DRY 11

[TeapotDictator]

Time for a shiny new thread.

Old thread here

Fontella let us know how you get on. I love the excitement of an e bay auction count down.

Yellow you are strong tip it away. I hope you get some support from the GP. Seven weeks with a slip is such a hard won battle. You can do this and you will get strength from all those that have gone before you as those that follow you will get strength from you. Crack on

Yellow - ditch the vodka and together we will start off on our new journeys together!

Waves to everyone.

Waves back.

jojo are you on day 11 too?

Hi everyone.

Sure no-one will remember me, I posted sporadically for a while back but then turned to lurking instead as my ever ongoing attempts to abstain were failing miserably.

I am posting to say I have taken a huge step and it's scary. I have an assessment with my local DAAT team. It's next Thursday and I can't say I won't drink in between now and then (so I won't post if I do as it's not right) but it is a step in the right direction.

I love this thread and I hope to be back with you very soon. Best wishes to you all x

(In the meantime, I have dug my copy of Ann Dowsett Johnston out - funnily enough I never got past the first few pages!)

Welcome Loubilou & Tang! Remember you both :) Hope DAAT appt goes well & well done for booking Big step but they are a great resource.

Tang good luck with DAAT. Its a positive step! I also went to DAAT they were absolutely lovely

Donajimena - what happens at a DAAT apt?

I went for my first hypnosis session today and feeling positive :)

Glad you enjoyed hypnosis lou
I remember you tang keep posting honey, you are brave enough to admit you need help so accept the support from these wonderful folks. They're all getting me through at the moment.
How are you coping at the mo cheesy?
In my room/haven, candles on (electric, they're brill!), fairy lights on, coffee in hand about to run a bubble bath. feel strong. No intention to drink. Optimistic re new anti depressants and acne tablets. Gonna be happy with glowing skin, weeeeah!

yellow good news on the medication and an added incentive not to drink so that the pills can get to work unhindered. Beautiful skin coming your way!

Hello tang I'm new at 11 days but if I think about it my behaviour of dry jans, attempted moderation over the years has led me to this ultimate conclusion.

Evening all, welcome to new dryee's!

Yes matron day 11 for me - am pleased with myself but I wish I felt better for it!! I seem to be utterly exhausted despite sleeping and eating well and now have toothache to boot! Am hoping it's just my sensitive teeth playing up and they will calm down.

In a fit of enthusiasm last week I booked myself into a dance class tomorrow night - new non-drinking hobby and all that - but now it's the last thing I feel like doing!!!

jojo it's exhausting isn't it! But why?! I'm grizzly tonight. This is pure evil but part of me was wondering if you had given up so that I could give up and blame day 11 as clearly the tricky day for everyone.

Instead you are eating well and going dancing (be rude not to now you have booked it). What type?

I'm going to take your lead and exercise my way out of this foul mood tomorrow.

Evening all, thank you for the welcome. I felt like I was coming down with flu yesterday, and couldn't reach for my usual hot whiskey! Had to make do with some out of date lemsip (2013), and took myself off to bed,and woke up this morning fighting fit (yay!). I am attributing this remarkable recovery to my newly alcohol free body - day 16 for me.

It varied from week to week, but I reckon I was drinking about 65 units a week, over 5 or 6 days. I haven't wanted a drink since. jojo and matron, I haven't had any cravings like what you describe - it's what Allen Carr promises in his book, but I genuinely didn't believe it would work. I think I've been brainwashed, I've tried to cut down and restrict before, but I've never managed more than 3 days. It's like I've had personality transplant.
The danger for me, and for you matron, is people viewing it as a whim. Trying to get us back in the herd, as you said. My DH is being supportive, but when I mentioned something about our summer holiday, and my being able to drive in the evenings, he was taken aback that I plan to be still off it in July. It holds a mirror up to his own habits, and he wants his drinking pal to come on holiday with him. He works away during the week, so he went away one Monday morning, and came back late on Friday night to a sober wife tucked up in bed- I kind of sprang it on him!

I mentioned it to one of my best friends( who has confided in me about her own concerns about her own drinking), so I thought she was safe, and her first response was - are we never going to share a bottle of wine again?

Apparently, nobody sees me as having an irreversible drinking problem, but the thing is, none of them have been inside my head.
Meh, don't know why I'm talking about this. I have no intention of apologising for being sober. How totally fucking surreal!
I can't be bothered having debates with people, so I'm sticking to weight loss, detox etc for the moment.

In the yummy sober treats aisle, I love a sparkling drink which is a blend of grape juice and green tee. It's Echo Falls sparkling infusion, I got it in Sainsburys for about £3, and it's less that 200 calories for the whole bottle.

Nell - i relate to this Apparently, nobody sees me as having an irreversible drinking problem, but the thing is, none of them have been inside my head.

I could convince them by describing all the worst aspects of my drinking (the hidden bottles, the real reason for the black eye, the throwing-up on public transport, the events I attended but cannot remember etc etc) but actually I don't want to strip myself that bare. So, I stick to saying breezily, "Oh I was drinking too much. It was running away with me. I feel so much better without it."

