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Cravings - how long on average until they go away totally?



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Cravings - how long on average until they go away totally?

Old 03-18-2013, 04:30 PM
  # 21 (permalink)  
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I learned a way to have a good successful detox and get good sobriety length. First and foremost, get hydrated. That is the most important thing. The next thing I did once I could hold down water was to start getting nutrients into my body. I hit the GNC for some potassium supplements because your body gets depleted of potassium quickly, multivitamins are self explanitory, Valerian Root calms the nerves, St. Johns Wart brings positive attitude, and definitely milk thistle, which promotes healthy liver function.Cranberry tabs are also good because they stimulate the kidneys to work properly. Now i was always the kind of drunk that never ate before drinking. I wanted the booze to do its job and do its job good. So once my stomach was ready to handle solid food, I ate like a pig. Big meals was the ticket for me. And because i was an empty stomach drunk, i never even felt like a drink on a full stomach. And the vitamins i took helped give me a sense of doing something positive for my body after all of the abuse I put it through. In time the cravings will diminish. Once the physical craving is gone, then FIND A HOBBY!! Something that interests you. Try going to college. I did, and I will tell you, at 37 in college, it is a blast. I am loving it. Best of luck to you!!
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Old 03-18-2013, 04:50 PM
  # 22 (permalink)  
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14 months sober and sorry to say have had cravings right up to now, but dealing with them is a 100 times easier than dealing with cravings at say 2/3 months . They are getting weaker and weaker because I am getting stronger and stronger. Grind through the cravings , they are only mind games/thoughts nothing more. Good things await.
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Old 03-19-2013, 01:46 AM
  # 23 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by Darthbubster View Post
I learned a way to have a good successful detox and get good sobriety length. First and foremost, get hydrated. That is the most important thing. The next thing I did once I could hold down water was to start getting nutrients into my body. I hit the GNC for some potassium supplements because your body gets depleted of potassium quickly, multivitamins are self explanitory, Valerian Root calms the nerves, St. Johns Wart brings positive attitude, and definitely milk thistle, which promotes healthy liver function.Cranberry tabs are also good because they stimulate the kidneys to work properly. Now i was always the kind of drunk that never ate before drinking. I wanted the booze to do its job and do its job good. So once my stomach was ready to handle solid food, I ate like a pig. Big meals was the ticket for me. And because i was an empty stomach drunk, i never even felt like a drink on a full stomach. And the vitamins i took helped give me a sense of doing something positive for my body after all of the abuse I put it through. In time the cravings will diminish. Once the physical craving is gone, then FIND A HOBBY!! Something that interests you. Try going to college. I did, and I will tell you, at 37 in college, it is a blast. I am loving it. Best of luck to you!!
Great advice. I used to hit the wall at 4 days too, like the OP, and have now got a bit better at quitting by making it to 10+ days every couple of months. A month is my next goal. But I go in with a lot more confidence now and prep in a similar way to you.. vitamins, good food, I try to manage my blood sugar in a healthy way (from what I read if you do something like eat a big bag of candy you're screwing up metabolism in the same way as when you get drunk).

What gets me now is either overconfidence in sobriety or I get these freight train cravings.. by that I mean they are all day, constant, and the psychology bit is really strong I just feel it is inevitable I will drink. I've had super easy stints quitting and then I get one of those and its over.

I really enjoy threads like this because it gives us novices at quitting a better idea of what to expect. I'm 0 days sober at the moment the hardest part is getting those first few days in and just getting started.
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Old 03-19-2013, 05:36 AM
  # 24 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by Retro_Girl View Post
I'll have to see about the anxieties, maybe with a clearer head, things wont seem so bad that I need to go drink.....hmmm that would be nice. I'll make sure not to be hungry too. I also found that chamomile tea with a sweetener is good in the evening as a drinking substitute. Didn't drink today! Thank you all for your support!!
I think in reading through this thread to the last post and then reading the last response todate that this can be taken further. I still crave every day to some extent. IOW in my experience the sensation of craving can last a long time. If one is 'over' sensitive enough, or aware of ones senses to a degree that may be outside the norm then the sensation of craving is sensed in relation to many exoself events.

On the path of recovery there are certain prime directives. Honesty is perhaps the most important (though a tripod is certainly more stable).

A commitment to honesty begets a number of matters, not least understanding the essence of honesty. Where does it start? What is it really? Where does it happen? What is the relationship of self and honesty?

The funny thing is : these questions can all be answered by being honest.

With the mind as one of the senses. and the mind as being potentially without a subconscious. in other words a conscious expanded over what one calls the subconscious, to varying degree in the norm, many are nor really aware of it as something knowable at all, (perhaps that is the 'common' state?), one senses the sensations as they arise throughout the mind body phenomena, (that we call 'I').

