The Brave Babes Battle Bus - New Year? So, Let's Go Up A Gear!

[ChristMouseTimeMistletoeNoWine]

Hello, tis me, Mouse (normally Mouseface but I'm wearing my festive name )

Welcome to the Brave Babes Battle Bus, to a place of solace, support and sanctuary, if that's what you seek of course. It's also a Bus full of bloomin' chatterboxes, waffling on about life, love and all things from school reports to laundry!

The journey into 2013 is going to be an ass kicking one as we're moving up a gear to give the WineWitch a bloody good slapping, and the BoozeBeast a kick in the bollo.............

Some of us drink in moderation, some of us drink. Some of us are sober, some of us are trying so very, very hard to be.

Some of us have been dry for days, weeks, months and some of us years...... some of us are just starting out and are scared of what stopping drinking means. It's not forever, it's just for today if that's what you want.

We have a saying on the Bus One Day At A Time. Or ODAAT

Take each moment, each day and each blip as it comes. The support on this Bus has kept me from ruining my life time and time again. The experiences of others shared here has helped me to change the way I see alcohol, the way I see what it does to me.

Although some Babes have been here a while and kind of 'know' each other, we all have different lives, different roles to play, different places to sit on the Bus, but we ALL have or have had abusive relationships with alcohol and we're here because we want that to change; for the better.

Everyone is welcome here so don't be afraid to just jump right in and say hi. Post as much or as little as you like!

So, come say hi, grab a seat, an eggnog (non alcoholic of course ) and a mince pie, or chocolate chip cookie, and meet some lovely, genuine people who are just like YOU.

Also, HERE IS THE PREVIOUS THREAD with a link in the OP to the first ever thread, and the reason why after more than two and a half years, this thread is still here, supporting those in need.

thanks for the support babes. Am a bit wibbly about the weekend....
pippin well done on making the decision to go. You CAN do this. Hold on to the thought that you love your daughters more than booze. Repeat it over and over and over.............

Day 3 or is it 4??? Friday night is approaching and I am really worried that I will give in but I felt so very determined
Have said no to take out and have a book to read and may watch trashy tv with a mug of tea am sorry that I don't acknowledge everyone but I find that I can only post and run or I get side tracked!!
Good luck to all this weekend x

pippin you love your kids and don't want to lose them. That is why you know you can't carry on drinking 3 bottles a day. It will get worse and not better if you don't stop. I was in your position eleven weeks ago. The pits of despair. My last mouthful of wine was swigged at eleven in the morning on Oct 24th. I had been on a four day bender with myself. Drinking sleeping drinking and then venturing out to the shop to start the whole sorry cycle again.

That is not a life hun! And no life for your dc's

Go to the meeting and listen, cry but most importantly don't have that drink. Break that cycle and I promise you that one day at a time it will get easier

Xx

Thanks kotinka like your list for not picking up that glass, all sound like really really good reasons not to have that glass (( )) good luck brave babes x

Hi Clutter - my feeling is that if you DON'T think you have a problem, you wouldn't be here. You may not be an alcoholic but, if you are drinking heavily to the point of passing out when you DO drink, then I would say that is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Pippin - best of luck. You really can't go on drinking three bottles of wine a day. I think it's a slippery slope - when will you stop if you don't stop now? When you are drinking four bottles a day? Five?

I'm giving in to the witch tonight... in the sidecar for me.

Oh clutter don't let it grab you, its on its way, not to be nasty or scare e you, fight the cow wine witch.... Don't give in like I have, anyway she's a right dog! Xxxx.

Oh clutter don't let it grab you, its on its way, not to be nasty or scare e you, fight the cow wine witch.... Don't give in like I have, anyway she's a right dog! Xxxx.

No no kotinka not offended at all & appreciate you getting back to me. I did think I had a problem with drinking & went to see the GP & started my own thread then was kindly directed towards you fab babes. I've found the support here amazing & love reading the thread. Being on this thread is definitely making me more aware of drinking & helping me to see how badly wine affects me...wish my dm could see! I suppose I just felt like a but of a fraud as it helps me to post but cause I'm a binge drinker I can't completely relate to the difficulties that others are going through.

clutter if drinking is costing you more that money, then something needs to be addressed honey! Everyone's story is different x

clutter, one of the books I was reading said that "alcoholic" was a very unhelpful term. Instead it talks about "drinking problem", acknowledging that there are differing degrees of problem (and different appropriate potential solutions). I would say that if your drinking is a problem for you, it is a problem, even if you do not have a physical addiction.

