DRY 7!!!

[mollyonthemove]

The new thread for the alcohol free and the wanna be free . come and join us

Don't want to be alarmist jesy but I really would ring the doctors asap and ask their advice.

She alert , moving about n I don't want to be treading on family toes they dealt with this before .

Got vitamins on prescription n has managed to keep a bit / down today. But when I called today was being sick I don't think fizzy water any use

Don't like plain water , but sort of craving ice cold drinks but I'm wary of stepping on family toes

Morning. Hope everyone is ok. It's sunny where I am, which is nice. Lindt- other people's reaction to my being sober is something I'm giving lots of thought to. It's great that you weren't tempted to drink. It's so strange how other people seem to have a very personal reaction to other people's sobriety. I have a couple of relationships that mean a lot to me, but that have revolved around going out and drinking. I'm worried I may not be able to sustain them if I'm sober all the time. It feels like my sobriety is fragile, and that I could easily cave in on a night out if I was persuaded. I'm avoiding going out for now, just so I can get a handle on it.

I have a feeling I'm going to struggle today. DS2 is really challenging me at the moment, and my sleep is very disturbed due to him and DH who has some health problems. I'm so grumpy and tense this morning. I would usually have my eye on a bottle of wine for this evening to get me through the day. I feel like I don't have anything to fall back on when I'm this stressed and sober. I'm really tearful and I feel like I'm failing. I'm also eating my body weight in After Eights . I can't work out where all the tears are coming from. I think withdrawing from Sertraline and being sober has opened an emotional can of worms!

Morning all! Fell off thread it seems Jesy echoing the other wise words I would be getting medical advice too. Better to be safe than sorry.
Last I hate waiting too and hope the running helps pound out the anxiety. Been for a run this morning - it's glorious! :)
Lindt Welcome and congrats on 6 months Don't worry about the chocolate it will settle down.
Vinny removing the numbing blanket of booze does involve once again feeling our feelings which can be a good and a bad thing I cried shedloads at the beginning and couldn't tell you what was prompting it. As Mrs D says 'water fell from my eyes'
BamBam well done and as your body detoxes spots are normal!
BadWool Keep going :)
Ooh someone asked about milk thistle - yes herbal liver aid and recommended by many just watch if you are on other medication for contra-indications

evening all
day 6 here following last week's blip!
feeling generally frazzled today - but no urge to drink at all
my dsis is visiting at weekend - I have told her I wont be drinking!
I am actually quite liking not having the shall I /shant I drink dilemma going on in my head, followed by the usual shame....I am simply not drinking. At all. !
am also trying to plan some more nice days out with dc...and am in process of booking a campsite for my mini trip with dd 3 and 4! trying to plan in other things to look forward to that dont involve drinking!

How is everyone else doing? Hope anyone who finds sunny weather a trigger is hanging in there. I am just sipping a lovely cold glass of j2o apple and watermelon spritzer - tiss very nice

Hi everyone! Just sticking my head round the door. It's day 8 for me. Still spotty and eating my bodyweight in biscuits etc but feeling pretty good.

Hope you are all having lovely sunny evenings.

Bobblybop, that's exactly how I feel. It's really liberating to not have the Should I or Shouldn't I debate in my head every day. Especially as before the question was pointless as I always did!

Day 26 here. I now have my Mum staying. She loves a drink bug has come out in support and is joining me in the Perrier. I'm pleasantly surprised!

Sorry for long silence - I fell off big time :( Wine, wine and more wine :(

BUT now on Day 5 here of renewed not drinking :) Decided to have a Dry June and see where it takes me. Have so far managed 120 Dry days this year, which has to be a good thing :) - But drinking a few glasses of wine at an event a couple of weeks ago lead to me going straight back to the same old, same old. Extra at night; drinking in secret, hiding the empties etc, etc

Which I refuse to do any more - the shame, the guilt, the worry about "I can't take the car as I am still over the limit" the feeling crap, the sweats, the fear as to what I am doing to my health and my family - the burden of all that self loathing is just too much to bear. So I won't do it any more.

Have been reading loads of Sober blogs and also Jason Vale's book. And have stocked up on lots of AF drinks for when the urge strikes. And sober treats are planned as a reward :)

Last time, I stopped drinking, it went well and I worked out why I was self medicating with alcohol and addressed some of those issues. BUT I did not think of ways to not drink. I just didn't drink. So when the urge to drink came I had no real alternative plan to help me stay strong iyswim?