My friend rang me this evening and I recounted the whole saga of me getting pissed after the business meeting a few weeks ago and then thesrunken fumbling with the bloke who gave me a lift home ... and she laughed.

But as we were talking I realised that actually, she drinks a lot more than I do. She has a whole cellar full of wine of various vintages and freely admits she partakes several times a week.

But that's the thing. She has a couple of glasses most night and then puts the cork back in and does other things.

If I open a bottle, the bottle gets drunk. I know as soon as I open it, there's no corks going back in, it's getting drained and chucked into the bin. And then I could easily drink another one and if I happen to have one handy then that gets cracked open also.

It's all about that ability to moderate. I'm not alcohol dependent. I don't crave alcohol. I can live a completely alcohol free life.

It's just that when I do have a glass of wine .. I find it very difficult to stop at that. I want another and another until I am pissed. Not every single time of course. But just sometimes and it usually with embarrassing results.

the drunken

if any of you want to keep up date via text - pm me and I will give you my mobile number
please don't use it unless you really need help though

Am still clinging on matron so there is no escape for you!! Monday and Tuesday are busy days for me so I don't get to post as much. Not feeling cravings yet this week - feeling rubbish probably helps because I really don't want to feel any worse!

As for the dance class - this will give you all a giggle - it's bellydancing!! It looked fun and not too strenuous. What have I done?! Will let you know how I get on.

Totally get the can't stop at one glass thing font and that other people don't see me as having a problem but that they aren't inside my head nell
Sounds like Allen Carr has worked for you - I have read it and Jason Vale but something isn't clicking in my brain yet.

matron did you have another work do and family social thing again this week?

Fontella I too can not drink for days or every day but there is always a day that I binge and it can take weeks to rear its ugly head or could be a surprise double binge weekend.

I am not sure what is making me feel I want to stop that doesn't want my bigger drinking friends and family to do the same. They are content with their big drinking and keep dismissing my absence as a folly.

jojo belly dancing! You were feeling buoyant when you signed up for that Good on you its meant to be fantastic for the waist line.

Business dinner tomorrow, no escape. It's the got to drive the car home from station at 11pm excuse. Usually I stay out with this client until late and taxi home at 2am ish.

Got family and friends at mine Saturday and Sunday. My house is party central

How long does this readjustment phase last? When will I feel less flat is it weeks away? Or months and years?

matron I can't really remember but I have been mainly dry since November and its only since the middle of January that I am happy with it really.
I no longer have to seek out a nice non alcoholic drink in the evening and I don't bath every night now. I found filling the gap from 4 - 9pm very hard and I don't now.
I still have days where I think fuck it I want wine but I just play the tape forward. I find this a useful tool.
We are all adults and have the choice to drink or not too so when I tell myself I'm going to have a drink I skip forward (in my head) to the inevitable hangover. It really does work for me.

Hi all.
CheesyNachos here with a name change as I am determined to lose three stone.

Matron it tickled me immensely that you told people about DS's 'pringles for mother's day' comment. :) :) I think he is a funny little thing. Your Mother's day lunch sounded pretty epic and you were amazing to hold strong. It gets better, it really really does.

belly dancing sounds amazing!

so much fantastic activitiy on the thread. :) Welcome everyone new.

All okay Chez Cheesy. I have just managed to unload half a dozen bottles of wine. I accidentally left my dog in the yard yesterday when I was out, and she barked for 4 hours. My POOR neighbours, all of whom are either retired or working from home. I got a few messages on my machine, and everyone was universally kind just asking if something was wrong (as she is never left out). So I went around today with cards and bottles of red to apologise. People were desperately nice about it.

Thanks dona I guess I need to give it a bit longer.

Been reading Mrs D and the play it forward blog. My antics are worse than the posters on there I can't think about some of my drunk times without deep shame. In fact thinking about the past makes me want to drink to forget!

Matron you might want to check out PAWS (post acute withdrawal syndrome) I wrote about it on my blog and you can find them here :)

Lucy will I ever have an original thought or feeling again in this process thank you so much PAWS explains a lot. Knowing about it won't stop it but at least I can prepare myself the best I can.

2 years is a long stretch but I guess it took me a lot longer to get in this pickle. Today I am up for the challenge.

Cheesy are you the real Slim Cheesy or just imitating? Won't the real Slim Cheesy please stand up?

Ahhh the moods swing in my favour this afternoon.

Matron I found having similar thoughts and feelings to others who had been before me deeply reassuring And yes forewarned is forearmed. It is an up and down affair for sure but the good news is the periods between feeling like you are going through a readjustment get further apart and shorter the more days you get under your belt. It did take over two years for them to completely dissipate and even now I have my moments I was having coffee with a sober friend earlier this week and we are both over 2 years and were saying that we thought it was going to be dealing with the cravings that were going to be the hardest part but actually it's dealing with life without the escape hatch that can be. But after this amount of time it's nailed shut because as Teapot said up thread now we know booze is not only not the answer but that it will make things so much worse!