Pippin, have you had any medical advice? I am no expert but I have been reading books which suggest that if you have a physical addiction a cold turkey detox can be dangerous. Only you know whether this might apply, but please at least read up about it if you want to just stop cold turkey. I don't want to be scary but there is a quiz on this page.

alcoholism.about.com/cs/withdraw/a/aa030307a.htm

It's as the others have said Clutter, you think you've got a problem and that's all you need to be here. I'm a binge drinker too, can go days and weeks without but find it hard to just have one or two and it's normally a whole bottle (or more). I kept telling myself I didn't have a problem but now fully accept that I have and that it's not a normal way to drink. I think in your heart you know that too....

Kot stay strong and resist the urges, they really will pass if you don't give in to them. I've done well today and got past the 3 to 6pm danger time and now I'm safe for the evening. You're right, you CAN choose not to drink.

kot feeling the same as you tonight. This here road to boing land has suddenly got very steep and narrow.
Going out to pick up dds and then having a bath to kill some time. Gagging for a drink tonight.....

curry DH was not keen on SMART because of the stigma he says if you want to cut down, why don't you just stop? he really doesn't understand how hard it is...

soma glad to hear Alfie has stopped scratching! we haven't got ours under control, still no idea what is causing it. I thought he seemed better after using stronghold, although there is no evidence he had mange. we've spent a fortune on special food, and every so often end up back at the vets because he's chewed his paw so much he gets a nailbed infection.

I suspect it might be a grass allergy. we use wheat-free food, and regularly bathe him with a coal-tar shampoo. he is worse if he's bored. if he gets bad I give him an antihistamine. you can give dogs human ones, which is much cheaper than going to the vets. (you have to give them the normal ones NOT the non-drowsy kind)

and ironically we got a poodle because they are non-allergenic. sorry, I've derailed the thread. as you were.

Ooh I've lost 3lbs! Even with the icecream intake! There's what not drinking for a few days (and stopping stuffing my face from the time I get up to the time I go to bed) can do.

Just for the record, my waist measurement is 86cm and my hips are 112cm (I just measured myself for the wondrous M&S shape jeans). My BMI is now 26.1 and I'm 12 stone 4lbs. When's the weigh in Ma?

Struggling a little with resisting the lure of wine tonight. I'm wondering whether to have a glass of red as planned, or whether that'll just make me want more. The smell of the sauce wafting through the house is helping me focus on food as the priority.

Pippin I am a non drinker, was 'dry' for a while, but now I just don't drink. Sometimes when you have been lashing it, I was, at the end of my drinking, literally drinking anything I could, and I suppose for the first year of stopping I was a dry drunk because I was resentful, bitter, and jealous of anyone who could drink 'normally'. It made me angry and very child like. Had to just learn to grow up without booze, and now am safe, happy, honest and free. I don't ram abstinence down anyone's throat, I love the whole relaxed side of responsible drinkers, but have accepted now that I will never be one of them, and knowing what I know now, I really would never want to drink again seen too much grief. The benefits are minimal.

Like the other babes expressing concern, you are drinking 210 units per week now, and you really do need to have a clinical detox at that rate, which is simple and gentle, just tablets and monitoring, and before stopping cold turkey, please go and see a professional. There are loads of agencies out there, both mainstream and bespoke, your GP should be able to point you in the right direction.

Green used two words that nail this, honesty and wanting. Need both of those for this to work for more than a month.

Ma you really do sound amazing, and that has made me feel so happy, have thought of you often.

Just hope that everyone can find a good outcome, no matter how or where. I have had the busiest few days I think ever, and am knackered, cup of tea and feet up tonight, asleep on my feet.

Oh God me too tonight, craving central! Ma and Koti can I link in - remember we are still walking down the misty path we need to stay on it till we can see the other side of this rock!

We are not drinking this January DETERMINED Ma xx

Perhaps I'll go and have a nice bath too :) Joey thanks for the tip about anti-histamines, I had no idea about dogs having allergies until I got one :( (a dog that is).

Hello lovely Sarah it's always great to hear from you. Pippin, this lady really knows what it's all about.