So this time I am prepared with AF drinks, colouring in books and new pens, Tara Brach on my phone to listen too, Epsom salts for baths also lovely candles for the bathroom, some new nail polish and hand lotion, a lovely load of yarn to crochet, box set of GoT to watch and a huge amount of work to do in the veg patch - I have found going outside and digging is a good 15 min method! As is painting my nails or crocheting a granny square :)

I can do this. I will do this. I am better than the person I become when I drink, and I want to show that person to the world, not the drinking one.

Bobbly Day 7 today!
Sober lovely that your Mum is being supportive and day 27 :)
Glad sounds like an awesome plan you have lined up and your 120 days earlier this year was a great learn. I reckon this time you'll crack it Day 6 for you too
Raining here today after yesterday's glorious sunshine But it's Friday and we don't drink!

Hi all..... [waves].

I am okay. My slip at the party last week has really been playing on my mind and I feel low and depressed. Am also very busy with work.

BUT, am also organising a camping trip with DS. :) DH does not want to come at all, so I am planning to not let that stop me and to just take DS away to one of those fancy glamping sites by the beach and to just stock up on books and more books and to rest and relax and play. Something to look forward to!

Hope everyone us well.

Hi all, mind if I join? I've been lurking for the last week or so. I've been a binge drinker since my mid-twenties (so about five years); I just can't handle alcohol and cannot stop drinking once I start. I've been addressing the problem with varying success for the last couple of years. I was sober (with three blips) between October 2014 and April 2015. Fell off the wagon very deliberately after my IVF failed, and have been binge drinking throughout May. I've just been to the Dr so that I can re-start the anti-depressants that were working so well before the IVF. I've also been referred for another stab at CBT.

Like many of you, I know that I'm happier and brighter and calmer when sober. But, again like many / all of you, I find it very hard to break the cycle once it has rebooted. And my addict logic tells me that, actually, I was only pretending to be so much happier when sober, and really it was one long miserable struggle, and that the release booze offers is incomparable. Blah blah blah.

Even now I'm wondering if I should get that last bottle of Cava to drink this evening before I start the Prozac tomorrow. This despite my blinding hangover and raw throat.

So hi shuffles in quietly

Ha, the accidental bold at the end there did not help me to shuffle in quietly. Oops.

Hello, please can I join too? So shocked about Charles Kennedy, and I have realised I have to stop drinking, before it becomes a big problem. I drink a little (1-2 glasses wine) most days (so actually not a little, when you work it out) and find it hard not to, plus occasional massive binges. Have tried sensible limiting, but I can't do it. Impaired judgement after 2 glasses just leads on to more. Now I know I need to stop completely to stop. Bad bad hangover today. So today is the day. helpful reading about needing a strategy. Now need to think about what might work for me. Good luck to everyone

Ps cornchips the camping plan sounds lovely, hope the weather is kind

morning all
hello husband and merricat
it is going to be a hard day here.
dh is being really grumpy and I am finding it very hard to deal with him.
and my dsis is here, and has basically stocked my fridge full of alcohol and has been trying to persuade me to drink she got here...despite the fact I have told her I am not drinking, and that I can't have "just one" and that I dont like who I become when drunk etc....
on the positive side my resolve is strong. I am going to let other people force me into drinking and feeling rubbish...why should I?
I have some nice af drinks to sip on and I am going to make sure I don't let other people's moods effect me...

I am NOT going to let other people....key word missing LOL

Do hope you hold your resolve bobblypop that's really unhelpful. I guess people feel challenged about their own behaviour and for a weird reason think it will go away by getting the other person to join them. Great that you have been honest about why though. I'm not sure I'll be able to do that, apart from with my DH.
What lovely drinks do you have instead?

That is a boy scout level of preparedness glad! Well done

Good luck bobbly and glad your resolve is strong. I think one of the things I have learnt over the last year is that I can't change other peoples mood/behaviour/actions but I was able to change my reaction to them.

That camping trip sounds fun corn

Hi ya to merricat and husband

evening all
my patience is wearing very thin...
dsis is totally not helping. comments like "of course you could have just ONE drink, anybody can have just one drink if they choose to" she is totally not getting it so I have given up trying to explain....
DH has been so moody all day and appears not to be speaking to me.
I am sipping j2o pear and raspberry spritzer...
I sooo want to go to bed... need to jut settle dc and over excited cousin down and persuade them to sleep....
I REALLY need to work on not letting other people's attitudes/moods/behaviours effect me so much.

on a positive note I discovered out first frog in the new wildlife pond I made

Good luck with the settling down of dc bobbly. If all else fails, some sort of bribery :) Good for you, not sure how I'd hold up to that sort of persistence, how annoying of your dsis. Those that do have that off switch really don't understand. Oh I'm far from the epitome of calm and peace just don't explode like I used to and try not to stew on things. It only damages my own health I try to tell myself.

