Hi all. I'm a newcomer and I'd love to join your group.
My story is as follows. I'm a problem drinker, and have had a drinking problem probably for about the past 10 years or so - which gradually built up. Wine is my tipple, I can happily leave anything else. But the lure of wine after a hard day at work or an easy day at work, or any day for that matter, was tempting, and I indulged it.
It was "fun" at first but it got to the point where it wasn't so fun anymore. I was "lucky" in that it didn't cause me to row with my husband or shout at my children or have accidents, but it did make everything feel physically difficult (dealing with young children in the morning just sweltering and feeling fuzzy headed) and it costs a lot of money, and I found it distracting and quite difficult biding my time each day until it was "acceptable" to have a drink. In our household that is 4pm. "Wine o'clock". That said, with children at school and husband at work it was becoming increasingly regular that I'd start drinking earlier, if there was nobody to witness it - at my worst I had one at about 10:35 in the morning having been abstinent the day before, such was my desire to break the drought!
I don't tend to drink to get slaughtered, I drink to maintain a warm fuzzy relaxed state - but if you start early, that can still be a couple of bottles in a day maintaining that state. And I would often get a bit more drunk towards the end of the night, perhaps drinking the final glass fairly quickly so I could knock myself out for a decent night's sleep (! of a sort anyway!, you know how it is)
I tried to stop, with varying success. I did manage a period of abstinence of about a month in January as I was having surgery for something and had to abstain for a proper health reason unrelated to alcohol. I abstained during pregnancy (not completely, but stayed within the guidelines). However, I got to a point recently where I wanted to stop mainly for weight loss reasons as well as the fact that I knew it just wasn't right - but couldn't. Each day I'd wake up and say "today I start" and by 4pm or so I'd be cracking open a bottle. And then another. Sometimes I'd finish both.
Anyway, nothing too unusual there in terms of habits, its how it goes from bad to worse. But I did a little research myself, because I'm fairly fascinated by alcohol in general and the effect on the body, and I decided that my GP could probably help me. I heard about a drug called en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naltrexone . I went to the doctor last Tuesday morning, having drunk 2 and a half bottles of wine (over quite a long time) the day before. The NHS offer Naltrexone as a treatment option for alcohol misuse
She was very supportive, asked me how much I'd been drinking, and said the reason I was probably having trouble stopping was withdrawal symptoms taking over and causing cravings. I have never had the shakes or DT's or anything, so this surprised me, but she said she wanted me to detox safely so gave me a course of www.netdoctor.co.uk/depression/medicines/librium.html which helped me ENORMOUSLY - I didn't crave alcohol, I felt relaxed and positive and able to abstain all of last week, and on Friday I went to update her and she has provided me with a prescription for the Naltrexone. A number of studies have confirmed its efficacy in reducing frequency and severity of relapse to drinking. Naltrexone has two effects on alcohol consumption, the first is to reduce craving while naltrexone is being taken. The second, referred to as the Sinclair Method, occurs when naltrexone is taken in conjunction with normal drinking, and this reduces craving over time. The first effect persists only while the naltrexone is being taken, but the second persists as long as the alcoholic does not drink without first taking naltrexone.
So I started on the Naltrexone yesterday, so far so good and I have no desire to drink despite the lovely weather etc, I don't "fancy it", I guess.
I will be experimenting next weekend and will try a glass of wine at a party I'm going to - I have no idea how it will go, but the idea is that you don't really get the same jollies from it! That euphoric relaxed glow that it gives you doesn't happen - sure if you keep drinking you'll get "drunk" - who knows how this will effect my drinking habits, but I know what I want it to achieve - for me to be able to abstain from drinking at home or "just because" because its not really worth it due to not getting the normal addictive affect, but if I do decide to have a drink in a social situation, I sip it, finish it, its fine but not mind blowingly moreish, and that's that.
Does that sound too good to be true? Probably! Who knows! I really don't know how this will all go, and I will be very interested to see physically/medically/chemically how this all works. But all that aside - I also would like to hang out with some people who are also trying to reduce or cut out drinking, and I am under no illusions that the psychological aspects, say, the "emotional benefits" people had from drinking don't need to be explored and understood as part of the recovery.
If during this journey I discover that I am better off abstaining completely, so be it. I might even try AA at some point. But in the meantime, I'd love to join you all 