First ever post advice/help needed please?
 

Hi my names Rob and this is my first day as a member here...
Basically I'm looking for advice on my drinking, iv been drinking since i was 14 i probably drank every other night until I was 19 then I began cutting down..
From then on I drank every weekend Fri night and all day saterday up until right now... I have been on 11day benders abroad this year definately not doing me any good... But anyway that's a bit of back ground, iv had a few people tell me i have issues wwith drink even tho I only drink on weekends but man do I crave them drinks when Friday comes.. Dont touch a drop Sunday to Thurs but will black out Fri and Sat.. Anyway after this weekend just gone iv started getting pains in my liver area and it's scared me... I want to stop...
Thanks for reading
Rob

I drank only on weekends for a few years. I rarely drank during the week for no other reason then it seemed like friday and saturday night where when it was time to unwind and kick back.I then started to drink daily sometimes forcing a day off nwo and then then i said hell with that and went full throttle drank like a fish every night. Then it started to get worse I found I'd want one in the morning to take the edge off and sometimes I'd have it. I'd find I'd crack one at lunch time or start drinking earlier and earlier in the day so i could take the edge off.

Point is it might be just weekends but it can easily spiral into daily drinking especially if your already thinking about it all week long etc.. My drinking really got worse when I embraced it. By that I mean i stopped with all those silly rules and just drank whenver i wanted thats when it really got bad. But prior to that it was just a fight and a struggle to say no more often then not.

Now I dont have to really struggle to say no or anyting like that. I dont go on benders I dont wake up feeling like hell wishing I had just died instead of woken up.

Hi Rob, and welcome! Read around on this site and post as much as you want. Everyone here has different stories, but I sure have found a lot that resonate with mine.
I think one of the most valuable things I have read on this site is when someone wrote "I didn't drink all the time, but my drinking affected me all the time."
Best of luck to you!

Thanks for the replys..... I belive my weekend drinking Is a problem and I agree It could spiral out of control easily... I really think I need to give it in completely but if I'm honest that scares me...

If somebody asked me, "are you scared to quit drinking." I'd say, "Yes. I am scared to give up my drunk coolness that last a few hours. Because I enjoy it. "

That sucks I have to answer like that. But then the other 6-8 hours is me being just stupid. I guess if I could quit after 4 beers I would be fine, but that's not what is happening with me. I'm drinking to get wasted.

Got to run

Yeah the fear of quiting kept me from doing it sooner. Heck the fear of quiting made me just wanna have a beer. I didnt quit forever tho. I quit for a day. it just added up to many days. Initially it was like I'll give this quiting thing a shot I'll stop for today. I'll stop again. weekend came I wont drink friday night I wont drink saturday night etc.. it was just one day one weekend etc.. as time went on it added up. I still dont feel like its forever tho I really dont have a desire to drink other then the passing stupid idea that I simply say no too.

quit for one night tell yourself its just friday hopefully it'll go well and i wont drink saturday either we'll see we'll play it by ear etc..

Even more great replies...
Yes well iv said to myself all ready I'm going to go out in car this Friday somewhere with friends that way I won't drink (allredy being banned for drink driving once) so don't touch a drop when driving... And saterday il play by ear

But any ideas on the liver pain people

Hi mate

Welcome to our happy family.
I am glad you found us.

I have experienced that liver pain that you mention.
I can share with you two things about how I dealt with it.

1. I drank a lot of vodka with fizzy mixer, like diet coke. I am convinced that some of the pain, like my the feeling of the liver jutting out or my ribcage being about to burst open, was due to drinking too much drinks that caused acid reflux and gas.
However I am no medical expert, so you would be better seeking advice from your GP. Your GP will not judge you and may be able to advice you regarding stopping drinking. Its nothing to be ashamed of and they have seen it before. Any tests they do to find out if any damage has been done will put you out of your misery. At least you will know.

I am not sure how old you are now, although you mention the age 19 in your first post, but it can take years and years of drinking to damage your liver. Don't take that as the green light to keep drinking though if you are younger.

2. I have been trapped in that cycle of drinking too much. Then checking myself for symptoms of alcohol damage, like yellow eyes and skin, pains in my liver area, terry's nails, bruising easily and being petrified and almost torturing myself into convincing I was about to collapse from severe alcohol abuse and how did I deal with it? By pouring myself another large vodka! Absolute madness.

However, in Feb 2014, it will be 2 years since I had a drink.
I have not had to do those frightening self health checks anymore.
I am no longer scared about going to the doctor in case I need a blood test and it shows how much I drink.

It is such a nice, peaceful, contented feeling to live like I do now health wise than I did.
I could never go back to drinking like I did.
I go straight to the doctors if I am ill and I am proud to tell them I am over 18 months drink free.
I think it is a great feeling to be able to be proud of not drinking.

There is one statement that explains my drinking career (I am 39 years old) to perfection.

'I have regretted drinking many times. I have never ever regretted not drinking once'.

I wish you the best
xxxx

I'm 21 mate thanks for the detailed reply... And that is so true I went on holiday start of this year for 11 days all inclusive and every single day I drunk until blackout.. I would get up on a morning check my. Eyes were still white and not yellow and off I went again... Absolute madness... Xx

Great post x