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cravings.

Old 12-16-2009, 06:29 PM
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cravings.

will someone please give me some advice as to how to deal with cravings? and i'm not talking about the 'oh darnit...i wish i could have a drink' sort of cravings. i'm talking about the ' you godd*mn m*ther f*cker....if you don't have a drink right now you are going to f*cking die' kind of cravings. sorry to be such a potty mouth but that is what's going on in my head right now. the need for the chemical reaction which takes place when i consume alcohol is currently unbearable. i'm climbing the walls.
any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Old 12-16-2009, 06:47 PM
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Well you are reaching out here and that is good. I can't get you through the cravings but I can say they don't last. Can you distract yourself with something, anything? Get out and maybe take a walk or walk on a treadmill. Exercise can help. Do you belong to AA? Can you call someone? Do you have any support from anyone that you can call?

Do know that this intense craving will not last and you can get through it. Also maybe remember why you quit and the consequences of picking up again. Trying to help.
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Old 12-16-2009, 06:48 PM
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I've been dealing with some pretty serious cravings myself lately. The first thing to realize is that they aren't permanent. They may last a long time especially at the beginning but eventually they will go away and you'll be glad you resisted. For me one thing that works really well for making them go away is exercise. It calms you down and helps get you in a better state of mind to resist them. Other than that just try to distract yourself by doing something else. If I just sit around and think about the craving it makes it worse.
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Old 12-16-2009, 07:24 PM
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Originally Posted by janitorking View Post
will someone please give me some advice as to how to deal with cravings? and i'm not talking about the 'oh darnit...i wish i could have a drink' sort of cravings. i'm talking about the ' you godd*mn m*ther f*cker....if you don't have a drink right now you are going to f*cking die' kind of cravings. sorry to be such a potty mouth but that is what's going on in my head right now. the need for the chemical reaction which takes place when i consume alcohol is currently unbearable. i'm climbing the walls.
any advice would be greatly appreciated.
depending on just how bad your condition is you may need to see a Doctor to get a prescription for something like Ativan for your Withdraw..
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Old 12-16-2009, 08:10 PM
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Climbing the walls...those were my exact words when I was going through withdrawal! I found a combination of things that worked for me. One was seeing my doctor for a medication to help with the physical symptoms of the withdrawal. Another was seeking out a higher power...something I never, ever in a million years thought I would do. I could fix everything myself, or so I thought. And, even though I've been in AA on and off for the last eight years, I went back, and I will be sticking around this time. You don't have to buy in to every single philosophy in religion or AA...just take what works for you and leave the rest. The fellowship, being among people who have the same problems as you, does wonders for you. On a simpler note, I have busied myself with mundane tasks around the house, like cleaning out drawers (exciting, I know!) or at this time of year, making gingerbread houses or decorating the tree with my son. Anything that keeps my hands busy and my mind off alcohol works for me.
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Old 12-16-2009, 11:40 PM
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Janitor

Thanks for sharing. I know how you are feeling. I don't know how long or how much you drank but I always 2nd the possibilty of medical detox.

In the old days they mixed orange juice and honey. Chocolate is also suggested in the AA book "Living Sober". I ate a giant Hershey bar every day my first few months, I can remember it helped, but that didn't keep me sober.

He're something that helped me long term:
It was explained to me that the actual "craving" for alcohol doesn't occur until I put it in my body. Then the actual "physical craving" for more increases exponentially and ensures I cant stop putting it in my body till I'm blasted everytime. I never drank just one or two...Maybe one or two cases.

Before I put alcohol in my body I'm actually "obsessing" over it. Obsession is uncontrolled thinking. The mental obsession forces me to drink. It wins every time. If I weren't powerless it wouldn't. If I could control the thinking I would just quit thinking about a drink. I couldn't. So the obsession wins and I take a sip. Now I'm screwed by the physical craving.

So I'm stuck in an endless loop. A double-headlock so to speak. I can't drink safely and I can't not drink.

Well, long story short I haven't had an uncontrollable obsession of the mind since I went through the 12-steps the first time. That's the miracle of them. I know it sounds crazy.

Well, how does this help you right now? Maybe all it does is give you hope.

Here's what really sucks: You repeateldy detox on your own, get past the really miserable 3 days of sleepless sweating shakes. You might make it a week. You start to feel decent again mentally and physically. Then you go insane again. You get drunk. You do the detox deal all over again. The cycle repeats itself for years...But you still think you have the drinking under control and this will be your last drink...again...lol

If you have to spend 30 days in a rehab to get a good start it may save you 30 more years of drinking. I don't know.

