The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Off On A Journey Far & Wide, Full Of Support, With No Reasons To Hide.

[Mouseface]

Hey, I'm Mouse, one of the Brave Babes on this Bus. :)

We're heading to sobriety, in various different ways, in our own different ways, some of us are there, some not quite yet.

We're a group of non judgemental, mothers, wives, partners, sisters, daughters, girlfriends, and of course all of the male equivalents that run alongside those 'tags', but most of all, we are, or we have been, just like YOU. :) Real people with real concerns about how much we are drinking all of the time.

Our relationships with alcohol are varied, and you'll find most of us are wanting to do something about it..... desperate to stop the cycle of drinking, stopping, drinking, stopping, drinking more, stopping for shorter periods of time and then the reverse, doing ever so well and then 'something' happens and you're back to square one, a place that sometimes gets a little crowded, one little square filled with lots of people who all want out.

Sound familiar?

You're never alone here. Ever.

Come and take a seat, post or lurk. We won't bite but we WILL look after you, SUPPORT you, if you want us to. :)

And for those want to know how we've ended up where we are today, about three years on from THIS THREAD RIGHT HERE

To our last thread JUST HERE

It will be lovely to meet you so why not take a seat and have a gossip about all things booze related but also, DCs, husbands, wives, in-laws, out-laws, and everything in between.

There's always a seat for YOU xxx

Hi babes just checking in. Mouse managed to stay off booze tonight. Will sleep better as a result, I hope.

Thisismytime I know where you're coming from. My drinking went from a couple of glasses a night a few times a week to a bottle of wine or more every night.

Stopping that habit (at the moment I'm still drinking at the weekend) has been hard for lots of reasons but it is worth it.

I also had a traumatic birth and depression. In the end, booze just made things much worse.

Welcome to the bus, it's been v helpful for me.

Mouse you must be tired - hope you and Nemo have a better night.

You are so right about the WW. She's always hovering. She whispers "buy me" when you are shopping and "open me" when you get home. She's your reward for having coped with a crap day and she wants to celebrate with you when the day has been good. But she'll beat you black and blue. She'll take your money and your peace of mind. In return, she'll bring you shame, fear and paranoia. She'll bring embarrassment on you when you try not to slur on the telephone and when you can't remember, the following morning, what the hell you said/did the night before.

The last binge I had was nearly two weeks ago. The ghastly details are earlier in this thread. I can honestly say that the following day was one of the worst of my life and not because of the hangover.

Morning babes!

Hope you have dried out Indie! That was some storm wasn't it. I hope nothing got broken.

Well done Thisis, ready for day 3? I'm sure you are, well done you are doing fab. Sympathy to you about your difficult birth and depression, I too had a hard time with my first birth and was in shock afterwards for a long time. Have you ever heard of the Birth Trauma Association? They are very good and supportive for people (men and women) traumatised by childbirth.

Re your DH, it is difficult. I don't think partners always know the right way to react and sometimes they are affected themselves. Personally if my DH had told me everything would be alright I would have bitten his head off and said how did he know? It would have annoyed me. So I think it is a difficult call to make for them You may need to be very direct and tell him what you need him to do.

Paw well done and keep going. We have all been there with the slip ups and it is a horrible feeling but all you can do is dust yourself down and start again. I have certainly done it enough times!

Hello Mouse, Ma, Jengo, Purple. Hope I haven't forgotten anyone.

Well I have realised today that yesterday was day 30 for me. I am halfway to making 60 days which is when I fell down last time. It has gone so quickly. It feels like 60 days is really within my grasp and then beyond that too in my mind I want to get to Dec 24th as that will be 6 months but I don't know if long term goals like that are a good idea or not!?

Thank you wonderful babes for your support,

Pink X

Hi, Newbie here. Day 3 of not drinking and I feel shocking and Slightly scared to realise the effect drinking every night must be having!! I cant sleep at night though. My mind is racing...normal?? X

Welcome Fluffy! Well done for joining our bus

Yes it can take a few days for your body to calm down and begin to feel well again. Do you mind me asking how much you were drinking? Don't answer that if you don't want to.

Lots of people report poor sleep to begin with but then it begins to sort itself out and improve I believe. I am lucky and find that I sleep well as soon as I go alcohol free. My sleep is dreadful when I drink though.

Sounds like your mind is becoming more alert so feels like it is racing possibly? It may just be adjusting and less lethargic if that makes sense?

