Reversing the "kindling" affect?
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 11,434
In the "early middle stages" of my alcoholism during my 20s-early 30s I also went months / weeks between drinks, could go to bars and have a few no problems, kept an intensive job without problems, worked out and was "healthy and fit" overall. Although I knew I had issues with alcohol and two alcoholic parents, I saw myself more as an occasional "problem drinker" but never as an alcoholic. I had hangovers, but never to the extent you are describing. No blackouts, no hallucinations, no need for medication to get through it. I still have never had hallucinations or taken medication for withdrawal and I'm nearly 50. I think you should really get honest with yourself about what is going on with your body. Call it what you want, but it is clear you are not processing alcohol like a "normal social drinker" and you are still relatively young--believe me, it doesn't improve from this point. It only gets worse. I heard that so many times from my mother, my hard-drinking friends, from other folk on barstools longer than me but thought "not me". You've obviously heard it too if you are a bartender. But I just didn't want to hear it or take anybody's word for it until I had checked it out for myself. Skip forward twenty years to today, and now I see the path I was on and the label I wouldn't pick up then, since I considered myself a special snowflake who could handle it. I lost a whole lot of time splitting semantic hairs about my label, and I hope you don't do the same. I wish you a better journey than I had--you are smarter than me for at least tuning in to the SR station. Best wishes.
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Out in the Sticks
Posts: 1,788
At the end of my last binge ,Over a year ago - I drank 5 shots of crown in about 1-2 minutes with almost zero effect ,So I agree we get to where it does nothing for us .
For that matter ,it gets where it wont STOP the shakes ,Not totally any way .
When I progressed to the Vodkia, I had then jumped out of the airplane without a parachute .
For that matter ,it gets where it wont STOP the shakes ,Not totally any way .
When I progressed to the Vodkia, I had then jumped out of the airplane without a parachute .
Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 35
Originally Posted by Mad4Chaos 
Wow, I never looked at it that way. I was exactly the same. I just needed some time. I very rarely drank with my Wife around. If she was going to visit a friend or be home late from work, I would mentally calculate the time I needed to get a good buzz, recover & be semi-able to handle myself by the time she got home. I'd sometimes leave work early to get a head start. Then I'd set myself an amount I could drink in that time period she would be gone & also a cut off time. Then I'd pound the beer & shots until that time. My body processed the booze so quick that I'd be pretty ok an hour after I stopped drinking. Still red eyed & red faced, but able to carry on a conversation. She didn't like the state I was in, but she tolerated it.
As I re-read the paragraph I typed, it's really sad that I let alcohol dominate my thoughts to that extent. It seems like I learn new things about myself & my disease everyday I read the post here. Thanks Tosh.
Brian
As I re-read the paragraph I typed, it's really sad that I let alcohol dominate my thoughts to that extent. It seems like I learn new things about myself & my disease everyday I read the post here. Thanks Tosh.
Brian
I hear ya Brian. That is basically me in a nutshell right there. I would even consider it a "win" and "proof" that I don't have a problem when I chose a restaurant for dinner that didn't have alcohol. The next day, with my new found proof, I'd do it all over again.
I just found this site because I was looking for a link between alcohol and my brain fog. Saw your post and thought wow...damn...I have a problem. And it's very much active. I can't have just one because I am not productive if I stop, I get lazy. But if I keep going, 3...4...6...8...and I'm working on the computer too then I feel productive. Next thing I know I've had 12 and am still totally sober...problem...
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: California
Posts: 2,693
I had some serious textbook kindling the last time I drank a year ago. Sounds obvious (but it took me years to understand this) but the only way to ensure I never had to deal with kindling again was to remain totally, unflinchingly, stone sober. Gosh I wish I would have realized that earlier.
I've been sober a year but I know that if I EVER picked up again I would be right back to the dread and hangovers. Two drinks? Who would I be kidding? Only abstinence works here.
One thing I love about sobriety is that it comes with some awesome absolute guarantees.
My favorite is the guarantee is that as long as I don't drink, I'll never be hungover/kindling/all that terror ever again.
I've tried it and it works. One great year kindling free.
Permanent damage? Probably not. Our bodies are amazing at healing when you take alcohol out if the equation aka Stop poisoning our bodies.
Your body does change after years of alcoholic drinking. It will never handle alcohol like a normal person. However, we can go on to lead normal healthy lives when we're sober.
Trust me, I tried every which way to drink without consequences, specifically kindling/withdrawal/hangovers. Vitamins, lots of water, rest, exercise. Never worked. I can confidently say that I would be dead by now if I had continued my experiments. My body was really shutting down a year ago. I even have the little note from the doctor.
Nobody ever wants to drink themselves to death. They just keep trying to figure out a way to make alcohol work some how, some way.
Not to sound too morbid, but that's what it really cones down to. We're getting sober to save our lives here.
Sounds like you're right about where I was last June. Drinking had (astonishingly) become harder than not drinking. Boy was that a surprise!
I feel like stopping was more of a relief than a burden and boy did I get close to the edge of the cliff.
