Alcohol - Gave Up

[Carrot]

r1flyguy1 said:

I posted earlier in the thread that I hadn’t had a drink for a few years now.
This wasn’t through actually being a drinker but a lifestyle choice.

I used to drink, I’d go out with colleagues and have a few G&T’s and mix and usually end up with a bad hangover. One night the bar staff at a well known hangout decided to spike my G&T, I was sick for 2 days.

Since then (maybe 6-7 years ago) I haven’t had any alcohol.

Having read some of the replies I want to add that 3 or 4 years ago a put a friends CV under the nose of the boss and he was actually invited for an interview.
As I work abroad, he travelled out and I put him up in my place and told him I’d be back from work around midnight and just to make himself at home.

I arrived back and was shocked to see my friend absolutely off his face and a gibberish wreck on the floor with the remnants of a litre bottle of duty free whisky on the side.

I spent the next few hours trying to understand or being given his life problems and to be fair I was shocked as I never knew this was what he was like.

I also felt embarrassed that he would be going for an interview at the place I worked & to whom I recommended him to.
Lo & behold he managed 3 or four hours sleep and he woke apologetic and sober!

To cut a long story short he didn’t get the job as there were other interviewees there who maybe did and some 2 years ago he passed away from health issues.

Yes I miss him as he was a good friend who hid his problems well but I’m glad I didn’t see him in his final days. I had arranged to go visit him on a Sunday morning as I knew he was not well but his wife called me to say he had died just an hour earlier.

The worst alcoholics are the ones that can hide it the best. I told my friend shortly after I gave up how much I drunk. I have known this guy for 27 years from school. He had no idea and was shocked that I was walking around sober every day!!

Sorry to hear it got him in the end.

[dirky dirk]

i think that i have an addictive trait within me,

thats why i never do drugs,

ive not had a drink for a few weeks now, not missed it,
i probably wont bother till after easter,
i work with perople i see the signs how they top themselves up,
collecting the take away via the pub, walking the dog via the village, that kind of thing,
it must be heeartbreaking for their partners

[J4CKO]

dirky dirk said:

i think that i have an addictive trait within me,

thats why i never do drugs,

ive not had a drink for a few weeks now, not missed it,
i probably wont bother till after easter,
i work with perople i see the signs how they top themselves up,
collecting the take away via the pub, walking the dog via the village, that kind of thing,
it must be heeartbreaking for their partners

I do that, its one of lifes simple pleasures, just cant do it every day,

But not at the moment, 42 days now and not bothered, will have a drink when we are away for our anniversary I think but not counting down to it.

[SpeckledJim]

J4CKO said:

dirky dirk said:

i think that i have an addictive trait within me,

thats why i never do drugs,

ive not had a drink for a few weeks now, not missed it,
i probably wont bother till after easter,
i work with perople i see the signs how they top themselves up,
collecting the take away via the pub, walking the dog via the village, that kind of thing,
it must be heeartbreaking for their partners

I do that, its one of lifes simple pleasures, just cant do it every day,

But not at the moment, 42 days now and not bothered, will have a drink when we are away for our anniversary I think but not counting down to it.

Doesn't sound too terrible to me. It's not on the hiding-vodka-in-the-cistern level.

[TameRacingDriver]

Yeah a cheeky pint down the pub while walking the dog doesn’t seem anything too bad, if they were having a fair few every time... different story!

[Welshbeef]

TameRacingDriver said:

Yeah a cheeky pint down the pub while walking the dog doesn’t seem anything too bad, if they were having a fair few every time... different story!

Depends if you don’t tell the wife or then go ok I’ll drive etc

[JustALooseScrew]

dirky dirk said:

i think that i have an addictive trait within me,

thats why i never do drugs

That's interesting, because 25 years ago I would have taken any thing you offered me - a bit like Withnail.

The world always seemed 'friendlier' when you were mashed on some good MDMA. And let's be honest with each other the world is a very beautiful place after a dose of shrooms.

One night that really sticks out in my mind was a night out in Leeds at The Faversham.

I was beer only that night, but everyone around me was flying on Es and they were getting concerned that I was mixing beer with drugs.