There's a lot of truth to the saying "We do step 1 outside the rooms". "We don't move on to step 2, or 3, or 4, until we've had enough to drink." On the other hand how do we stay sober long enough to work the steps? How do we get enough to drink without dying? It aint easy. If it was every one who wanted to be sober would be.

Maybe you can find a sponsor who will let you stay at their house for the weekend. For instance. Say quit you drinking on Wed night. Thursday you will be OK as you will still have a lot of lubricant in your system. Friday will start to get rough. You will need someone to talk to by Sat and Sunday you will need a shoulder to cry on! By Monday you might be able to withstand yourself and ready to start the program of action.

Just some things to think about.
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Old 12-17-2009, 03:07 AM
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Write out what happened the last time you drank. See if it all makes sense.
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Old 12-17-2009, 04:41 AM
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janitorking the cravings were gone in about 4-5 days for me while I was still in detox.

As long as I was in detox I did not crave for booze once the detox was complete.

Ah................. now it was time to leave detox!!! I walked out of that door physically sober for the first time in 5 years. I got into my truck, turned the key, it started!!!

Once the truck started so did the OBSESSION!!!! One side of my head was screaming "Dude you really need a 12 pack for the ride home!" the other half was screaming back "Are you frickin nuts? You are actually sober, the last thing you need is a drink!!!!"

Prayer to what ever got me home but the insane argument raged on in my head, the only thing I knew may help was to get my butt to a meeting. Well I got to a meeting that evening. Within minutes of talking to other alcoholics who had gone through what I was going through the fight ended in my head.

In that meeting all of the men gave me thier phone numbers and told me to call ANY time! I also asked a man to be my sponsor, he suggested that every meeting I went to get at least one new phone number, he also told me that it would be a good idea to call him and 2 other recovering alcoholics every day.

In the early days of my sobriety my most peaceful & stress free times were either in a meeting or talking on the phone with another recovering alcoholic. Most of the time on the phone we just BSed about life.

Well at about 2 months sober, due to anger the insanity returned again with a vengance, it was as if the obsession had given me a 2 month break while it exercised. It jumped in my case with both feet, screaming at me, telling me "Get a drink, the anger and frustration will dissappear!" If I had of had a drink within reach it would have been gone!

I was able to calm myself enough to pull over and call some one else in recovery, I have no idea what he said, I told him what was going on, the next thing I knew in 5 minutes we were BSing and the obsession was gone!!!

The short term cure for the obsessions for alcohol I had in early sobriety were meetings and calling others in recovery.

For me the long term solution was having that obsession to drink totally lifted by taking the steps and then applying them daily to all areas of my life one day at a time.
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Old 12-17-2009, 05:44 AM
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Originally Posted by c49999 View Post
Write out what happened the last time you drank. See if it all makes sense.

THat's what I would do too, write down the awful way I felt last time I drank and then read it when the cravings get bad. Something to remind you of why you stopped drinking and don't want to drink anymore.

Exercise is good too. Gets you out of the cravings and is good for you too.
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Old 12-17-2009, 06:06 AM
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Support from my mom

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Last edited by lostmyway; 12-17-2009 at 06:07 AM. Reason: Wrong thread, sorry
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Old 12-17-2009, 08:45 AM
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I'm on day 4 and I've been doing great, until yesterday. At 10:30 a.m. at work I was craving a beer, bad! I sunk myself into work and it went away. When I was done with work I needed beer real bad. I usually drank a 6 pack on the way home or a 1/3 bottle of Beam. I was in bad shape after work, but didn't do it. Once I picked my kids up at 5:30 I was all better. Sunk all my time into them until 9:30 and then had some tea and went to bed. Today is a new day and I'll fight that SOB once again. I will win!
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Old 12-17-2009, 09:19 AM
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Redfish I discovered that in-order for me to stand any chance to 'win' I had to totally and utterly surrender and stop fighting.

When I was fighting against it I ultimately ended up drinking again as I just became too irritable, discontented and just wanted an instant release from these feelings, which I knew I could instantly get from taking a drink.

I realised from experience that ultimately I could never hope to win as it was my thinking/mind that was the problem so unless i could change that then inevitably I would drink again.

Just my experience.
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Old 12-17-2009, 09:46 AM
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Neomarxist, how did you surrender and what helped? I know I'm only on day 4 and I have a very long road to go, but I'll try anything once and if I like it I'll try it again.
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Old 12-17-2009, 10:48 AM
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AA and SR

I was pretty indifferent about AA the first time i went in May, I was looking for reasons as to why it just ain't me etcetc.