Wildlife pond sounds cool, love frogs and lizards. I was flicking through a magazine the other day in the dentist and they had a feature on swimming ponds which apparently are the latest thing rather than the traditional chemical filled pools. They looked awesome if not very cold to swim in.

Having a poor me night. Having one of those nothing's changed, what's the point moments so a good thing dd is tucked up in bed and I can't go out. Think I'm going to come off facebook for a while too as it's making me feel like I'm seriously losing at the game of life. Tearful, lonely and down. Feel like I don't fit in anywhere anymore.

Bollocks, off to bed with some netflix and fingers crossed for a good dose of positivity tomorrow. Hope everyone else managed a successful, sober Saturday night!

Can I join too? Will explain my story tomorrow, when I'm sober.

Morning

Lucy - what meds are contraindicated with milk thistle? I've been thinking about using some but will need to check first.

It was my birthday yesterday and my fantastic family bought me a new device that will make posting on here easier than on my phone, hurrah! I had no wobbles about drinking, it's been years since I drank on a 'special' days so doesnt trigger me any more, all my drinking in the last few years has been covert. I did look longingly at someone's long drink of cold beer outside a bar but when the friend who took me for lunch suggested a beer (she knows I have ishoos but is not one to assume or judge so it wasn't malicious) I just told her that was the quickest route to ruining the rest of my day which we both found quite amusing .

Charles Kennedy has put the wind right up me too, I guess we all know here the place he was in with drinking, I expect he didn't think it would kill him. Haemorrhaging is quite a common way for an alcoholic to go I think? I assumed it was gastric rather than brain but they haven't said have they?

We have a street party today, last year I met a neighbour who sometimes drops empty vodka bottles into my recycling box if I leave it out too long and I've seen him drinking vodka on his allotment over the road too. Anyway, last year he had the shakes when he showed up at the party and I really felt for him especially when he was told there 'might' be some wine later. Refusing him a drink for an hour was NOT going to cure his chronic alcoholism! I was sober but I think if I'd had any I'd have quietly passed him a drink to make him comfortable but I can't tell if that is a nuts thing to consider? Sadly he's since been diagnosed with throat cancer and really isn't
well now, he's his own worst enemy but I hope if he requests one someone hands him a glass with kindness today. It's not s case of enabling more a kindness to a dying man, I think it's too late to start policing his intake at this stage. What do the rest of you think? It's tricky for me to know because my alcohol normality radar is so skewed.

All down to what he wants to do I suppose? Really difficult one (unless he is trying not to drink). Not really anyone else's decision to make??
First day dry, went out for dinner with DH. Still really wanted a drink even though was still not right after bingeing Friday. He was supportive (am really lucky) but I don't think he gets the lack of 'off switch' thing and assumed it is temporary- He can have 2 beers and stop, like your sis maybe bobbly?
Hope today is looking more cheery last

Happy birthday tsonly!! I assumed GI for Charles Kennedy as they are linking it so closely with his alcohol abuse. It would be nice if the legacy left would be for politicians to take notice of this illness and put more resources and money into it. I'll not hold my breath though Indeed a tricky one but I would think it would be up to him. Enjoy the street party.

Yes in a better place today thanks husband. Was the Saturday night stuck-in-alone-pity-party. A lot to be getting on with today so no time to brood. Glad you had a nice night.

You'd hope that Charles Kennedy would sharpen politicians minds to alcohol misuse but I doubt it will. I was using the services of my local drugs project at one stage but was told that I couldn't access much of it (including any of the 1-1 counselling) as my addiction was alcohol. They reserved those for people with illegal drug issues. A cynical person might say that it's not really in the interests of the govt to help alcohol addictions considering the amount of tax revenue they get from it, but I really wouldn't like to speculate husband - glad your dh is supportive, I have one of those too

Thanks for the birthday wishes gleaming

Re my neighbour, of course it's up to him, it annoyed me last year that people were trying to keep him away from booze because it showed a lack of understanding of addiction, he was obviously going to drink and was physically (possibly dangerously given his state of withdrawal when he showed up) suffering by being held back but yes, it's a very tricky situation.

There's a scene in Fried Green Tomatoes where one of the main women quietly hands a withdrawing alcoholic (with no intention or means of stopping) a bottle of booze and it seemed like a genuine act of kindness.