all!!

thurso - blanket is so right!! you are so much more than that 17 year old girl!
your posts are wise and insightful and kind and thoughtful and full of intelligence and empathy!

i dont know whats going on with the thread right now but we seem to be on a bit of roll! so much positive stuff, such wonderful support, so much shared - really really incredible!

coming to terms with a drink problem can be such a lonely time, i know i felt compleatly alone, that the rest of the world didnt understand, the relief of being able to come here, anytime day or night, and know that i will find a friend is to huge to articulate - i have had the bloody voice in my ear for about 48 hours now i honestly think that knowing you are all here is what has kept me on the straight and narrow! thanks babes! XXX

checking in Babes xxxx