becker

Hello my name is nick and this is my first cry for help. I've been a drinker for many years but I will admit that I've been an alcoholic for the last few years.

I can't count how many times I've attempted to stop but then fool myself into starting again. It has been going on for years.

I find that I can go days without but then I hit my weekend of three days off. I wake up and do some productive activities then I decide well I might as well have a beer. Which one beer turns into so many and then I am drunk.

I'm certainly influenced by myself and no others. I have not seemed help locally yet. I feel that I am afraid to seek help.

What is the first step? How do I cope with these urges on my days off??

I'm very grateful for any suggestions

-Nick

waynetheking

Try AA nick. You will gain a lot of insight on this disease. You will make non drinking friends as well. Im glad your here. Just don't drink today. Read everything u can on alcoholism especially on sr here. We do care and will give you our experience. I can honestly tell you your days off will be better without drinking. Welcome to sober recovery.

LadyBlue0527

becker, you did a good thing by coming here.

You have to ask for help. You did that here and you'll get some great suggestions. You already know that you can't do this on your own because you will talk yourself into drinking.

There's a lot of great info here and great people who will provide a lot of support. Read posts, you'll identify with a lot of them. That, in and of itself, is great help.

You're not alone!

becker

Thank you I hope I can get some really good referral posts?

davaidavai

I'd suggest trying new things. I know that sounds simplistic, but I found that a deceptively hard step to take, to just try new things. Admitting a problem was the first new thing. Then white knuckling it. Then using SR. And then AA really helped me get time. Even if I didn't really get it at first, it provided alternative activities. Other people swear by other methods, SMART, AVRT. There are also addiction psychologists. There are books, a number of popular memoirs out. I think the main thing is to break the pattern by trying the things people say have worked for them and seeing how they work for you.

AG2013

I am exactly the same Becker...I even have 3 day weekends too. For me its a really bad habit. Ive learn to associate the weekends with getting drunk. The two go hand in hand. Then it actually turns into a physical dependancy. Next thing your know your body and brain start to fall apart. There is only one cure. Dont drink anymore. Ive vowed to quit even if it kills me. The first two weekends are the hardest. Tough it out then start learning how to live again..which aint easy either but worth it...

33 days sober..taking 1 weekend at a time.

PhaseTwo

I had to want it more than I've ever wanted something in my life before it worked. and I read stuff on here a lot.

yoohoo

Hi Nick, well you need to work out if you really want to stop drinking completely or just drink socially and infrequently. Now that sounds do-able, but for alcoholics like me, it's not. It sounds perfectly reasonable, but I can't drink like other people because I go WAY overboard. I was happiest drinking alone. It was heaven... So once you have worked out whether you can drink a little or not at all, you need to think about how you are going to do it... Will you get external support, like AA or counselling, will you tell friends, will you plan activities on your three day break to avoid the urge to drink? Just some ideas, all the best. Yoo hoo, day 99 and still battling along

MrGhost

Well, since you aren't ready for AA yet (in actuality you couldn't be anymore ready IMO), in AA the first thing they will tell you is to admit you are powerless over alcohol. Then you canseek the help you need. The thing is, if you continue drinking, you're going to make matters much worse than they are now, everything could change in a split second. Then you're going to wish you would've sought some help. AAs some thing I use to avoid for years, and all it is, is a bunch of drinkers like yourself, who are helping each other to stay sober based on a program made by people who were once alcoholics themselves.

Now, whether or not you're an alcoholic I don't know, but since you say you can't stop, I'd take the bigger stand and say there is a big chance you are, but I could be wrong. What you can do too is pick up a alcoholic anonymous book and read it as much as you can, they're people with similar stories to you in there, and they explain how they made it without the drink and that any one who wants too... CAN.

Ipanema

Dear Nick, c011:

It helped me on my first day being sober to learn it's a disease of the brain....Cunning, Baffelling and Powerful...you can see you are not alone here as well. I was told that I most likey had relatives with the disease..in my case it went many generations back. I would do what you did, vow on my days off that I would stop...then came the day that I took the first drink again which, like you, let to more drunken weekends and the to everyday.
AA was my choice...I read the Big Book and got a Sponser. In no time at all you will identify with AA and feel you have come home..A Miracle will happen soon that you will have no desire to drink again. If you want what we have please find a meeting in your area and give it a try. You will be welcomed with open arms as we already know you as you are just like us and we understand. Much luck and future happiness and joy to you!!!!!! P.S. We need you too to remind us what is was like then and what it is like now.

karate

I have not totally stopped , but have long stretches without alcohol .

At one point I was at least a problem drinker .

But the general way I drink is ,if I keep alcohol around ill have a beer , so I don't keep it around .

Its much easier to not moderate without beer on hand .

Just don't buy any when you are off .

tomsteve

do you want/need to control your drinking
or want/need to stop drinking?