DRY 7!!!

[mollyonthemove]

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

You hang on to that soap box, Lucy! I salute you. I am too much of a coward (or just too proud?) to talk about my problem in RL which I am kind of ashamed of. You have dropped the ego and are putting bigger issues ahead of your own pride which I think is hugely admirable.

Great to hear you are seeing the difference already, Fresh. I was more like Corn in that I replaced alcohol with sugar/carbs initially, but even though I put on some weight I was still less puffy and skin got clearer. And now my weight has dropped back so was just something I needed to go through I think. Small price to pay.

That's brilliant you've noticed some positive changes already fresh. Yes, worry about tomorrow when it arrives.

I also put on a stone but it's probably better on me as I started off underweight and am now 'ideal' weight. I wasn't an eater before, would skip a lot of meals in favour of coffee for the hangovers. Also drank on an empty stomach a lot. At least now I know my calories are coming from food. The wrong sorta food yes and not impressed the way it's all tagged onto my stomach rather than the non-existent boobs but you can't have everything :) Skin is still shit but have rosacea so wasn't expecting miracles with that.

I might try that self-hypnosis link. I tried a cd in the past for stopping smoking but it was Paul McKenna and I couldn't help but snigger my way through it at his voice every time.

Well done for the non booze buying today missy and 600 days is awesome lucy!

Morning everyone. No booze consumed last night but another crap night with baby. I'm utterly exhausted and hoping it ends soon. Pub lunch with my Mum today but I never drink when we go so this will not be a problem. It's the evenings when relaxing that is. Work this morning then that's it till Tuesday.

missy sorry to hear you had another bad night. Hope you nejoy your lunch and manage to get some rest later
corn thanks for those links. Think I've looked at some of them before but will have another look
fresh one day at a time is the way to go!
lucy 600 days is amazing - you are an inspiration!

I have found the last few evenings hard - worse than last week really. But I have come through them. I have also been coping my eating copious amounts of rubbish (crisps, chocolate, biscuits!) but will address that later! I am overweight anyway and do want to tackle that but can't address my eating and drinking at the same time.
I am working tonight so at least will be free form temptation there, and then again on Sunday, which also means I wont want to drink on Saturday so should be OK over the weekend for once! Then we shall see what next week brings!
Hope you all have good days.

I'm way over my ideal weight as I piled it on when pregnant so think that's why the weights come off easily this week. i think dehydration was key.

Sorry to hear you've had a rough night missy, I hope you start to have better nights soon, it can be so draining. Does it feel more manageable without a hangover though?

Well done bobbly another day done! How many AF for you now?

I'm definitely going to give that self hypnosis video a try, it would be great to take the edge off the cravings. I just wish I didn't even think about having a drink....one day maybe....

Could your dh/p take over tonight and let you catch up on some sleep missy? It's horrible and feels endless when they go through stages like that, I remember some nights both dd and I ending up in tears. Hope your lo comes out the other side of it soon.

That's great bobbly. I'm still coping with lots of sugar. Bought a multipack of (normal sized) chocolate bars yesterday as ds has 'treat' day today and could bring one in. I've already scoffed four of them

Morning all.

[waves]

Thanks merse :) Shame is a bugger and serendipitously my post yesterday was about dealing with a shame spiral. Today's is about the blame game - which I'm also in recovery from I don't think it's so much about dropped ego as feeling compelled to speak out as a public health nurse. Anyways ....
Congrats to all the new sober warriors - we are moving into the week-end when our defences need to be high. Stay strong peeps! And eat as much as you need - weight can be addressed later as like everyone else I gained and have now lost it all so fear not

Can I also just jump in here and recommend (In my capacity as Mummy CornChips) to also take vitamin tablets. Alcohol depletes our bodies of essential nutrients so badly so we need to give it a fighting chance to recover. :)

Hi everyone. I've been watching stalking you guys for a while, and finally I think it's time for me to acknowledge that I have a problem. I don't drink during the day but most nights I can easily drink a bottle or bottle and a half of wine. It doesn't touch the sides to be honest. The trigger is tea time, it was so stressful when they were little. They're not little anymore and my 'reward' has turned into a need. I definitely have an addictive personality, stopped smoking on June 21st last year and have used an e-cig since then, down to the lowest nicotine content on that now. My gut feeling with the alcohol is that it needs to be all or nothing. I need to make some serious lifestyle changes and if you don't mind, after this bank holiday weekend I would like to join the sober warriors. God I'm nervous just thinking about it.

