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Old 01-31-2016, 06:43 PM
  # 23 (permalink)  
UhZoomZip
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 88
That's half the reason I'm here, for support and information and strategies.

I went several-months-in-a row not drinking in the past when I moved in with my mother to help her with her mortgage (she was sober at the time after a bad year), but then she briefly moved out and then back in with her new husband moved in with me when they fell off the wagon and the stress of the whole thing pushed me over the edge. Up until that point anhedonia and loneliness were my only draw to drink again. I moved out and was depressed for a while and it took me a few months to stop again. I moved in with a SO who knows I have past issues but I was able to stop before moving in with her. She rarely drinks, we've shared drinks when the rare (like two or three times a year) occasion arose, and I occasionally used to drink a good beer without issue. Then this past year I started becoming seriously depressed for the first time in the few years we've lived together and my work life went to crap with the arrival of a new boss. So I've been drinking more days than not, breaks of a week or so at a time, and without more than a shaky hand for a while or the sweats, and I've had a slight tremor in my hands and been sweatier than average since I was a child, so no one notices. I have back issues and we don't sleep in the same bed because of it, even before I started drinking again, so at some point I go to my room, she goes to hers, and she has no idea when it's getting bad, especially since I never get blind drunk.

I've never had a support system, no one knows half of this, and I didn't have a plan other than: Don't drink, in the past. I'm a private, introverted person, too proud for my own good. I've been functional all this time; doing fairly well at work all along, if probably moodier than I should be; no real drunk driving to speak of, no fights, no blackouts; I'm about to graduate with high honors with my Bachelor's finally after taking a break for years; I just landed a new job; things with the SO are going well outside of my failure to be honest with her about this. I'm tired though, and my health is starting to show the wear and tear. I've recommitted to my health lately, and this is the big piece that needs to change.

I feel like if I do the safest road though, go away for a few days, I stand to lose the SO, lose the house I live in, potentially lose the job. Cold turkey is starting to look more appealing unless I can get the withdrawals under control or I'm lucky and my old doctor is willing to see me and not just send me to the hospital. I've done cold turkey while drinking slightly heavier than this before, and without the week of sobriety I just had at the end of December, and it was hell. Maybe I can just pass it off as the flu until things pass over. Last time I had a day of shakes, sweating, anxiety, and watching movies and not sleeping at all and then a day of being weak and extremely tired and miserable and watching movies, but still not able to sleep. Could be worse, but maybe then I'll end up having more serious symptoms and have to bite the bullet and go to the hospital, and then everything comes out. I don't even know, I hate that it's come to this. I guess I'll continue to reduce and hope I don't hit a wall before it's too late. New job starts next Tuesday, so I have a full week to at least get back to being able to only drink in the evening without withdrawals during the day, but if I wait too long then potential inpatient detox will kill that.
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