18 months!
Glad to be here
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 178
18 months! 
Wow, the day is almost over and I just realized I almost forgot all about it. Today is 18 months since my first day of sobriety. I'm grateful for all the positive changes in my life and that of my family. Being able to come here to SR and read the struggles and triumphs of other people who really understand has been such a tremendous help. I've learned an awful lot from you guys and I'd like to thank you all again for being here and offering so much support. 
Glad to be here
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 178
Originally Posted by tanyapmc 
Wow.......that is so great. I can't imagine almost forgetting it though. LOL
Glad to be here
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 178
Originally Posted by Tazman53
That is awesome DKS, tell us how you did it.
The therapist suggested that perhaps it would be helpful to see a psychiatrist who specializes in addiction, and that perhaps there could be a prescription that might be helpful with the cravings. I made an appointment with the psychiatrist and she told me to start cutting back slowly on the alcohol (eliminating one beer per week until I made it down from a 12 pack + per night to only four per night) and then she would get me started on Campral. I tried and failed miserably at the cutting down slowly plan. In the meantime, I ordered several books on the subject from Amazon (7 weeks to Sobriety, and a few others) and then ran all over town trying to find book covers so that I could read these books at the gym, Dr waiting rooms, airplanes, etc without anyone seeing what I was reading. In retrospect, the covered books probably looked pretty conspicuous!) The next thing I did was order all of the vitamins and supplements recommended by the "7 weeks" book and I went ahead and started taking the glutamine and b vitamins that were supposed to help with craving. I saw the psych dr. again for a follow up and told her how miserably I'd failed at the plan to cut down to 4 beers per night. I did OK as long as I was allowed 9 or 10 beers per night, but could never seem to quit drinking for the night on fewer than 9 or 10 beers, and it was getting really miserable counting them and keeping track and getting to the limit and having to stop. The Dr went ahead and gave me the Campral at that visit and told me to start taking it while continuing to cut out a beer per week (instead of waiting until I was able to only drink 4 beers per night as originally planned).
I finally realized it would be easier to just stop cold turkey than to keep trying to cut down. My husband was planning to quit with me on the same day, and he wanted to get plastered at a concert on his birthday, so we both chose the Monday after his birthday as our "quit date". He ended up getting gout and was in so much pain that he actually stopped drinking 2 days before the concert. (He had gout several times before and had learned that alcohol and red meat contribute to the risk of contracting gout.) I had already gotten my mind set on quitting on the planned day (June 12 2006), so I didn't stop with him. I kept ordering drink after drink after drink at that concert and wasn't even getting a buzz. I moved on from beer to multi-shot drinks like Long Island Ice Teas, Blue Hawaiians and some other colorful concoctions that I saw other people ordering. My husband was shocked when I told him the following day how much I had actually had to drink that night (it was more than 15 drinks and many of them with several shots). He said I didn't seem drunk at all and wasn't even slurring my words, etc. (It was highly unusual for him to be totally sober when I was drinking right next to him.) The final hurrah at that concert was actually pretty disappointing and it was like I couldn't even get plastered and enjoy it. I realize now in hindsight that this disappointing last big night of drinking was an important part of my recovery. When I read about the unpredictable effects of alcohol in "Beyond the Influence", it suddenly all made sense to me, and it was downright scary.
Anyway, I quit cold turkey on Monday, the 12th of June 2006, as planned, while continuing to work full time at the day job and run the business after work. It was a truly miserable first week. I found SR in the weeks just prior to quitting and spent a LOT of time reading on here and learning as much as possible just prior to quitting, with frequent visits ever since. I ended up taking the Campral for a total of 18 months and began weaning off of it a few months ago. I took the final dose of Campral this week and am hoping the cravings don't return. I'm still taking many of the vitamins and the glutamine recommended in 7 weeks to sobriety.
Another thing that really helped was that I re-started my healthy diet and exercise program on the quit date, and that diet didn't allow any sugar at all. I'm convinced that I'm one of those people who gets the alcohol cravings set off by eating sugar and high carb foods. After starting the diet and exercise program and stopping the drinking, the weight started really dropping off, which was highly motivating as well (I dropped 55 pounds in approximately a year and have been able to keep most of the weight off.)
Although I don't go to AA meetings, I did order a copy of the Big Book after seeing so many of you recommend it. I've read most of the book and read a little more each day, and it has been really helpful in understanding this disease. The Big Book, "Beyond the Influence", and "7 weeks to sobriety" have been the 3 most helpful and enlightening books I've read so far.
Sorry for rambling so long, you're probably sorry you asked the question by now.
It was therapeutic for me to think back over the past couple of years. Thanks for asking!
Glad to be here
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 178
Originally Posted by Signal30
Congratz 1.5! I recently celebrated the 18 month mark, (11/30), and was telling members I was now a AA toddler...lol.
Tom
Tom
Tom,
Congrats on your 1.5 years too! You and I quit drinking about the same time.
3 !!!
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