I'm stopping
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Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 21
I'm stopping
Hello,
Im new to the forums. This is my first post, actually.
I have been drinking a lot by my standards lately. Progressively more and more as the months go on and I'm ready to stop. I don't really go over more than 7 beers in a day, but is that enough to withdrawal from? I guess the real reason I'm posting here is because I need some sort of support right now. I know that I'm killing myself the longer this goes on and I'm just scared. Sometimes I feel like its not even me who walks into the liquor store and buys a six pack. At times I tell myself "today I'm not drinking" and then by 2:30pm I have a 6 pack in my car headed home. Sometimes its such an impulse and I hate that. a success story would help me right now ha ha. I feel like when I do stop drinking the anxiety of withdrawing comes into play and that inner voice says "oh you better taper off" so I get a beer and then its all down hill.
Sorry for rambling. thanks for reading
Im new to the forums. This is my first post, actually.
I have been drinking a lot by my standards lately. Progressively more and more as the months go on and I'm ready to stop. I don't really go over more than 7 beers in a day, but is that enough to withdrawal from? I guess the real reason I'm posting here is because I need some sort of support right now. I know that I'm killing myself the longer this goes on and I'm just scared. Sometimes I feel like its not even me who walks into the liquor store and buys a six pack. At times I tell myself "today I'm not drinking" and then by 2:30pm I have a 6 pack in my car headed home. Sometimes its such an impulse and I hate that. a success story would help me right now ha ha. I feel like when I do stop drinking the anxiety of withdrawing comes into play and that inner voice says "oh you better taper off" so I get a beer and then its all down hill.
Sorry for rambling. thanks for reading
Last edited by Dee74; 06-25-2016 at 12:43 AM. Reason: by request
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: canada
Posts: 7,242
hello mcb
i did much the same as you, over and over. swear and commit to not drink, and then buy the stuff on the way home and feeling often just as you describe: not really me who was doing that.
but of course it was!
did that forever. until i didn't.
sober quite a while now.
lots of support here; invest the time and participate, look around, read what others do and what works for them.
engaging was of major benefit to me. still is.
stick around
i did much the same as you, over and over. swear and commit to not drink, and then buy the stuff on the way home and feeling often just as you describe: not really me who was doing that.
but of course it was!
did that forever. until i didn't.
sober quite a while now.
lots of support here; invest the time and participate, look around, read what others do and what works for them.
engaging was of major benefit to me. still is.
stick around
Member
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: McKinney Texas
Posts: 20
Only you can determine if you are a alcoholic. But I can tell you from experience that alcoholism is a progressive thing. What maybe a six pack today could end up being a 18 pack a day in the future. I also know that from experience. Even though your quantities maybe considered small your inability to not drink maybe a red flag. What people who don't suffer from addiction can't comprehend is that at some point we lose control of deciding whether or not we drink. It sounds absurd to "normal" people but its true. Go to a open AA meeting, ask questions, listen to story's and see if you can identify with anyone. That would be the best advice in my humble opinion. As far as your anxiety goes, maybe its from trying not to drink. I'm pretty sure anxiety is something everyone on this forum had/have in common.
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Join Date: Jun 2016
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Originally Posted by wshall 
Only you can determine if you are a alcoholic. But I can tell you from experience that alcoholism is a progressive thing. What maybe a six pack today could end up being a 18 pack a day in the future. I also know that from experience. Even though your quantities maybe considered small your inability to not drink maybe a red flag. What people who don't suffer from addiction can't comprehend is that at some point we lose control of deciding whether or not we drink. It sounds absurd to "normal" people but its true. Go to a open AA meeting, ask questions, listen to story's and see if you can identify with anyone. That would be the best advice in my humble opinion. As far as your anxiety goes, maybe its from trying not to drink. I'm pretty sure anxiety is something everyone on this forum had/have in common.
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 65
I think if you're questioning whether or not you're an alcoholic or not, I'd guess that your drinking is affecting you or your life negatively in some way. Even if you don't have a serious physical addiction, it's not a bad thing to eliminate alcohol from your life. My inability to stop at just one drink was one of my major indicators I might have a problem.
Not drinking has helped me to feel so much better, physically and emotionally. The depression and anxiety I had while I was drinking has decreased so much. I'm much calmer, and I'm even feeling like I could take on the world again, just like I used to. I remember thinking the days where I didn't have a headache or a stomach ache from drinking too much, even when I was tired and felt overall crappy were my good days. Now, on my good days I wake up refreshed, for the first time in years.
Finding support can be the hardest part, even on here I was just recently feeling like I was having trouble, but as soon as I voiced my concerns everyone was more than willing to help me understand why I was feeling what I was feeling and bring me back on board.
I've learned if you want anything bad enough, you can have it. Really, truly wanting it was the hardest part for me. You can do this!
Not drinking has helped me to feel so much better, physically and emotionally. The depression and anxiety I had while I was drinking has decreased so much. I'm much calmer, and I'm even feeling like I could take on the world again, just like I used to. I remember thinking the days where I didn't have a headache or a stomach ache from drinking too much, even when I was tired and felt overall crappy were my good days. Now, on my good days I wake up refreshed, for the first time in years.
Finding support can be the hardest part, even on here I was just recently feeling like I was having trouble, but as soon as I voiced my concerns everyone was more than willing to help me understand why I was feeling what I was feeling and bring me back on board.
I've learned if you want anything bad enough, you can have it. Really, truly wanting it was the hardest part for me. You can do this!
