star*

I am desperate to get sober. Today is the day... I have no alcohol in my apartment. What do you guys use to help cravings? I've heard drinking water and chewing gum?

Otis

I have been sober for a little over a week. This time I have been going to AA, and I have to tell ya... Going to the meetings after work motivates me succeed tonight, rather than being somewhere else thinking up excuses to let myself fail.

sbp

Hey Star Welcome.

I've been sober since Dec 27th and I'll tell you the first few days are going to be tough but you can do it. Just don't allow yourself to drink no matter what. The best thing to do and you have already done it is to clear out your house of booze. Booze free home is a great starting place. I don't know how some people do it with alcohol around them all the time. If you really want to quit you will talk to family or friends and tell them your quitting drinking. This may prevent them from trying to get you to go out for a drink with them. I know my friends were all about trying to find a drinking buddy. I told them all I'm game for doing anything as long as it does involve alcohol.

Exercise will help your cravings. Get outside if you can, get some fresh air. Lots of water, vitamins, fruit is great because of the natural sugar plus all the anti-oxidants.

Good luck !!!!

nandm

I tried many times to quit on my own but never with any real success. The longest I went was a year and I was miserable inside and still had continued cravings.

What has worked for me has been a recovery program. I will have 7 years come March of this year. I have not experience the obsession and craving for alcohol since the first few weeks or so. The difference between using a recovery program and doing in on my own is the recovery program provides me with tools to live without drinking and a support group. AA is the program that has worked for me. But there are many out there. Here is a link to a listing of recovery programs.
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-programs.html

Kellye C

Congratulations on quitting and welcome to SR.

For cravings I have been told that the very best thing is chocolate ice cream. I am lactose intolerant and didn't hear about this until I had been sober a while but it sure can't hurt. I was told that the body processes the ice cream in the same basic way it processes alcohol.

At my home group the oldtimers swear by natural honey and chocolate. Bottom line sugar helps the cravings.

Staying busy doing something helps too. If you're into excercise and feel up to it a good workout might help. If you are tired and able to sleep, count your blessings and catch up on sleep (many newly stopped people experience insomnia).

For me I went to meetings and when not in meetings I kept myself busy. Reading, watching movies with family, cooking. I couldn't sleep and I couldn't stand to be alone (cause that is how I did my drinking - in secret) and I couldn't even stand to be in my room so I basically lived in the living room recliner for about the first 3 weeks.

Having the face to face support of my AA group was invaluable to me as I knew nothing about getting and staying sober. I'm sure SR would have been helpful too but I didn't find it until I had been sober for a year.

Hang in there!
Kellye

sugErspun

Why did you decide to quit drinking? How much do you drink? What has brought you to the point of desperation?

The more we know the more helpful we can be - or so I have found.

belchoir

I know seltzer water isn't everyones favorite, however when you open a can and squeeze a quarter of a lime into it, it is very refreshing. I do this because it gave me the sensation of having a "cold one" without the need for alcohol or all of the disgusting chemicals in soda drinks.

Because of the oral fixation element of drinking, I also pop a lot of popcorn because it gives you something to enjoy without eating too much. It is best if you eat lower butter popcorn because you will feel better.

Good luck to you! I'm rooting for you because I too am trying to make it through today. I fell off the wagon a year ago after 6 years sober. I am just now trying to get back on.

You CAN do it!!!!

happyguy

This is how best to stop the cravings.

1. Remove all booze from your home. It will help you. once there si no booze, then the cravings, even if it comes will not be able to overcome you.
2. Get involved in something worthwhile, something that will take your time and fill up your mind. In other words, engage in social work, play with your wife and kids. Read motivational books or watch motivational programmes on the TV.
3. Get rid of friends that may draw you back. Make sure that friends that may invite you out for a drink are dropped. Exchange thse friends with friends that will lift you up, friends that will make you think of your family, work and society at large. You need friends whose conversations will be devoid of promptings for booze.
4. Let your family help you. Tell them that you are stopping and they should help you. How? By watching over you. Anytime they notice you are drawing back, they should help you out.
5. Avoid parties. Don't misunderstand me. Not all parties involve booze but if you know the one you are being invited to will involve drinking, try and stay away from.
6. Let people know of your convictions and change. When people know you are quitting, they will stop offering you drinks or inviting you to booze parties.

Make use of these suggestions and the cravings will not overcome you. best of luck!

CarolD

Here is a link full of info on de toxing from alcohol

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html

It's wise to see a doctor before quitting abruptly in most cases.
Have you done that?

Welcome to SR!

Tazman53

With no details on how long or much you drank I really do not know if I need to say this or not, but here goes.

See a doctor and tell them the whole truth about how much and how long you have drank. Detoxing from alcohol can and does kill people!

Okay now dealing with cravings:

Take vitamins, you will need them to start to recover, a good multivitamin and a B-Complex are crucial.

Drink lots of water and every time the urge to drink hits you eat something sweet that you like, alcohol is a sugar, so sweets will kind of trick your body..... keep in mind that gaining 10 pounds is a lot better then killing yourself drinking!

Here is the most important thing of all to do to kill craving, get into a recovery program and dedicate as much time to recovery as you did to drinking!

If you spend as much time going to meetings, talking to others in recovery, helping others in recovery, and reading about recovery as you did drinking the craving will have little time to work on you.

When I first got ready to get out of detox they told me if I wanted a chance to stay sober to go to at least 90 AA meetings in 90 days and get a sponsor, I thought they were nuts!!!!

My last day there my counselor asked me if I was going to go to 90 AA meetings in 90 days and get a sponsor. I told him I would go to AA and get a sponsor, but I worked full time and had a family, there was no way I could go to that many meetings in that amount of time. He asked me to simply promise him I would spend as much time going to AA meetings as I did drinking!!!! Well needless to say I did more then 90 AA meetings in 90 days! The amazing thing was I also spent more time with my family then I had in years!!!!

Thanks to the program I have not had a craving in over a year, the obsession to drink is gone!!!

lostmdboy

The best advice you have already heard. Get a program, go to meetings, and get phone numbers. There is nothing like talking to another alky to help you through the hard times.