PS: I never thought it would happen, but I was just thinking today how my life seems totally normal as a non-drinker. I NEVER thought I would say that. Ever. Give it a year and you start to like the new better way of living.
I've been sober a year but I know that if I EVER picked up again I would be right back to the dread and hangovers. Two drinks? Who would I be kidding? Only abstinence works here.
One thing I love about sobriety is that it comes with some awesome absolute guarantees.
My favorite is the guarantee is that as long as I don't drink, I'll never be hungover/kindling/all that terror ever again.
I've tried it and it works. One great year kindling free.
Permanent damage? Probably not. Our bodies are amazing at healing when you take alcohol out if the equation aka Stop poisoning our bodies.
Your body does change after years of alcoholic drinking. It will never handle alcohol like a normal person. However, we can go on to lead normal healthy lives when we're sober.
Trust me, I tried every which way to drink without consequences, specifically kindling/withdrawal/hangovers. Vitamins, lots of water, rest, exercise. Never worked. I can confidently say that I would be dead by now if I had continued my experiments. My body was really shutting down a year ago. I even have the little note from the doctor.
Nobody ever wants to drink themselves to death. They just keep trying to figure out a way to make alcohol work some how, some way.
Not to sound too morbid, but that's what it really cones down to. We're getting sober to save our lives here.
Sounds like you're right about where I was last June. Drinking had (astonishingly) become harder than not drinking. Boy was that a surprise!
I feel like stopping was more of a relief than a burden and boy did I get close to the edge of the cliff.
PS: I never thought it would happen, but I was just thinking today how my life seems totally normal as a non-drinker. I NEVER thought I would say that. Ever. Give it a year and you start to like the new better way of living.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 11,434
Originally Posted by anew
Well, I was a binge drinker and it was nothing for me to declare to myself, for whatever reason, that I was never going to drink again. I could easily go 6-7 weeks without a drink and without giving it much thought. Eventually, though, I always went back to drinking. The physical consequences of my drinking only got worse with each episode.
Stopping was the easy part. Staying stopped...not so much.
Stopping was the easy part. Staying stopped...not so much.
For the record gem, I had nothing as serious as what you're describing when I stopped between drinking times,
and I would still say I had a serious problem with alcohol whether you label it "alcoholic" or not.
It does, and will, get worse each time.
But it sounds like you are determined to keep finding that out for yourself.
If you don't have a problem, try stopping for one year.
That's what I did to "see" if I was addicted.
I was, but I'm not now and episodes like you are describing
are in the past and over for me for good, and that is incredibly liberating
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: California
Posts: 2,693
I was just thinking today a little further about kindling stuff after drinking and I was thinking how drinking actually makes normal people feel terrible too. Sure, they aren't retching in bed the next day after two glasses of wine but they feel it too.
A few years ago I went out with my sister-in-law for a karaoke night to really party. I had probably 12 drinks and she had four I think. I'll never forget the next day she was talking about how terrible she felt. I guess it helps me to remember that alcohol makes everyone feel like crap if they go more than a one or two. So it's not like we're that unique. Alcohol is simply not good for anybody's body!
A few years ago I went out with my sister-in-law for a karaoke night to really party. I had probably 12 drinks and she had four I think. I'll never forget the next day she was talking about how terrible she felt. I guess it helps me to remember that alcohol makes everyone feel like crap if they go more than a one or two. So it's not like we're that unique. Alcohol is simply not good for anybody's body!
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: California
Posts: 2,693
Originally Posted by karate
For that matter ,it gets where it wont STOP the shakes ,Not totally any way .
Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: illinois
Posts: 907
an observation i love from allen carrs's alcohol lied to me -if you ate a piece of toast and it made you feel like that the next day, you'd never eat it again.
whether you chose to label it or not-doesn't sound like much fun anymore. i believe that is the best possible jumping off point. -jumping into a life where you just dont drink anymore and your fine with it.
-i really cant report any negatives, other than being slightly uncomfortable around the intoxicated.
whether you chose to label it or not-doesn't sound like much fun anymore. i believe that is the best possible jumping off point. -jumping into a life where you just dont drink anymore and your fine with it.
-i really cant report any negatives, other than being slightly uncomfortable around the intoxicated.
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Join Date: May 2016
Location: new york
Posts: 9
An old post I find relevant
Kindling. I was a non believer. But now a believer....I had pretty bad withdrawal after a weekend bender in Vegas...never considered myself an alcoholic.
Stopped cold turkey right there.
2 months later had 3 glasses of wine and again..about 36 hours later bam. Awful anxiety tachycardia etc....not as bad as the first withdrawal. But just a small Amy of alcohol and I was done for a week.
I'm wondering how the original poster is doing today...
Stopped cold turkey right there.
2 months later had 3 glasses of wine and again..about 36 hours later bam. Awful anxiety tachycardia etc....not as bad as the first withdrawal. But just a small Amy of alcohol and I was done for a week.
I'm wondering how the original poster is doing today...
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