Then the crushing reality of another hard, hard relapse hit and I suddenly latched onto the hope that I had seen in others from when I had been there before.

Any slight notion that I may have had that my alcoholism wouldn't kill me was evaporated in the 3 day bender I went on. I just couldn't cope with the mental anguish/torture of it all anymore and I could see how I was gonna die - most likely either suicide or accidental OD. Anyhow it weren't a great place to be at. I was a broken person mentally. I knew I was beaten.

So I gained 100% acceptance of my alcoholism and did everything I possibly could to stay away from that first drink at all costs. That involved SR and AA. Not closing my mind off and mocking people when they talk about GOD etc, I ain't at all religous but I want to be sober at all costs and also I see others in the meetings I go to who ain't religious. I just had to be willing to keep an open mind thats all. I have learned about spirituality and it has helped me immensely and now I am learning to live life in a different way with different thoughts/ways of looking at things. This is all helping me and I am finding that the fight that I used to feel when abstaining from booze is being lifted from me and I don't feel like a pressure cooker anymore.

But I remain ever vigilant that I only have a daily reprieve and try to make sure I remain at least open to suggestions/shares I hear in the meetings I go to. Basically without regular AA meetings then i don't think i would stand a chance at remaining sober tbh. I would have already either have drank again or be deeply unhappy and discontented.

My only advice is to keep an open mind really and do what you need to do to stay away from taking that first drink. that is the drink that will ultimately kill you.
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Old 12-17-2009, 01:30 PM
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hows it going now, Janitorking?

D
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Old 12-17-2009, 01:51 PM
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Originally Posted by NEOMARXIST View Post
AA and SR

I was pretty indifferent about AA the first time i went in May, I was looking for reasons as to why it just ain't me etcetc.

Then the crushing reality of another hard, hard relapse hit and I suddenly latched onto the hope that I had seen in others from when I had been there before.

Any slight notion that I may have had that my alcoholism wouldn't kill me was evaporated in the 3 day bender I went on. I just couldn't cope with the mental anguish/torture of it all anymore and I could see how I was gonna die - most likely either suicide or accidental OD. Anyhow it weren't a great place to be at. I was a broken person mentally. I knew I was beaten.

So I gained 100% acceptance of my alcoholism and did everything I possibly could to stay away from that first drink at all costs. That involved SR and AA. Not closing my mind off and mocking people when they talk about GOD etc, I ain't at all religous but I want to be sober at all costs and also I see others in the meetings I go to who ain't religious. I just had to be willing to keep an open mind thats all. I have learned about spirituality and it has helped me immensely and now I am learning to live life in a different way with different thoughts/ways of looking at things. This is all helping me and I am finding that the fight that I used to feel when abstaining from booze is being lifted from me and I don't feel like a pressure cooker anymore.

But I remain ever vigilant that I only have a daily reprieve and try to make sure I remain at least open to suggestions/shares I hear in the meetings I go to. Basically without regular AA meetings then i don't think i would stand a chance at remaining sober tbh. I would have already either have drank again or be deeply unhappy and discontented.

My only advice is to keep an open mind really and do what you need to do to stay away from taking that first drink. that is the drink that will ultimately kill you.
This is great, i just wanted to also say that i would not be sober today had i not gone to AA and worked the steps...that is the truth, i tried for 20 years to deal by myself with my cravings with little success (little success is an understatement!).
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Old 12-17-2009, 02:53 PM
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thank you all for your words of advice. i think i'm going to join the army. the worst that could happen is death but at least i'll die sober.
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Old 12-17-2009, 04:21 PM
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HaHa

Well, I commend anyone for joining the military.

There's a saying in AA: "Wherever I go, there I am." What this means is that there really is no geographical cure. i.e. If you're a real alcoholic, you can't run away from it.

I can't diagnose you JanitorKing, as can noone else. But I encourage you to think about this observation made by a well-known doctor who treated over 10,000 alcoholics:
"To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks..."

If you determine you feel that way when not drinking, continue to seek recovery. You don't have to live that way. Even if you drink, or don't drink, keep searching for the answers. Never give up. You will find them.
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Old 12-17-2009, 06:40 PM
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Hey janitorking....good on ya for joining the military. But don't look past the airforce man. You could be an aircraft technician...or an air weapons tech....or whatever. Doesn't have to be army!
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Old 12-17-2009, 07:06 PM
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Iced Tea

Sounds as stupid as hell, but it has a similar consistency to bear, and looks similar, etc.

I drank gallons of the sh**t initially after seeing some guy on youtube using it to stop drinking beer while on the computer.

Actually worked like a charm, so much so, that when I go out, I bring bottles of it.
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