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... |
Originally Posted by Harford
(Post 4753138)
... it's making me anxious. 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. |
Originally Posted by Harford
(Post 4753230)
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. 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. |
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. 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. |
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. 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 :) |
Originally Posted by Harford
(Post 4753712)
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 :) 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. :) |
Originally Posted by CristinaN
(Post 4753736)
I like that. The Ex Wino club. I wanna join. :) 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. |
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 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. |
Harford im in the same place... chose wine over every other alcohol drink and became a 2 bottles a day and realized how bad it can get. I had actually drove the bottles to a recycling center when they were closed so i could spare the embarrasment of throwing all of them out. I used to drink whiskey then quit and when i started up again it was with wine since i "thought" oh thats what normal people drink and its totally fine. I am now embarking on my second time round with withdrawals from just wine and let me tell you its scary and can kill you from quitting cold turkey. I thought wine wouldnt make me feel that way since i used to drink whiskey but it has actually done the same thing. Quit while your ahead!!! Its not worth going through what ive been through before and am now going through again over a bottle or two of wine a day. |
So now I'm home on day 2. It's nighttime and I would normally be polishing off the first bottle of wine by now. I don't know what to do with myself. I'm just sort of aimlessly walking around the house looking for something to do. I picked up my guitar to play. Haven't done that in a while. Looking forward to bed so I can claim one more victory. This is not fun... |
This is not fun... Its important to realize your not somehow being punished. your not somehow the victom. this is not some situatoin where this is somehow not fair to you why everyone can drink but you this isnt fair etc.. The reality is your making a postive change in your life its for the better. Some people are alergic to various things and have to stay away from them. Other things might cause us adverse health issues and we have to steer clear. One guy might be able to eat all the junk food he wants and not gain a single ounce while another guy might gain 100lbs. Its not somehow less fair for the poor guy who cant eat that way or its not unfair that you cant drink. Your not the victom. You and booze just dont play nice together. your probably great with other things other activities other foods etc.. but booze is just off your list. I'm sure theres plenty of great things about you someone else is thinking its unfair say you can play your guitar and they cannot. etc.. It'll ease up it'll get better. Your doing the right thing. It just takes a bit for the new habits to take hold and your body to adjust to the healthier choices. |
it'll also be nice ot wake out without a hangover again. ;-) |
I was in the same boat, you can do this. Sometimes it literally comes down to one minute at a time, but it will pass. Just keep moving forward, baby steps lead to bigger steps. :ValD007: |
Wine was for me, too, but towards the end of my drinking, if I ran out of wine and couldn't drive to the store to get more, or it was closed, I would drink my roommate's beer or margaritas, even though I didn't really like them. Then I would have to replace them before she got home so she wouldn't know I had drank them. I also got to getting the short fifths of gin so I could fit them in my purse and get them past her into my room without her noticing. Still prefer the wine, though. Actually still crave it every night, but I know I can't drink it. I think if I could be absolutely certain that I could stop at a bottle or less a night I might not have given it up at all, but I know I can't. I also identify with the stress that it caused when I thought I might not have enough left. I get out of work at 10 PM and the grocery stores close at 11, so I would be stressed out that I wouldn't make it there on the way home before they closed. Then again, Walmart was open until midnight, but that was out of my way. That didn't stop me from driving a few extra miles to get there, though, if the grocery stores were closed. I knew I couldn't "stock up" because whatever I bought for the night I would drink that night, even if it was 3 bottles. |
On to day 3. It is nice to wake up without a stomach feeling like crap... |
On to day 3. It is nice to wake up without a stomach feeling like crap... it gets better too. |
I'm really hungry today. I'm guessing that this is due to the fact that the calories from the wine are no longer there, and I'm not eating much, so that was most of my caloric intake |
Harford. What you're experiencing is just the initial healing your body has to go through. It's no fun. But the rewards are excellent. Feeling hungry is a good sign. |
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