DRY 8!!!!!!

[CheesyNachos]

Hello! This is our 8th! thread for those who are abstaining from alcohol and for those who want to abstain. :) We love newbies and lurkers. We have people who have been DRY for years, for months, for weeks, days, and hours. :) ALL are welcome. We have heaps of tips and we offer support at any stage.

DRY 7 the previous thread is here...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/relationships/2347295-DRY-7?

cheesy have a lovely weekend away - no particular tips I'm afraid - like you I indulge in M&S cordials and also some of their fizzy fruity type drinks. The thing that really struck me walking around was how many people wrre out and about drinking really really early! It was like because they were on hols all the breaks came off. The JV book prob made me more aware of that than otherwise. I think because I am still so in the early days am just still very hyper vigilant and so it's not as hard as it probably should be at the moment.

Welcome sea day 4 is fantastic. bam and bubbles I could barely think of anything but drinking in those early few days only 3 weeks ago ago for me - it honestly gets so much better as you start to break the habits. (At the moment anyway....)

Thanks for the warm welcome.
First big challenge for me will be Saturday night.
Faithless sounds fab Lucy.
I have got the Allen Carr book based on what I have read on this thread. I need to change the way I see alcohol. Not easy growing up in a binge drinking culture

Should read having grown up

Hi everyone.

Big fail last night. We were both feeling a bit stressed and ended up getting a drink. So disappointed in myself as I know I would be feeling great today if I had stayed sober. You are right about day 3 being the hardest lucy.

No chance of drinking tonight though, as my driving test is early in the morning, and my instructor will be picking me up at 7.30am! I will pass this time (third attempt). I will, I will, I will!

Hi sea. You are doing really well!

Hi BamBam,

Try not to let drinking last night get you down. Just pick yourself up and start again. Is there anything else you can do when you feel stressed?

Good luck with your test tomorrow! It took me three goes too.
Have you thought about doing something tomorrow so you don't have a drink?

Good luck with your driving test BamBam

I went for a minor procedure this week ( nothing serious) and when it came to answering the "Do you smoke" ( never) "How much do you drink"( I don't ) question , the nurse was really questioning me as to why I don't drink, like drinking is the norm and Im a weirdo!
Blimey we are not born with a fag in one hand and a glass of wine in the other !
My BMI is 22 < chuffed>

Ooh, get you with your shiny low BMI pink! Our whole attitude around booze in this country is quite warped I think.

Thanks for the good luck wishes sea and pink. I really hate learning to drive, and just want to be out there myself now. Fingers crossed. I am quite conflicted about drinking. Obviously I am stressed about tomorrow, and would happily drink tonight, but then would regret it when it was time for my test I think. Also, I know I will want something tomorrow, either to celebrate or commiserate. It's all just so hard, and like a trap.

The thing is BamBam there will always be an excuse or reason to drink .
celebrate or commiserate, sunny or rainy, happy or sad .
That's the alcohol talking, drawing you in no matter what.

Im on Day 63 ( checks phone), I made the decision to not drink again no matter what as I would always find a reason to go back to it.

Alcohol lies, it tells you need it to get through the day, celebrate or commiserate etc.
I have got through the past 63 days without it and feel about 15 years younger, happier, healthier and have lost the best part of 10kg.
My skin is glowing, my eyes clear and someone thought I was late 30s yesterday- am over 50

Buy some Shloer or posh hot chocolate/marshmallows/cream today to celebrate/commiserate and to head off the craving.
Good luck tomorrow - remember your mirrors !

best of luck bambam

Good luck tomorrow bam bam. Someone up thread said day 3 was the worse, they weren't kidding. Kidneys ached (probably due to not replacing wine with any other fluid), felt irritable and just wanted to numb how rubbish I was feeling. I must admit I was worried about not sleeping so got some over counter sleeping aid from chemist, sleep quality isn't brilliant but I do drop off really quickly, gonna try to go without this weekend though. Day 4 today, ashamed to say its the longest I've gone for a long time but proud as well that I got past last nights blip. Hope everyone gets through the weekend (me included). X factor without wine?? Will be a first. xx

BamBam Good luck for tomorrow!
Bubblebath it was me who said it and yes day 3 officially sucks. For me on day 1 and 2 I was still hungover to varying degrees but by day 3 I was ready to start all over again and it took the biggest effort to get through. I never want to have another day 3 ever again so that means not drinking or not stopping drinking and one of those options will kill me! X-factor without wine is possible

I found drinking several strong pots of Clipper Organic sleepy time tea really helped re bed time - suspect they were a bit knock out but hey who cares if they work just for a couple of days during Day 3 and 4? (Don't mix with any alcohol though!)

still here, not drinking :) JV book works for me, not read AC version so can't compare but Soberistas, Club Soda, Lucy's site, other sober books/sites and Belle emails have really helped me through :)

And have a 14 yro teen who goes back to school Monday - have managed to stay sober for several weeks ;) nuff said I think!

