Cravings???
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Cravings???
Lot's of recent threads about cravings...here is what
worked for me in early sobriety.
Sharing from my files with hope it helps someone....
I think there are 2 types of cravings
perhaps a mixture?
One type is more a habit than physical.
You drive home and your car steers into your
favorite bar or package store.
You come home tired...sit in "your: chair and
want the usual comfort of a glass/can in hand.
To sleeep better...toss down a drink.
These can be avoided by changeing your routine
Drive a different route
Change the furniture around..sit in a different place.
Fix a glass of anything non alcoholic.
If you drink booze from a can...use a glass
If you did drink from a glass...use a mug
I did time my cravings in early sobriety.
Mine were 5 to 7 minutes in duration.
seemed forever...but that was false.
I took action....drank cold watter ...brushed my teeth
went for a walk...danced around the room...ate Lifesavers
I was also taking a multi vitamin and a B 12
I was following an eating plan for hypoglycemia
I attended AA daily ..committed myself to the program.
Within 2 weeks they lessened immensley... in both
intensity and duration By 2 months they vanished
The mental obcession to drink has never returned.
worked for me in early sobriety.
Sharing from my files with hope it helps someone....
I think there are 2 types of cravings
perhaps a mixture?
One type is more a habit than physical.
You drive home and your car steers into your
favorite bar or package store.
You come home tired...sit in "your: chair and
want the usual comfort of a glass/can in hand.
To sleeep better...toss down a drink.
These can be avoided by changeing your routine
Drive a different route
Change the furniture around..sit in a different place.
Fix a glass of anything non alcoholic.
If you drink booze from a can...use a glass
If you did drink from a glass...use a mug
I did time my cravings in early sobriety.
Mine were 5 to 7 minutes in duration.
seemed forever...but that was false.
I took action....drank cold watter ...brushed my teeth
went for a walk...danced around the room...ate Lifesavers
I was also taking a multi vitamin and a B 12
I was following an eating plan for hypoglycemia
I attended AA daily ..committed myself to the program.
Within 2 weeks they lessened immensley... in both
intensity and duration By 2 months they vanished
The mental obcession to drink has never returned.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Nebraska
Posts: 423
Yes, I think it is a mixture but I am also a believer to never let your guard down when it comes to alcohol - It is always lying in wait and if you revert back to old habits/behaviors, the cravings can manifest themselves again.
There was a guy in my outpatient therapy group that had ten years sobriety and took a new job. He joined the golf team and went with the team after the round to various bars. He picked up at some point and you know what happened next.
After nearly seven years sober, I still don't like to go to bars or nightclubs because I know my old behaviors can precipitate drinking.
Working out at the gym, reading, and finding new sober friends worked for me.
Dave
There was a guy in my outpatient therapy group that had ten years sobriety and took a new job. He joined the golf team and went with the team after the round to various bars. He picked up at some point and you know what happened next.
After nearly seven years sober, I still don't like to go to bars or nightclubs because I know my old behaviors can precipitate drinking.
Working out at the gym, reading, and finding new sober friends worked for me.
Dave
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: East Coast
Posts: 1,906
i have a life long childhood friend that is an addiction specialist and she told me that the "physical" brain cravings that make you sweat and crave booze only last for about 20 minutes. it's what WE do to ourselves during that 20 minutes that compel the rest of the craving. if we obsess about the craving, romanticize it, or entertain it, it's bound to be quite awful.
However, if we start to get one and immediately change things up, it gives our brain a chance to focus on something other than a drink or a drug.
Statistically, most people get cravings when they are
hungry
angry
lonely
or tired.
i'll also add bored.
So, the trick is to make sure you aren't one of these things...if you are, do something to change it.
hungry?-eat.
most of us are hypo-or hyperglycemic and 80% of the cravings occur because we are defecient in some nutrient.
angry? i'm going to do something fun, or address the problem and get past it.
lonely? i'm going to talk to someone who will not make me feel lonely.
tired? try to get some rest.
bored? go do something entertaining....hike, paint, watch a movie, draw, read, play basketball, go race cars, read, write, go get a bite to eat, phone a friend, play in the rain, go to some batting cages, do some mixed martial arts, blog, write poetry, run, walk, volunteer, go to a meeting, go to church, pray, go to the library, the mall, a museum, a gallery, an amusement park, build models, race radio controlled cars and fly airplanes, ride a harley, go bowling, or eat some ice cream and peanuit butter. all of those things i do on a regular basis...after i go through all of these things, there's a GOOD chance i've itched the craving enough to make it so minimal it's another stupid fleeting thought.
i've always said, you never quit being an addict.....good or bad.....in the end, we always seem to replace one addiction with another. whether it's recovery for addiction, or yoga in lieu of drugs...we tend to be obsessive people. these are tools that keep me alive.
be well people,
BD
However, if we start to get one and immediately change things up, it gives our brain a chance to focus on something other than a drink or a drug.
Statistically, most people get cravings when they are
hungry
angry
lonely
or tired.
i'll also add bored.
