Amelie

This may not make any sense but ill give it a go. Does anyone here ever drink to forget about any health probs they may have got through drinking / smoking too much. I can give up drinking without withdrawal symptoms but all I think about then is thoughts like: "Bet I ve got something really wrong with me now and I ve done this to myself" or "How can I let myself get in this state for so long". As well as this I tend to smoke cigs more when i give up drinking and then think hope i dont get a DVT,cancer or something. Wish I knew how to stop these thoughts. I joined here in 2006 and have found the site very helpful; I have given up alcohol for varying periods of time for nearly a year being my longest time. But these thoughts dont go. My family has enquired to whether I am depressed in the past - I dont feel it though. I just cant deal with stress well. Reading this back this post sounds a bit stupid and like a whole bunches of excuses really! I was just wondering if anyone else felt this way or had any coping methods.

Dee74

Hi again Amelie

The best way I know to stop worrying about your health is live right:

eat well and moderately
get regular exercise and plenty of sleep

and stop drinking and smoking and otherwise doing unhealthy things to yourself!.

Smoking and drinking more cos you're worried about what you may have already done to yourself is like throwing gasoline onto a bonfire - it doesn't help...but it's a pretty common thing to do. I did it too - its ridiculous really.

The body can repair a lot of damage - the sooner you stop, the sooner your body will start to repair itself and you'll have a much better chance of living out a long and healthy life.

If you're really worried about what you've done, my advice is to get regular check ups - discuss all this with your doctor - see what they have to say and see what he or she thinks would be a reasonable schedule for checkups.

D

Amelie

Thanks Dee, you are right. Im sitting here with my NRT patch on trying my best!! I just cant help my negative thinking sometimes. (it doesnt help one bit) I also think after I have go without drinking for long periods I get complacent but reading here helps me.

OZboy

yeah.. we all feel this way sometimes..
but your just as important as anyone else ..
.don't forget that..lol...Oz..

Dee74

complacency is a biggie - we're all very good at rationalising...so keep reading.
It helps me remember too.

Keep posting as well, Amelie - let us air out some of that negative thought laundry for ya - it really helps to bounce those kinds of things off other people I think

D

OZboy

..see i told ya....great love and support here...lol..Oz..

Tazman53

I used to have every excuse under the sun to either continue to drink or to start again, once I came to the realization that if I kept drinking I was doomed to a slow death from alcoholism all of those excuses paled in comparison to a slow LONELy death.

Coping...... Well for many years I used booze to cope, I found another solution to my problems in the steps of AA and further refinement in the fellowship of AA.

Complacency kills a lot of us, I work hard at keeping my recovery the #1 priority in my life, every morning I ask for the power to stay sober & do my HPs will, through out the day I seek his guidance and help, and at the end of the day I give thanks for another day sober.

I try and make myself do this every day, it is not always easy, but the more I do it, them more it becomes habit.

Amelie

I guess one more positive way of thinking about it: Is that if we try to give up all these bad things and get ill at least we can deal with it and have the personal satisfaction of knowing we have done all we can.

Shakespeare

I have a few in-curable 'type' niggling illnesses. Tinnitus and Peripheral neuropathy (probably not helped or even caused by booze?) being only just two of them. One of my excuses for drinking was that I became less aware of the tinnitus in the evening after a few drinks, same for the numb tingling and weird feet. Basically, part of my alcoholic haze was an obsession over health and death. My solution? Every moment sober= living totally in the present moment totally alive (ill of not ill) and that even if I never lived another minute at least in this moment I am totally alive and I am here and I can do and think stuff!

OZboy

..yes..