These sensations are the precursors to reactions.
The reactions can take a variety of forms, within and out,

A feeling gives arise to a thought and the thought is acted upon. The act lays bare the feeling!

Therein lies also the solution.

Here endeth the lesson.

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Old 03-19-2013, 05:57 AM
  # 25 (permalink)  
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Working on the start of Day 10 and I have the cravings on and off. Some days it has been really hard for me. If it's anything like giving up nicotine then I guess it is something that will always be an issue for me. I guess it just depends on the person and their personality.
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Old 03-19-2013, 07:09 AM
  # 26 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by polaris View Post

We have all had a time that we enjoyed things without alcohol, I suppose there really isnt any reason that we cant return to that state.
I had to have a Spiritual Awakening before I could return to that state. No amount of calendar days of not-drinking could do the job. It was the result of action. Lots of self appraisal, amends and service work.
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Old 03-19-2013, 02:22 PM
  # 27 (permalink)  
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I recommend everyone should see their Dr before embarking on a course of supplements.

Whats worked for others may not work or even be suitable for you.

this technique was useful for me and cravings:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...e-surfing.html

D
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Old 03-19-2013, 03:19 PM
  # 28 (permalink)  
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Naltrexone,the shot Vivitrol has been sent from my Higher power to control my cravings.In 21 days now there has only been one time and I conquered that craving within 3 minutes
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Old 03-19-2013, 09:13 PM
  # 29 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by Dee74 View Post
I recommend everyone should see their Dr before embarking on a course of supplements.

Whats worked for others may not work or even be suitable for you.


D
I do agree with you on that Dee. Especially with the herbs like Valerian root and milk thistle. Though Potassium is an essential in every persons diet. Drinking alcohol washes it from your system very quickly. Ever notice the cramps in your body. Muscle spasms? I had them so bad I would grab my can of beer and my hand would tense up to the point that I would practically start to crunch the can in my hand. Potassium controls so many things in the body. It is one of the electrolytes, the brain signals in your body are all done with electric signals. Being potassium deficient makes the fluid in your brain less able to conduct the electricity needed for brain signals to function. It also works with sodium to control how your body displaces fluid. Once i went close to a week without being able to urinate after a spree. Drinking a gallons of water over and over. I went to the hospital and they gave me a potassium IV and next thing i knew, my blood pressure was normal and i could not stop peeing. And most of my withdrawal symptoms diminished. They told me in the emergency room that my potassium levels had become dangerously low. Had my sister not taken me to the hospital that day and i had gone to sleep, I may not have waken up. Those were scary days. But of course, I did not learn my lesson. After a week of feeling good, it was time for a reward drink... I am sure you know where that went....
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Old 03-19-2013, 09:20 PM
  # 30 (permalink)  
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I have been clean a month and the cravings for drugs have pretty much subsided. But I wouldn't call it really a "craving" but on a daily basis I have the thought pop up "it'd sure feel nice to use right now" but it's generally pretty easy to shake the thought. I have been told though it'll probably be pretty much a lifetime of having thoughts or memories striking up randomly where you think of using. I have been told the occurrence of the thoughts slows down with time though.
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Old 03-19-2013, 09:25 PM
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I will tell you. I once went two weeks straight drinking a liter of Canadian whiskey a day. I was so sick when it came to an end. after day four, I was practically bed ridden. I was seeing things that was not there, hearing music and talking to people that never existed. Thank God for me, that I had an endless supply of Neurontin, an anti convulsant in my medicine cupboard. I am on it to treat chronic pain. of course i never took it while drinking. But it potentially saved me of a grand mal seizure while coming down from that spree. I was having conversations with disc jockeys that were not there, requesting songs, and they were playing them for me. This was all in my head. Withdrawal is a scary thing in cases like this. I should have been hospitalized. But was afraid to even do that. It took two and a half weeks to get normal again. I will give the advice, if you get too extreme of withdrawal, i tell you, IT CAN KILL YOU. There are times that i look back on some of those days and realize, I am lucky to be alive. Some of my past detoxes should have been medically assisted. It is not always a good thing to go it alone. I tell you, that detox I described above was miserable, but man what a trip that was. Reminded me of Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. Thank God I lived to tell about it.
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Old 04-29-2017, 04:36 PM
  # 32 (permalink)  
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Cravings

I've just finished day 6. It's the longest since I can remember.
For years I couldn't get past 2 days because of the shakes. I got upset and grabbed a bag of clothes and went to emergency. I wanted to be admitted because I was sick of being sick.
Unfortunately, they turned me down and said I wasn't bad enough. However, the doc prescribed me valum (spelling). So this helped with the shakes 3-10mg tabs a day for 4 days. I have a good wife and she nursed me basically for 4 days. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm taking some natural health supplements to help me relax. Eating well and keeping hydrated is also helping. The cravings are a fight
Which is how I got to this thread.