So, the trick is to make sure you aren't one of these things...if you are, do something to change it.
hungry?-eat.
most of us are hypo-or hyperglycemic and 80% of the cravings occur because we are defecient in some nutrient.
angry? i'm going to do something fun, or address the problem and get past it.
lonely? i'm going to talk to someone who will not make me feel lonely.
tired? try to get some rest.
bored? go do something entertaining....hike, paint, watch a movie, draw, read, play basketball, go race cars, read, write, go get a bite to eat, phone a friend, play in the rain, go to some batting cages, do some mixed martial arts, blog, write poetry, run, walk, volunteer, go to a meeting, go to church, pray, go to the library, the mall, a museum, a gallery, an amusement park, build models, race radio controlled cars and fly airplanes, ride a harley, go bowling, or eat some ice cream and peanuit butter. all of those things i do on a regular basis...after i go through all of these things, there's a GOOD chance i've itched the craving enough to make it so minimal it's another stupid fleeting thought.
i've always said, you never quit being an addict.....good or bad.....in the end, we always seem to replace one addiction with another. whether it's recovery for addiction, or yoga in lieu of drugs...we tend to be obsessive people. these are tools that keep me alive.
be well people,
BD
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Bethlehem, PA
Posts: 84
Early in recovery my cravings would plant me firmly in a "poor me" place. Oh, the self-pity I would feel! It is SO UNFAIR that others can drink alcohol and I cannot. I would focus on making it through one minute, then the next, then the next. I did a lot of walking.
In one of my first meetings of Women for Sobriety, a member stated that she was on the "pity potty," and knew that it was a crock! It made me so ANGRY to think that my self-pity might be laughable. I really didn't speak at all during my first few weeks of WFS meetings, because I was so angry at everyone there.
I like BD's list of activities to get your mind off of a craving for alcohol. I became a fitness fanatic and even after having two children I still am addicted. Going for walks helped to clear my mind, now I take indoor cycling classes.
One unproductive way I dealt with cravings was to take them out on my spouse. I remember beating on his chest once in frustration and anger that I could not drink. He bore the brunt of my anger in early recovery. Ten years later it became a major justification for why he had an affair and we subsequently divorced. He brought up those temper tantrums I had during cravings and how he felt blamed by me.
In one of my first meetings of Women for Sobriety, a member stated that she was on the "pity potty," and knew that it was a crock! It made me so ANGRY to think that my self-pity might be laughable. I really didn't speak at all during my first few weeks of WFS meetings, because I was so angry at everyone there.
I like BD's list of activities to get your mind off of a craving for alcohol. I became a fitness fanatic and even after having two children I still am addicted. Going for walks helped to clear my mind, now I take indoor cycling classes.
One unproductive way I dealt with cravings was to take them out on my spouse. I remember beating on his chest once in frustration and anger that I could not drink. He bore the brunt of my anger in early recovery. Ten years later it became a major justification for why he had an affair and we subsequently divorced. He brought up those temper tantrums I had during cravings and how he felt blamed by me.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: far far from home
Posts: 373
When I craved booze early on I chased meetings like a bat out of hell... Thank God where I lived there were many meetings in both Mass. and NH.
Pongo took out the frustration on her spouse, I took mine out on anyone in a meeting. If you were in there then you were my target. I was a pissed off dude. I went hoping that someone would say something that would set me off, I chased one dude around meetings for a week raising my hand whenever he talked to nay say him.
I never drank though.
Thank God for the kind gentle souls in AA that put up with me. Thank God too for the people who gave it back to me as good as I gave it...............
Pongo took out the frustration on her spouse, I took mine out on anyone in a meeting. If you were in there then you were my target. I was a pissed off dude. I went hoping that someone would say something that would set me off, I chased one dude around meetings for a week raising my hand whenever he talked to nay say him.
I never drank though.
Thank God for the kind gentle souls in AA that put up with me. Thank God too for the people who gave it back to me as good as I gave it...............
Snarf Snarf
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: ATL
Posts: 835
I'm very thankful that in the last 108 days without a drink, my cravings have been minimal. It only happens rarely, and it's usually just an instant thought with no precipitation. Like, I may be driving down the road and think, "A nice red wine would go well with dinner tonight." Then I think, "Where the heck did that come from? No, that wouldn't be very nice at all." And that's pretty much it. I push the thought away, thank God for helping me do that, and that's it.
I haven't had any real physical cravings, after detoxing that is. And I'm around alcohol all the time. I work in a nice restaurant and serve a lot of booze. And I never find myself thinking, "Man, I wish I could drink that." It just doesn't bother me. But when people invite me to go out after work, I can't really do that. It's fine for me to serve alcohol to other people, but I don't enjoy being in a social setting that is centered around drinking. I'm able to do things without drinking that I used to do while drinking, such as go to baseball games and go out to dinner and watch a movie. But I don't really like when everything is based on drinking. Why go watch a baseball game at a bar where everyone else is drinking when I could watch my big-screen while sitting on my couch?
I haven't had any real physical cravings, after detoxing that is. And I'm around alcohol all the time. I work in a nice restaurant and serve a lot of booze. And I never find myself thinking, "Man, I wish I could drink that." It just doesn't bother me. But when people invite me to go out after work, I can't really do that. It's fine for me to serve alcohol to other people, but I don't enjoy being in a social setting that is centered around drinking. I'm able to do things without drinking that I used to do while drinking, such as go to baseball games and go out to dinner and watch a movie. But I don't really like when everything is based on drinking. Why go watch a baseball game at a bar where everyone else is drinking when I could watch my big-screen while sitting on my couch?
Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,237
Hi Snarf..I couldn't agree more!! I'm going on 6 months..and the odd time I will "romance" the thought of having a glass of wine or a beer on a hot day....it fades pretty quickly...because I know it won't stop at just one....
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
