Wino
 

I've been drinking between 1 and 2 bottles a day. It started off as a glass or 2, but has ramped up over the years.
Yesterday was day 1.
Today is harder. I can't wait to get home so I can open a bottle. I can't though and it's making me anxious.
The only reason I want to quit is weight gain and destroying my liver.
It is my reward at the end of the day, and now I have to let it go.
Please tell me this gets easier...

This is true, but probably not for the reasons you suspect. In response to persistent alcohol consumption the human brain starts over-producing chemicals that create stress and anxiety. (It's bad for your survival to be happily complacent all the time.)

When you stop drinking the brain is still over-producing those chemicals - and now you're REALLY feeling them. It gets better over time, but usually takes a few months to be gone completely.

Find something to do! Exercise or housework - something active normally helps. You can do this!

:a122:

Oh yeah, it gets better. Just don't drink. Throw away all the wine in the house. Avoid that section in the store. Eat. Walk. Read and post on SR. Go to bed early. Just don't drink. Take pride in every minute that passes without it. It will get way way better. You're close to the feeling that we all have learned to love:never having a hangover! Just hang in there! Come on in, the water's fine!

Hi Hartford.
I gets better and it's worth it.
Wine was my drink for years.
But it became so I was going to a bar at 11am.
That worked for a long time but when I had to work, my body started crying out for it.
I would get panic attacks and would have to leave work. Straight to the pub.
Stick with it.
And get some support.

It definitely gets so much better!! :)

It gets easier. I had some really hard days in the beginning.

Sleep as much as you can, eat well. Have some ice cream. Take a walk outside.

Don't pick up that first drink, no matter what. The further away you are from the last drink, the easier it is.

I do exercise pretty regularly, so that's good. Coming home and going straight to bed also makes it a little easier (I've done that in the past).
It's amazing that it's just wine. We have all kinds a liquor in our hose that we have had for years and never finished. I don't care about that. Give me a nice Malbec.

Wine seems to be the usual suspect for women around here. I have heard a lot of stories about one glass turning into 2 bottles by the end. I was a whiskey drinker though. We have beer in the house leftover from a party and I haven't had the urge to go near it. I will get rid of it soon though because keeping any alcohol in the house is just asking for trouble for most of us.

Yes it does get better. You have no idea how much better.

If you are looking for a great thread from a fellow wino check this one out
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...night-lot.html

yup. gets better! if youre not diabetic, get some chocolate. and other sweets.

Reward with a hefty price. Beer was like a permentant attatchment to my hand and a cigarette was like an additional finger. Both where my best friends too. They had to go. Booze was causing me panic attacks for starters along with lots of other issues.

Those first few days I thought now what the heck am i going to do? how am i going to unwind? life will forever be lame now? I even had grief like you would have thought someone died.

I had to push through those first days keep myself busy with other things and try not to fixate on it so much. I kept telling myself it was for the better. the first day you wake up without having drank the night before you start to go hrmm well I feel a little better go figure.

It gets easier over time. Take it 1 day at a time or 1 min at a time if you have too break it up into small chunks. You cant just tackle the world in one shot.

poison of choice is a powerful thing. I recall asking a crack addict why he didnt shoot heroine with his buddy and the heroine guy how come he iddnt just do coke or something wouldnt that be easier then shoveing a needle in your arm? They both replied it was there drug of choice it was what they happened to be hooked on. neither could get hooked on anything else oddly.

For me with booze beer was my drink of choice. I'd chew my left arm off to get more but if i could not get beer and all i had was wine or spirits i'd drink myself into oblivian with those just the same.

Hey Harford!! Welcome to the Forum!! :wave:

It does get easier with time!! :)

It's only feeing like a reward because it's satisfying your craving.
I used to kid myself that I deserved it, I'd worked hard at work all day (well, a bit in the morning until the pub opened, but meh!) and deserved that bottle or 3 of wine in the evening.
Next thing you know you're waking up and counting the bottles to make sure there's enough left over for the next day and to see what you drank because you can't remember much after the evening meal.

It does get easier, and eventually gets to the point when you're so glad you don't have to drink any more. You don't need the drink to unwind, because it's the drink that's winding you up in the first place.

But you know all this - that's why you've found this place and made it to day 2, I think that's the hardest part of the journey, the deciding to set out in the first place, the knowing why you need to set out, and actually doing it.

Many people don't make it as far as that. Well done, keep on buggering on.

degradation, that post hit so close to home with me. Just what I needed to hear. I've always kept tabs on how much I have to make sure there's enough for tomorrow. Taking the trash out and hearing all the bottles clanging together makes me feel so defeated. Made me want to switch to box wine :)

I switched to boxes for exactly that reason - I was afraid the neighbours would count the number of bottles out for recycling. I was getting through 3 litres of wine in less than two days. Not good.

It takes time but quitting completely will change so many things. Make a list quick of things you will be able to do if you're not drinking. Go out for a drive or to the cinema, go to the library, the theatre or whatever it is that you haven't been able to do because you were being forced to drink and keep yourself active. If not it's all too easy to slip back.

Good luck, and welcome to the Ex-Wino club.

I like that. The Ex Wino club. I wanna join. :)

Membership is free and it's the sort of club that'd even have me as a member.

I don't think they're very fussy who joins.

Sweet. I'm in!! 24 days and counting.

Hi Harford. :)

As the others said, it does get easier. I drank for almost 30 yrs. Always seeking the pleasant, calm feeling that I once got from it. In the end I was completely dependent on it - and it was making me miserable. The old euphoria it once gave me was never coming back. It was so hard to admit that - but once I did, I felt free. It was exhausting to try and manage my drinking - so much better to have it out of my life. You can do this.

I drank beer in a bottle for years. I met another drunk who drank beer only in cans. I looked down on him and said whats the matter with you why dont you spring the extra few cents for the better tasten beer in the bottle! He replied that if he dropped one it might break or hurt his foot and was heavy in the trash etc.. I scoffed and continued to look down on him then I realized how much he drank and thought that made sense.

Fast forward towards the end of my drinking carreer I had moved on to cans it was a hair cheaper and well the garbage beer that I could barely afford to satisfy my addiction didnt even come in a bottle anyhow. It made sense too he was right it was lighter they didnt clang so it wasnt as obvious and I started crunching the numbers on how much money ic ould get and how fast if i started to recycle those cans rather then just toss them. I had cans in the yard cans i'd used for ash trays there where cans all over the friggen place. I had evolved and turned into the very same drunk I looked down upon years prior I was now him. ::facepalm:: it just sneaks right up on you too.

For a couple years after I sobered up I'd still find the stray can in the yard and think what a friggen mess i was.

Any sane sober person would have seen this behavior and been like geeze you got a problem. Not me I had no problem at all at the time Or so i thought.