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Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 21
Originally Posted by sdi9285
I think if you're questioning whether or not you're an alcoholic or not, I'd guess that your drinking is affecting you or your life negatively in some way. Even if you don't have a serious physical addiction, it's not a bad thing to eliminate alcohol from your life. My inability to stop at just one drink was one of my major indicators I might have a problem.
Not drinking has helped me to feel so much better, physically and emotionally. The depression and anxiety I had while I was drinking has decreased so much. I'm much calmer, and I'm even feeling like I could take on the world again, just like I used to. I remember thinking the days where I didn't have a headache or a stomach ache from drinking too much, even when I was tired and felt overall crappy were my good days. Now, on my good days I wake up refreshed, for the first time in years.
Finding support can be the hardest part, even on here I was just recently feeling like I was having trouble, but as soon as I voiced my concerns everyone was more than willing to help me understand why I was feeling what I was feeling and bring me back on board.
I've learned if you want anything bad enough, you can have it. Really, truly wanting it was the hardest part for me. You can do this!
Not drinking has helped me to feel so much better, physically and emotionally. The depression and anxiety I had while I was drinking has decreased so much. I'm much calmer, and I'm even feeling like I could take on the world again, just like I used to. I remember thinking the days where I didn't have a headache or a stomach ache from drinking too much, even when I was tired and felt overall crappy were my good days. Now, on my good days I wake up refreshed, for the first time in years.
Finding support can be the hardest part, even on here I was just recently feeling like I was having trouble, but as soon as I voiced my concerns everyone was more than willing to help me understand why I was feeling what I was feeling and bring me back on board.
I've learned if you want anything bad enough, you can have it. Really, truly wanting it was the hardest part for me. You can do this!
I just woke up at 430am feeling like I needed to get on here and read peoples success stories and here you are! Thank you so much for the words of encouragement. Its truly helping me in ways that I don't feel like I have in other places in my life right now. From day to day I know I'm going to need to just really use some willpower but finding this group of people really makes me know I can do this for the first time in a long time. Thank you.
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Join Date: Jun 2016
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Originally Posted by Jojay
Hi there.Yes,this site is the best.The support from everyone on here is a life line.I wake up around 4.30am too.5 weeks sobe now.The anxiety is the hardest to cope with.
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
Withdrawals must be in degrees I think. What a lot of people call withdrawals, I used to call a hangover. At the end of a four day bender, I would kind of drink myself sober, of forget to drink and find myself accidentally sober, and get really ill for two or three days. Dry horrors, unable to eat, exhausted, nauseous, sweats and bad dreams. But I was still oftem able to drag myself to work.
When they put me in the laughing academy they gave me something for withdrawals that wacked me right out. On the third day I woke up straight and refused to take any more pills. They might have been benzos, but whatever they were I did not like the effect.
In the same place they had a room where they put people for close monitoring of medical withdrawal. I saw about one person a week go through there. Without exception they were incredibly noisy, screaming and shouting to all hours. Those withdrawals sounded horrendous especially the screams. Yet I can think of one chap who was probably the worst, who, a day or two later was convinced he could drink safely and that all he had to do was make sure he ate properly. Incredible. He is long dead now.
The thing about him was he was such a likable guy. Great sense of humour. He didn't appear like a miserable self centred alcky, but he was certainly chronic.
When they put me in the laughing academy they gave me something for withdrawals that wacked me right out. On the third day I woke up straight and refused to take any more pills. They might have been benzos, but whatever they were I did not like the effect.
In the same place they had a room where they put people for close monitoring of medical withdrawal. I saw about one person a week go through there. Without exception they were incredibly noisy, screaming and shouting to all hours. Those withdrawals sounded horrendous especially the screams. Yet I can think of one chap who was probably the worst, who, a day or two later was convinced he could drink safely and that all he had to do was make sure he ate properly. Incredible. He is long dead now.
The thing about him was he was such a likable guy. Great sense of humour. He didn't appear like a miserable self centred alcky, but he was certainly chronic.
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Sonoran Desert & Southeast Asia
Posts: 6,561
Welcome mcboyle! Glad you're here. What I did was only buy three beers. Of course if I bought a six pack I'd drink it. See if you can do that for awhile, you'll feel a lot better, with less anxiety. If you can't, well then you know you need to quit. This site and a therapist were very helpful to me in that regard. He helped me understand my thinking and feeling patterns. Been almost three years now. Glad I quit.
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Posts: 1,981
Originally Posted by least
The best advice I ever got about getting sober was that I had to want to be sober more than I wanted to drink.
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So tonight a friend of mine had a show that I've been looking forward to. It was really great and they all did a really fantastic job. It was a great night. What I did (for precautionary measures) was left all my credit cards at home, and took only the amount of cash I needed for admission. I knew I was trying to not drink, but this way I also knew I couldn't even buy anything. I actually had such a great night. this is my first day without drinking in quite a while and I have to thank everyone here. the support that I've received in such a short amount of time has given me hope and a strange feeling of friendship. its really cool. Thank you for the support. I cant wait for tomorrow.
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Originally Posted by mcboyle
BTW its bothering the hell out of me that I mis- typed the "I'm" in the title..."I stopping" hahahah
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Join Date: Jun 2016
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Im doing really well the past couple of days. no bad symptoms at all. whenever the thought of drinking comes into my head Ive just been saying "im not drinking today" and it has actually really helped in clearing my mind from the thought.
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