Hi Juggling. Welcome and feel free to de-lurk! Honestly, no need to be nervous. I promise kicking the booze is a massive relief and weight taken off shoulders. Doesn't mean it's easy - especially in the beginning - but I promise you my life has been transformed by it. Hand holding here a plenty.

Starting with poor Missy. I agree with LastG, can you beg for some respite just for a night? When we are sleep deprived the simplest thing becomes a real struggle. I feel for you. At the time it seems relentless...

Seconding corn suggestion of multi-vits, particularly B vits that alcohol destroys, plus I take 1g Vit C and omega oils. Glutamine is great for cravings of either the booze or sugar variety so really recommend that too/
I also third lasts and merse suggestion of a night off for Missy. Nothing is going to undermine HALT (hungry, angry, lonely, tired) cravings like being up all night with a LO. That used to make me ALT all at once!!
Plus juggling welcome to the madhouse

Thanks Lucy, thanks Merse. I've just done my first 30 day shred workout, god it was absolutely awful but I think I need to try really hard to swap my wine addiction to an exercise addiction. Shall head out over the weekend for multi vitamins. I suspect I'm peri menopausal too so have gained lots of weight recently. I'm just going to be lovely on Tuesday aren't I!

WTF even IS a 30 day shred workout?! Sounds terrifying. Really throwing yourself into exercise can help loads, though, so sounds like a good plan. Doing it without a hangover far less vom-inducing too!!

It's evil Merse, I may have pulled several muscles, lots of mumsnetters rave about it. You basically do levels 1,2 and 3 for 10 days each and look like a goddess at the end of it. Levels 1 and 2 are on YouTube.

May take a look. I do derive a slightly sick pleasure from hard exercise…. Annoyingly have done my knee in so can't do anything at the moment apart from sit about eating chocolate, but will investigate. I used to like kick boxing about a million years ago and my GOD that gets you fit/six-packed up.

Jillian Michaels is the fit bitch that does the videos, pray do tell what is this 'six pack' that you speak of? I must find one.

I haven't seen it for - ahem - several years…. Was quite something back in the day, though (needless to say before DCs etc.). I am now more built for comfort and may also be peri menopausal too

Hi ya juggling. I tried shred and it gave me shin splints after three days so I gave up. Haven't done it since but do remember every muscle in my body shaking after twenty minutes. Hard core.

I honest to god thought I was peri menopausal a while back as dm went through hers early and I was having horrendous night sweats most nights. Waking up several times a night having to change pjs and sheets (lovely). Hasn't bothered me in the slightest since stopping drinking so must have been a side effect of the alcohol.

Last me too on the night sweats - thought it was peri-menopause and all stopped when I stopped drinking. There are lots of subtle side effects of drinking that we label as something else! Happy to see the back of that

I did the 30 day shred a couple of months ago juggling, it was brutal but I got SO much fitter from it. And handy it's only 20 mins of pain! I've now signed up to the great South run in October - I used to be a keen runner but pregnancy and a newborn put paid to that. I'm hoping having something to train for will give me the motivation to not drink and achieve something non baby related!

I totally understand what so many of you are saying about mistaking symptoms for other things - alcohol causes so many negative things that you don't realise. I found I couldn't sleep last night, I'm guessing that's yet another side effect of no booze....

I remember I didn't sleep properly for about 10 days. Or rather, I slept blissfully once I got to sleep, but I struggled to drop off. After the initial period it was fine ,though. And quality of sleep SO much better. None of that wretched waking up in the middle of the night.

Welcome juggling and hello all. I feel a bit rubbish as I have been absent lately, but am still here and happy. Have been negotiating with a journalist this week who has written a long piece about my drinking which forced a lot of unwelcome memories and feelings back into my head so I am dealing with that right now. it is important to work through it I guess but hard to talk it through honestly

That's brave Molly, did you find it cathartic? I suspect that lots of my all edged 'peri' symptoms may disappear in a couple of weeks time.

Sort of! It's mainly about my relationship with my eldest daughter who's now 25, which was at best tenuous and at worst awful :( so it was hard to revisit how bad I was really. The best thing is that we have now got through it, talked about it, cried about it and she forgives me. Forgiving myself is a lot harder of course!