Quitting isn't easy...
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 4
Quitting isn't easy...
Hi, I am new here. I am trying to stop drinking. I had quit for about a week (had terrible shakes/fever/chills, was very ill) I was doing better until Friday the 6th thru Saturday the 7th became an all night drinking binge. Vodka. Beer. Tequila. Anything that was there.
I quit saturday am, but consider Sunday the 8th my first sober day. Its been super hard. I have been so depressed. I was drinking 3/4 to a full bottle of vodka a day. I have done drugs in the past but quit those. I did have a small relapse about a month ago and did smoke pot & do some esctasy.
I know that in the long run that being sober is what I need for my life. Just when does it get easier? When does the depression & anxiety go away? I don't want to take pills for that because I feel I am just exchanging one addiction for another.
I quit saturday am, but consider Sunday the 8th my first sober day. Its been super hard. I have been so depressed. I was drinking 3/4 to a full bottle of vodka a day. I have done drugs in the past but quit those. I did have a small relapse about a month ago and did smoke pot & do some esctasy.
I know that in the long run that being sober is what I need for my life. Just when does it get easier? When does the depression & anxiety go away? I don't want to take pills for that because I feel I am just exchanging one addiction for another.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,431
well, I'll give it to you straight Miss Scarlet...
if, like I did, you've been drinking and drugging for a while, and in some volume, a few days is not gonna see you back to rights - as one of my friends says you don't walk ten miles into a forest and then expect to get out again in a few steps.
the physical withdrawals usually went for me in anything from 4 days to a week tho ...but the emotional upheavals, as I adjusted to life without my best buddy booze, took months rather than weeks.
It's not easy. Sometimes it just plain sucked.
But it was the best thing I ever did.
I hope you decide to do it too.
Welcome
D
if, like I did, you've been drinking and drugging for a while, and in some volume, a few days is not gonna see you back to rights - as one of my friends says you don't walk ten miles into a forest and then expect to get out again in a few steps.
the physical withdrawals usually went for me in anything from 4 days to a week tho ...but the emotional upheavals, as I adjusted to life without my best buddy booze, took months rather than weeks.
It's not easy. Sometimes it just plain sucked.
But it was the best thing I ever did.
I hope you decide to do it too.
Welcome
D
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 4
Thank you, I appreciate all the support I can get. Even if it does take months, knowing I can eventually get back to a somewhat normal state is worth it.
Thank you for being honest with me. I do wish it was easier! But then I probably wouldn't have a probelm... Lol
Thank you for being honest with me. I do wish it was easier! But then I probably wouldn't have a probelm... Lol
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,497
Hi and Welcome!
I'm glad you are continuing to work on living a sober life and I hope you've talked to your dr.
I have to disagree with you about taking medication for anxiety and depression. First of all, sometimes depression is a result of the alcohol, and so, it will lift as time goes by. It could be that you will feel better after you are sober for awhile.
In my case, the depression came first and I needed to be on medication for depression. Before I was on my medication, I didn't care enough about myself, in order to be able to stop drinking. I am not substituting one addiction for another. I am treating a chemical imbalance in my body.
I'm glad you are continuing to work on living a sober life and I hope you've talked to your dr.
I have to disagree with you about taking medication for anxiety and depression. First of all, sometimes depression is a result of the alcohol, and so, it will lift as time goes by. It could be that you will feel better after you are sober for awhile.
In my case, the depression came first and I needed to be on medication for depression. Before I was on my medication, I didn't care enough about myself, in order to be able to stop drinking. I am not substituting one addiction for another. I am treating a chemical imbalance in my body.
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Welcome to our recovery community...
For me...I consider it took about 2 months
of AA sobriety to get back in balance.
However...I had quit using illegal drugs years before.
There is just no absolute time line.
...the reason I stated AA sobriety is because
by beginning the program ...I found understanding
and support in each meeting. Awesome!
Good to see a new member....Blessings
For me...I consider it took about 2 months
of AA sobriety to get back in balance.
However...I had quit using illegal drugs years before.
There is just no absolute time line.
...the reason I stated AA sobriety is becauseby beginning the program ...I found understanding
and support in each meeting. Awesome!
Good to see a new member....Blessings
Follow Directions!
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Fredericksburg, Va.
Posts: 9,730
I am glad Dee let you know that it is not an over night deal, it took me a week to get through the physical part of it, which not to scare you, but it was actually the easy part, the mental obsession was the hard part. In AA we mention that alcohol is cunning, baffling, and powerful.
Alcohol being cunning, baffling, and powerful, is not speaking of it when we are drinking or physically withdrawing from it, it is that insidious mental twist that keeps many of us drinking again and again long after we have reached the point where we do not watn to drink any more.
AA meetings and a sponsor helped me a lot to stay sober those first 2 months, but meetings snd a sponsor alone did not for me break that mental grip that alcohol maintained for me, I still found myself obsessing about having a drink and came very close to drinking again.
What got me beyond that mental obsession, the guilt, the shame, the irratability and the like was the steps. Working the steps with my sponsor and applying them to all areas in my life resulted in the obsession to drink being lifted for me.
Yes it got better for me, the more time with out a drink and the more I worked on me as a person the better things got.
Alcohol being cunning, baffling, and powerful, is not speaking of it when we are drinking or physically withdrawing from it, it is that insidious mental twist that keeps many of us drinking again and again long after we have reached the point where we do not watn to drink any more.
AA meetings and a sponsor helped me a lot to stay sober those first 2 months, but meetings snd a sponsor alone did not for me break that mental grip that alcohol maintained for me, I still found myself obsessing about having a drink and came very close to drinking again.
What got me beyond that mental obsession, the guilt, the shame, the irratability and the like was the steps. Working the steps with my sponsor and applying them to all areas in my life resulted in the obsession to drink being lifted for me.
Yes it got better for me, the more time with out a drink and the more I worked on me as a person the better things got.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: England
Posts: 1,981
Welcome :ghug3
You have come to a great place.
I was too depressed to stop drinking. I went to the Dr for help and now have 15 days sober after starting the medication. Depression is a chemical imbalance and can be treated.
What ever you decide, stick around there are some lovely people here.
You have come to a great place.
I was too depressed to stop drinking. I went to the Dr for help and now have 15 days sober after starting the medication. Depression is a chemical imbalance and can be treated.
What ever you decide, stick around there are some lovely people here.
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