Welcome again

Pink X

Thanks Pink!
Sound dreadful saying this out loud, but probably between 5-7 shots of vodka and coke in an evening.

Well hello ladies day 3 here too fluffy things are starting to feel normal although not 100 % thanks paw and pink it's good to here that looking on a situation differently can put things in perspective maybe DH had an insight to my drinking (although was hiding it a lot of the time) maybe he knew and didn't want to say n e thing I feel so motivated today just know your all behind me spurring me on come ladies let's do it again to day I want my boing back! X

Fluffy I used to drink vodka as well as wine (not at same time) but deffo found it takes I little bit longer to feel normal after stopping vodka than wine hangovers always worse hang on in there my lovely x

Thanks so much, just feel icky!! Gonna perserve though. Just wish I could sleep. Im going to a wedding at the weekend, think my husband will be grumpy if I dont have a drink...Tricky!

He might be grumpy but is it worth feeling even more icky than you do now, I felt so bad mon never want to have that feeling again alcohol is like a good psychopath
(Excuse the metaphor I work with them) its makes u feel and believe everything it's saying then drops you in the shit every time x

Morning babes, Day 4 for me today, didn't sleep great, kept having dreams about my eldest daughter getting married and wanting pasta for her brekkie but everything and anything kept getting in the way of me getting the pasta from shop ... she isn't even in a relationship!

LOl at you ladies - this love the idea of the WW being a psychopath - Obrigada - pasta for breakfast lol.
Day 86 for me (14 more days until I get to 100 :) ).
Whilst my hair still isn't swishy - I def am :)
Keep going ladies - it just gets better and better :)))

Hi lon well done to you day 86 is AMAZING xx

Day 86 Lonnika, that is fantastic:)

Lonnika....WOW! That is truly amazing x

Just wondering what sort of amounts other people drank? never got off my face drunk but every night is too much! Xx

Hi Fluffy, I am a binge drinker rather than a nightly drinker.

Afternoon babes

I loved the storms from the other night,we had ds squeezed between us pretending that he wasn't scared I 'had to' hug him every time the lightening struck.

This time last year I was beginning to get my head around my drinking habits and to realise that drinking every night IS a problem. I would have slept through the storm or be awake but sweaty and grumpy and maybe still a bit pissed. Wonder which mum ds prefers?

Reading mouse's post reminds me of how hideous the combination of children+ hangover is... I agree that the summer holidays are difficult for women (no offence to SAHDs obv). Summer holidays always meant getting stuck into the booze nice and early for me. What a horrible pointless,expensive waste of time that was! Off to meet some friends in the pub tonight and I'm perfectly happy to have a lemonade and good night out I'll remember.

There are some AWESOME babes on this bus- I'm not going to name check because it's certain that i'll forget someone.

Big wave to new babes ,keep reading and posting.

I'm reading Russell Brand's booky Wook and the quantity of drugs and drink is starting to depress me. Really hope he describes his recovery too.

Hiya fluffy

I drank every night- about 1/2 to 3/4 a bottle on an ordinary night,probably 1 or 2 bottles over the weekend. But this comes on the back of many years of drinking like that + masses of parties & clubs = binge drinking when I was younger.Oh yeah, and binge drinking at parties when I wasn't all that young either.

It's very hard to objectively assess how much you drink,most people tend to think they a sensible amount

It's worth considering what your intentions are when you drink and how often you think about alcohol. Are you happy with what happens when you drink- those kind of questions can help asses if you drink too much or not.

I feel so rough today, so tempting to have a drink just ti stop feeling sick...irony?? And get some sleep. At least these feelings prove It's too much...xx

Don't do it fluffy I don't feel great but will get easier if u have a drink your only delaying the inevitable x

Try not to do it Fluffy. I did that on Sunday (to feel better about getting drunk on Friday and Saturday) and it's taken until today to feel approximately normal.

To answer your question re how much, I don't drink every day (which I used for ages as a reason why I don't have a problem with alcohol ) but I do drink at the weekends (maybe 4 bottles of wine or 12 lagers) and it's been creeping up in the week too.

I've been invited to the pub tonight but I'm going to turn it down as I don't want to drink alcohol tonight and I don't want to be around it right now especially.

And wow to Lonnika's 86 days!

To clarify, that's 4 bottles over a weekend. I have just had to do the recycling trip of shame today though and it shocked me again