No matter how hard I tried to explain they couldn't believe that I was drug free - mainly due to my happy chatty nature of I know what space you are in and I'm there too, just with a different drug.

It was quite strange in that their concern for my welfare was above and beyond anything I'd ever witnessed before.

A few years later a girl in a student house I was living in said to me 'JALS you're so funny when you've had a beer, you're a proper fluffy drinker, you're so warm and caring and funny'.

It's true though - I'd always be the last one awake, I'd make the cups of tea and coffee until the early hours and then tie all the laces together on the shoes of the people that were crashed out.

I miss those days.

[splodge s4]

Its now 2 weeks & 2 days with no alcohol. Resting heart beat is still 42/43 so not dropped any lower than it instantly dropped the day after no alcohol. i've lost the urge for a beer at 5pm, I can have an orange juice & lemonade & feel the same as if i just had an end of work pint of stella. No difference in weight, 12s 9 (im 5ft 10) but that may come in another few weeks. Feeling good & I don't need a drink

80 units a week to zero, didn't think i could do it but there you go!

[SpeckledJim]

splodge s4 said:

Its now 2 weeks & 2 days with no alcohol. Resting heart beat is still 42/43 so not dropped any lower than it instantly dropped the day after no alcohol. i've lost the urge for a beer at 5pm, I can have an orange juice & lemonade & feel the same as if i just had an end of work pint of stella. No difference in weight, 12s 9 (im 5ft 10) but that may come in another few weeks. Feeling good & I don't need a drink

80 units a week to zero, didn't think i could do it but there you go!

Well done indeed.

I’ve gone from almost every night to weekends only and I’m feeling the benefits.

[Carrot]

Good stuff

[TameRacingDriver]

SpeckledJim said:

Well done indeed.

I’ve gone from almost every night to weekends only and I’m feeling the benefits.

Same here. Although initially I would say the difference is immediately obvious but now I would say I just feel about the same as when I was drinking. It's like many of the positive benefits were temporary.

I still find it hard to get up in the morning (never was a morning person). The rapid weight loss has basically stopped, my sleep continues to be better so that's a plus, but I'm still a grumpy sod . That said I am more motivated at work.

I have no intention of going back to the way I was and overall it's been positive but it hasn't been the transformative experience I had been hoping for. I think I was possibly hoping for a complete personality transplant which in hindsight was probably my expectations being WAY too high.

I'm sure someone will say I will have to give up entirely but that's not something I really want to do and if I did I'm not convinced I wouldn't notice much more benefits, although I appreciate were all different.

[Caddyshack]

"Weekends only" is a temporary cut down in my opinion as it is likely to creep back up. I guess it depends if you think you had a potential problem or if you really believe in the fact that it is a poison to your body. "I only use poison at the weekends"

I do not want to be a preacher, some people (me) have a proper relationship issue with alcohol and other people are at a different point on the journey.

I never want to drink again...ever. I now see no value in it.

[SpeckledJim]

Caddyshack said:

"Weekends only" is a temporary cut down in my opinion as it is likely to creep back up. I guess it depends if you think you had a potential problem or if you really believe in the fact that it is a poison to your body. "I only use poison at the weekends"

I do not want to be a preacher, some people (me) have a proper relationship issue with alcohol and other people are at a different point on the journey.

I never want to drink again...ever. I now see no value in it.

It had (has) two values for me.

A signal to relax once the day's 'duties' are over. A treat/reward. That bit is not good, and that's what I'm in the process of ending.

and

A nice drink, which enhances an event. I still subscribe to that bit, and I've no intention of going teetotal. Not least because, when spectating from Sobertown, drunks are annoying and clearly having more fun, so if you can't beat them join them.




I know that bacon is 'a poison to my body', but I'm not quitting that either.

[Tyre Smoke]

I'm with you.

Weekends only. And last weekend I drank nothing on Sunday at all.

I'm not finding no school night drinking particularly difficult either. It was a bad habit to get into.

I'm not going teetotal either, I don't want to.