Morning all. Agree with glad in tools to help in the early days. For the first few weeks I went to bed as early as I could with my laptop, nice drink, and kindle and swotted up on sobriety - read Soberistas, blogged, read books about stopping drinking. My sleep was a bit shot to pieces so I listened to a stop drinking hypnosis app (Andrew Johnson).

BamBam I'd really recommend reading (and re-reading) the JV / Allen Carr books to try to reframe your thoughts about alcohol. The whole time you have that stressed>>>alcohol response, it's going to be a white-knuckle ride. It's crucial to reframe it and be honest about the reality of drinking alcohol to help solve feelings of stress. For me the reality of drinking because I was stressed was likely to be stressed>>>alcohol>>> an initial feeling of less stress followed by an internal wrestle about wanting to drink more >>> probably drinking at least a bottle of wine >>> feeling like shite the next morning, facing up to what was making me stressed in the first place coupled with a hangover and depression to boot.

I don't know if any of this will help you but it really helped me to have a stock couple of thoughts to bat into my mind when I thought about drinking. Like "alcohol solves NOTHING". Or "sobriety delivers everything alcohol promised" (which is true btw), or "play the tape to the end". It's all an illusion and it's important to see alcohol as such. For a fleeting moment yes the stress goes, but hey presto in the morning you're back where you started and then some.

You can do this, you really can. Don't be disheartened by any blip, see it as a learning experience and then move on from it. You deserve to succeed in this. AND GOOD LUCK FOR TODAY! :)

Welcome to bubble and Seabiscotti. :)

Don't know how to do the quote thingy but "sobriety delivers everything alcohol promised" is my new quote of the day. Thank you Teapot. Day 5 for me and I am feeling much more in control, for the first time in ages I actually believe I can do this. Happy weekend everyone.

Morning all. Hope the test is going well bambam. Agree with everything everyone has said and would second reading or rereading JV or AC - it's hard to argue with their logic and has I am sure been the primary contributor, along with this thread!, for reframing how I perceive alcohol right now. Keep going bambam.

And yes, agree bubblesthe sobriety quote is so brilliant because even this early on I know it to be true. thanks teapot!

Am looking forward to a sober strictly tonight so I can actually rememwber what what next week :)

I passed! Thanks for the good wishes everyone.

I know it's an excuse to say I am celebrating, but I know I will drink tonight. I feel quite sad about it, but the other part of me wants to. The trouble with the JV and AC books is that, yes, I agree with every word, but I still can't quite get past wanting a drink. I don't know why I'm finding it so much harder this time than in January.

Congratulations BamBam

but the other part of me wants to

... That'll be the addicted part of you. That part of you will always want to. The only way to squash the addicted part of you is not to feed it alcohol. Every time you give it what it wants, you reset the clock on your cravings.

Congratulations Bam Bam!
I hope you can find another way to celebrate rather than drinking.

I was ok not drinking last night as knew I had a long drive today. I have been thinking about it. I deserve it after all that driving, don't I?

To distract myself I am having a long bubble bath. Then I have pizza and a red bounty for the x factor instead of wine.

Congrats BamBam!! Seconding Teapot it's the addicted part of your brain that wants to drink. If I had a drink mine would be re-awakened with a vengeance and the only way to silence it is to dehydrate it. Don't feed it alcohol and it will shrivel to a crisp and then you can blow away the dusty remains Sobriety really does deliver everything alcohol promises once you get past the early hard part Reset the clock tomorrow and on we go :)

Congratulations Bam Bam. You will love the new found freedom driving will bring. I am finding my new found sobriety is bringing me freedom too.

I know its still early days and I also have that part of my brain telling me "one night off won't hurt", but I know all too well that it will. I am finding counting my days in the morning helps, when it gets to the evening and the craving kicks in I think to myself 'I've already declared this an AFD so I can't drink'.

Day 6 - 1 more day and it will be a whole week, I shall award myself a gold star.

well done bubblebath!

That's great Bubblebath
As yet I am not jumping out of bed with energy, quite the opposite in fact. Probably not helped by the panic attacks that have been waking me up at night. Not sure why I am having them.

Yay! BamBam well done!

I will confess to being confused -you talk about being sponsored in a Dryathon up thread and are doing this with your partner but then planned to drink to celebrate/commiserate.
Im not judging you, just a bit sorry !

Sea do you think the panic attacks might be withdrawal ??
Are you taking BVits, they can help with anxiety?

Hope it passes soon .

Sea concur with PinkPop re panic attacks, withdrawal side effects and B vits. Congrats to the day 6er team :)