Thank You.
I was googling 'Does Alcohol cause bloating?' and I found SR. I have been unashamedly stalking you ever since.
I didn't drink much in my teens and my twenties, saw friends with hangovers etc and couldn't see the attraction and I didn't even like alcohol. Really wish I had held on to that thought!! In my thirties I discovered the joys(?) of white wine. In the past ten years I have gone from the occasional glass to a bottle, bottle and a half a night.
I never drank during the day because that would make me feel like cr*p.However drinking all evening and feeling cr*p the next morning became acceptable. I never drank before 6.30pm even if that meant me standing in the kitchen, one hand on the fridge, waiting for the minutes to tick round to the acceptable time. I would wake up in the morning and take until lunchtime to feel normal, achieve not very much and then treat myself to wine in the evening for the hard day I had had.
Since finding SR, reading the books people have mentioned, I have seriously taken a look at my habit. In the past three weeks, I have had a couple of glasses of wine, 21+ bottles less than I would have done otherwise.(wow, that looks an awful lot of wine in print!)
Yesterday I had a bad day when I felt only wine and chocolate would help. Was in the supermarket when I met a friend who I haven't seen since I was drinking heavily. She told me I looked really healthy, had a glow! The lack of alcohol has meant the puffiness in my face has gone down but also now I am taking time to put on make up, care about what I am wearing. I am the girl who used to grab the first thing to hand, who once spent time chatting in the playground only to discover later that the pegs were still attached to my shirt!!
I am not naive enough to think that after three weeks I've got it sussed and I know that I still have to address why even though I'm choosing not to drink I can't bring myself to say that's it forever. But thank you all for sharing your experiences and wisdom because in the last three weeks my life has changed dramatically and this place has helped so much, even though you didn't know it.