[kingston12]

splodge s4 said:

Its now 2 weeks & 2 days with no alcohol. Resting heart beat is still 42/43 so not dropped any lower than it instantly dropped the day after no alcohol. i've lost the urge for a beer at 5pm, I can have an orange juice & lemonade & feel the same as if i just had an end of work pint of stella. No difference in weight, 12s 9 (im 5ft 10) but that may come in another few weeks. Feeling good & I don't need a drink

80 units a week to zero, didn't think i could do it but there you go!

Well done to you.

I'm surprised about the weight not coming off immediately, but as you say that will come with time.

[Penelope Stopit]

All of you, a big nicely done from me

Keep it going

The world is your Oyster

[Caddyshack]

SpeckledJim said:

Caddyshack said:

"Weekends only" is a temporary cut down in my opinion as it is likely to creep back up. I guess it depends if you think you had a potential problem or if you really believe in the fact that it is a poison to your body. "I only use poison at the weekends"

I do not want to be a preacher, some people (me) have a proper relationship issue with alcohol and other people are at a different point on the journey.

I never want to drink again...ever. I now see no value in it.

It had (has) two values for me.

A signal to relax once the day's 'duties' are over. A treat/reward. That bit is not good, and that's what I'm in the process of ending.

and

A nice drink, which enhances an event. I still subscribe to that bit, and I've no intention of going teetotal. Not least because, when spectating from Sobertown, drunks are annoying and clearly having more fun, so if you can't beat them join them.




I know that bacon is 'a poison to my body', but I'm not quitting that either.

I get all that and understand.

Agreed that drunk people are very annoying to a sober person, I struggle with that bit myself, especially when the drunk person is my wife.

Alcohol is an actual poison. If you drank it neat and pure and could keep it down a glass full would kill you. Bacon...you could eat 20 packs a day for a week and just get fat.

Operating theatres have to be the cleanest places on earth, they have the choice of anything to clean them and they use alcohol as it kills cells dead.

[Steviesam]

It all interesting stuff here.

I think I posted on the other thread, but cant remember.

I am sort of writing a book about how I went from liking a few beers to being told I was going to die in the next 2 or 3 days from drinking. Its not easy, I started it all gungho and wrote quite a bit, but then nothing or months!

This thread might have inspired me to carry on

[Caddyshack]

Steviesam said:

It all interesting stuff here.

I think I posted on the other thread, but cant remember.

I am sort of writing a book about how I went from liking a few beers to being told I was going to die in the next 2 or 3 days from drinking. Its not easy, I started it all gungho and wrote quite a bit, but then nothing or months!

This thread might have inspired me to carry on

Wow, that sounds like quite a story. My dad died on a boat from drinking himself to death. Good for you being still here to write it.

[Davey S2]

A lot of familiar tales on here.

I need to knock it on the head pretty quickly as I've been gradually drinking more and more and its got a bit OTT now.

I've long tried not to drink during the week but as I'm the one who does all of the cooking I'll regularly have a glass of wine or 2 or a large G&T (or 2) on the go in the kitchen most nights. I probably resemble Keith Floyd

Weekends were a different matter. Probably a couple of large G&T's then pretty much a whole bottle of wine every Friday or Saturday and a bit less on Sunday. My wife hardly drinks in the house. On the weekend she will ask for a glass of wine but only drink half and I'll finish hers (and the rest of the bottle).

She's pulled me up on my drinking a few times recently especially on a Sunday night or week night.

I think you become aware that you're drinking far too much when you don't get affected by hangovers. 2 large G&T's and a bottle of wine and the following morning I'm fine other than a bit dehydrated and that's getting up anywhere between 6-7 with the kids.

Not saying I will stop drinking completely but need to pack it in completely when I'm at home. I have a 6 year old and a 2 year old so nights out on the lash are pretty rare and coupled with the cost of nursery fees means we wouldn't go out and spend a shed load on drinks anyway so not a big concern.

My problem seems to be I have the classic alcohol mentality of if one drink relaxes you and the second makes you feel good imagine how amazing you'll fee after 9 or 10. Worryingly I have one of the other danger signs of drinking a lot when I'm on my own.

If my wife is out for the night I think 'great, I can make whatever food I want, watch whatever I want and drink whatever I want'. Being honest its probably the drink part that I look forward to the most.

Might give the Allen Carr book a go and see if that helps.