It's nice to hear all the experiences and thanks for listening.
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Old 04-29-2017, 05:08 PM
  # 33 (permalink)  
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The uncotrollable cravings are caused by the presence of alcohol in the system. It takes three or four days to get detoxed, so that is how long it takes for the cravings to go away.

After that, the main problem centres in the mind. The obsession to drink will keep cropping up and trying to convince you it is ok to drink now. "It is so hot, I would love a drink, I am so angry I need a drink"or just "a drink would be so nice" .

My mind associated drinking with good times, and even though the good times were long gone, it still held out the hope that things would be different this time. They never were, other than being worse. Whenever the going got tough, I craved the good times that alcohol used to bring.

That was alcoholism. I needed to find a more satisfactory way of living to deal with that. Now it never occurs to me to drink. In fact craving the good times (the delusion) left me the minute I got started on a program of recovery. So for me, both types of craving were gone within a week or two.
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Old 04-29-2017, 05:35 PM
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It's very much psychological. We link ANY mildly unpleasant feeling to alcohol, so we believe that we are constantly surrounded by "triggers" that will "make us" drink.

We crave a quick fix to our problem and it takes a while to recondition your mind to go directly to anything other than alcohol in those moments.
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Old 04-29-2017, 05:58 PM
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I just happened to go to an excellent professional seminar this morning, talking about triggers and cravings. Cravings are totally normal and unavoidable for addicts, and the worst of them come early when we're detoxing, but they can come and go for months to a couple years afterwards. During that phase they're generally caused by triggers, things that our brains associate with drinking. This could be a song, a food (especially any food with alcohol in it), a place, a person, an emotion, a time of day, anything that our brains link to drinking.

Cravings are involuntary (Pavlov's dog) and we can't just will them away, but we can help ourselves by identifying and avoiding triggers that cause them (like Pavlov's bell). I know in my case, I haven't seriously craved alcohol since I was about 6 months in to abstinence, but I've felt mildly triggered a few times since then.
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Old 04-29-2017, 10:13 PM
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What worked for me was to put myself in a place where I was going to quit no matter what. Cravings or no cravings, made no difference. Unconditional. Once I accepted and understood that my life as a drunk was in the past and no going back, the cravings and thoughts diminished.

I think worrying about them and believing they post a risk to your sobriety means that you haven't yet decided to quit for good, that there is a chance you might start up again. Forget about them. When they come, look at them for what they are, part of your past, and accept them. Then let them go, and go do something. There are all sorts of new things you can do now that you don't drink anymore. Pick something that excites you and satisfies you, and then go do it! Onward!
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Old 04-30-2017, 04:16 AM
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Originally Posted by Retro_Girl View Post
I've been trying to quit drinking on and off and can't seem to get past the third or fourth day because of the nagging cravings.

Now on day 1 again.......read that for some they go away completely after a longer period of time, can you all tell me what your experiences have been?
I'm just beginning too. I recently made it to Day 8, then caved and spent a few days drinking. I hated the hangers, so renewed my mind to quit again. I'm now on Day 4.

Something I'm doing when I have a craving is pouring some grape juice and seltzer water in a wine glass and sipping, as if I have an alcoholic drink in hand. I don't know how healthy it is to try to trick my brain this way, but it does help. It's similar to when I "smoked" a fake cigarette when I was quitting, pretended to smoke. Just the breathing technique of the fake smoking got me through many cravings. This "faking it" with the juice/water mix seems to be helping me get through the anxiousness of the cravings.

Let's hang in there Retro_Girl! We can do this!
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Old 04-30-2017, 06:51 AM
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I just returned to this post and see the original post was from 2010. I didn't realize it before. I'm new here and I guess need to start checking these things. I hope Retro-Girl is still alcohol free. To all of you (including myself) who are still having cravings, stay strong!
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Old 04-30-2017, 06:53 AM
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Someone told me early to look for similarities and not differences; we all have widely varying experiences with this like other areas of recovery.

My energy was best focused on how to deal with each aspect - I was very VERY sick when I quit and had to come back to life; I didn't actually have any cravings, at all - not what others "got."

You can do this- lots of info and suggestions on this specific question around here (urge surfing, playing the tape through, distraction ideas, etc)....have you thought about a program of action? Mine is AA and it saved my life.

Good luck.
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