hypochondriac

I heard someone on here say once, that 'there's no edge to take off life'. I liked that. I always felt like I needed something to help me cope with life, but really what I had to do was to accept life on life's terms. Have you considered counselling before. That has really helped me to straighten some stuff out in my head.

RDBplus3

It sounds almost absurd to me, being from the Southeast US, but I have heard a fair amount of buzz about Kudzu taking the edge off booze cravings. Seriously.

I have not tried it, but I am very curious. Does anyone have any experience with Kudzu, other than it taking over whole mountainsides?
.................................................. ..................................(wow, I finally found a use for this mowing emoticon - mowing the Kudzu)

fairlyuncertain

B vitamins and meetings, maybe. If your edge happens in the evenings, find a couple of evening AA meetings. Some have childcare available.

LostConfused

This is my second time doing this and I have to say the gym is great. If you cant get there you can always go on youtube. They have free yoga..kickboxing almost anything. Hope this helps a little

Odelle

I too found that anxiety peaked during alcohol withdrawals and then gradually reduced with continued abstinence. I do take OTC supplements for mood and joint discomforts but found that eliminating coffee from my morning routine has had the biggest impact on lingering anxiety and irritability. I have substituted herbal teas for coffee and although some have small amounts of caffeine, I don’t seem to react to them the same way I do to coffee. Many tea blends are formulated for specific ailments, i.e. calm, positive energy, digestion and sleep. Adding a teaspoon of raw honey (unpasteurized) and cinnamon is a nice treat that satisfies the sugar craving. Treat yourself to a nice aromatic bubble bath in the evening after the kids have been put to bed! Lavender is soothing to the senses (aroma therapy).

BoozyBlues

To answer Hypochondriac, I have seen a counselor. He said that I've pretty much already worked through my childhood abuse issues on my own. They aren't what's affecting my here and now. That I'm basically just a stressed out mom. He suggested I get out more. I had mentioned that I felt I was drinking too much, he didn't think I necessarily was since I don't get out of control at all - no throwing up, passing out, driving after drinking, etc. The thing with me is I did that stuff (minus the driving) when I was in my early 20s and it was no fun. I know my limits now and I really don't exceed them. I guess the main issue is that I was drinking every night and it was more than the medically recommended one drink. And more than 2 or 3.

The fear is renal/hepatic failure, esophageal varices, myocardial infarction, etc... that can come from longterm alcohol overuse.

Fandy

there is an entire thread on this subject in Newcomers...started by Pixy. i will search for it an bump it.

BoozyBlues

If you google Kudzu, there will be a link to Bright Eye Counseling. That has some good info and so does webMD. Hope this helps anyone else interested. I tried to post the links but this site is funny about how many posts you need to do what.

Although I would say, if any of you are diabetic, be careful, it can drop your blood glucose. And for the females, it interacts with estrogen birth controls and decreases their effectiveness.

hypochondriac

There's quite a few things we can add to that list... I am very disheartened to hear what your counsellor told you. It is always worrying to hear of professionals telling people they don't have a drinking problem... How would they know? You sound a bit like me. All my social problems from drinking happened in my late teens/early 20's. A decade of daily drinking later and I was suffering from health problems from drinking so long. Most people on the outside probably wouldn't have been concerned about my drinking because I didn't seem out of control, but I was terrified about what it was doing to me on the inside. The sense of relief I feel from not systematically destroying my body really takes the edge off x

Beavis

Google "Emotional Freedom Technique"