Gearing up to quit
 

Hey all

I am a very high functioning alcoholic. I now realize that the function is beginning to decline and affect my performance at work, my relationships with my friends and family, and I am showing signs of alcoholism like shaking during the day and having a **** memory. I drink the same amount every night after work. I start drinking at 7pm and I stop at 10pm, go to bed and do the same thing every single night. I go through a handle of vodka every 3-4 days at the moment. I've been drinking at this level for the past several years.
I have a plan to quit and I want to see if anyone out there has been in a similar situation and how they handled stopping. I am super open to advice and criticism.
I am relatively healthy except for the damage I've done with the alcohol. I just mean I don't have any other health considerations (no high blood pressure, no genetic diseases or disabilities).
My plan is to attempt to quit drinking completely starting on Monday, February 20th. My second attempt will be the following day. If I find that I can not quit that day or any of the next seven days, I will start attending AA meetings. If within two weeks I am unable to quit drinking after starting AA meetings, I will request acamprosate from my psychiatrist and continue to attend AA meetings.
Please let me know if this plan seems reasonable or if I am missing something glaring.
I want this to work so much. I don't want to drink. I hate that I am shortening my life and I hate feeling like I can't go home without making sure that I have enough vodka in the freezer for tonight. So please, give me some feedback.
Thanks, Santideva

Wishing You the Best On Your Endeavor
 

You've certainly come to the right place in seeking support for your choice to stop. My poison has usually been beer, but essentially it's all diabolical just in various flavors. Seems that you still have many assets still in place, namely a job, so your choice to stop now can only improve your quality of life.

Power to you on your journey!

Thank you for the encouragement. I started with beer, then moved to malt liquor, then figured out that nobody could smell vodka on me the next day. I've made a lot of progress in the past year in terms of my career and I don't want to lose it, but I can tell that this is the one thing that will drag me down and destroy me eventually.

You are absolutely correct. It will drag you down. I am almost a year sober and it is great! So much energy, feel good, sleep well, and full of self-confidence. Good luck! You can do this. Start today.

Good luck! I personally never had any success making ordered plans like that, since I always found perfectly reasonable-sounding (to my addict brain) reasons to delay implementing them. I hope you are successful. One thought, though, is there a reason you can't stop right now, make your quit date today and your last drink the one you took last?

You're absolutely right, drinking that much regularly will eventually drag you down and destroy you. One interesting thing I discovered towards the end of my drinking days, is that if you drink enough the night before, no matter how many showers you take and how clean your mouth is, your co-workers can smell it anyways because you release vapor through your pores.

Good luck!! Sounds like you have a plan to your sobriety. Keep posting here you'll get a lot of support. I would attend AA or some other proven program to help you with your journey.

You are right in that I could just make my quit date today, but I tend to order my life in this way. I will hit a target and I will make a plan B in case I don't. "Be at work at 0730 every day". Done. I haven't been late to work in years, despite sometimes having a hangover. I tend to make goals and hit them. I think that's the only reason I am functioning. I also think that this is the only reasonable way I can approach quitting. Setting my goals. I hope I don't sound too arrogant. I have started drinking for the night.

Are there other programs besides AA? Or are you referring to detox/rehab centers?

I never got there but Vodka in and of itself seems to be a red flag. My wife drinks cheap vodka from small plastic bottles. I was an excessive beer drinker. I had my own red flags. My only advice to someone getting ready to quit would be to accept that it's going to be hard and get your tools ready. My number one tool is faith that it will get better. Give yourself permission to beat your head against the wall in agony. Eat candy. Drink soda and coffee. If it gets out of hand you can cut back or quit that stuff later. Just don't drink alcohol no matter what. Use tool number one. It really will get better. Once in a while you might get a "pink cloud" of meaningless euphoria, nature's way of giving you a little breather from the torture of early sobriety, embrace it. Good luck.

Sounds like the most excellent time for you to stop drinking.
Will be healing for your mind, body and soul.
I'm a drunk -- best thing I (we drunks) ever did -- stopped drinking.
Good luck,
M-Bob

Do you think that the withdrawal will be painful? I've stopped drinking for months at a time before (got a new gf or traveled for work) and never felt any side effects. Maybe now that I'm this deep (shaking ad suffering) things will be different/worse.

Hey Mountain who is the goat in the new photo! Snicker. I love your goat photos.

Withdrawal can be more than painful...it can be fatal. Since you're goal oriented, how about trying to taper until your quit date? That's what I did, and I got down from 12 to one a day and then quit.

Tapering doesn't really work for a lot of people, they can't stop at a couple - and it's sort of a Russian Roulette experiment at best. I didn't know any better. If that doesn't sound like a good idea to you, you're right. I'd call a doctor for a prescription for your withdrawal.

Cold turkey off the amount that you are drinking now could be really dangerous.

Step one is to go to a doctor that specializes in addiction

Step two is to do what he recommends

AA will keep you sober if you get a sponsor, work the steps and attend meetings for the rest of your life. You don't quit drinking you stay sober a day at a time and God willing forever.

Recovery is not a task to be accomplished it is a way of life. Are ready to do virtually anything to stay sober?

Is the amount I am drinking that much compared to others? Do you think it's actually dangerous to do cold turkey? If so, are there medications you can propose that would help me do this in short order?

That's for a doctor to decide (prescriptions.) The acute/dangerous part of withdrawal is only a few days.

As far as possible seizures, I don't really know for sure - and I don't think there is a scale that is one-size-fits-all as far as how much is too much. A handle of vodka in 3-4 days for YEARS is a lot. I would think you're right in there for a complicated withdrawal. Is it worth taking a chance? Can you cut back?

I am willing to do anything to destroy the reliance. Do you really think AA can be the thing? I'm an atheist and I understand that part of the process is handing your self over to a higher power. Can the higher power be my addiction or the universe? I just need to understand how I can move forward. Thanks for your reply.

I can cut back first if that's what this community think is right. I can start cutting back tomorrow. I'm looking for any support here. I don't know a ******* thing about overcoming addiction. If you guys think that I should cut back as I approach quit date, I can try.

All that is required is that you will consider the proposition that there may be a power greater than yourself.

I can say with 100% certainty that AA is the reason I'm alive today and have been sober for a few 24 hrs

Instead of going to doctor SR or google. Go to a real doctor that has experience with alcoholism. Anything less is alcoholic thinking