Serotonin

What are some things you do or have done to deal with a craving effectively?

jdooner

Call a sponsor and friend and talk it out

Dee74

This is a great starting point:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-cravings.html
D

suki44883

Eat a big bowl of ice cream. Seriously. That will satisfy your craving in a flash.

Also, keep some hard candy around. I like butterscotch disks and cinnamon disks.

You're craving sugar, so all of the above will help tremendously.

Strength11

Reach out to a friend, attend AA meeting, go for a walk

Borrachon

I got two puppies that need to be WHIPPED into place..

We went walkies and Sheldon had to be chastised for trying to eat a dead bird.

That's pretty much as off the wall as I get.

Funny, I used to get paid for getting off the wall

Dee74

er...you mean figuratively... right?

D

Inca

Call somebody, replay what happens when I drink in my head, pick up a book, smoke a cigarette (Need to quit eventually but for now it works), do anything to distract myself.

Branches

Breathe through my nose, yoga style. Remind myself that it's not as fun as I want to remember it is. Ask myself if I want to wake up in the middle of the night with a headache and heart palpitations and not being able to get back to sleep for two hours. And, yes, I eat ice cream - that's real satisfying - or have tea and cookies. I also remind myself how good I feel in the morning when I don't drink.
Good luck!

courage2

Ice cream, hot tea with milk and sugar, a cigarette (I think mostly just to pass the time until the craving goes), playing the whole tape (not just the first drink).

Do something silly! This morning when I went to the drugstore that also sells booze I wanted to buy vodka, but I forgot about it looking at pink hair dye and purple nail polish!

GotGrace

I drink a sweet soda like Coke, ginger beer, root beer, cream soda. Give the AV the sugar it is demanding. It really helps!

malcolmsloan

During my first few weeks, I did the ice cream, sweet stuff routine and it worked. But I had to be careful because sleep is an issue for me and the extra sugar was not helping this problem.Then, thanks to someone's suggestion here, I switched to hot tea. And this might just be me, but the sensation of drinking something warm and having something warm in my stomach really helps.

Also, when a craving strikes I like to analyze it: I almost always find my AV behind the craving in some way, and once I see that, the craving really does retreat significantly.

Above all, focus on your true intentions. Good Luck!

freshstart57

Bravo, MalcomSloan. That post right there is a great predictor of your success. Fabulous. Goodonya!

Serotonin

This sounds right up my alley. Thanks.

My AV tries to tell me how it will be fun and relaxing, but fails to tell me about all the negatives. This is where I have to step in and remind myself just how bad it does make me feel. Remind myself that EVERY TIME I drink I make stupid decisions, other than the drinking itself.

I stay up too late, make a mess, say things I regret, eat like sh*t, drive.... the list goes on.

I am studying Urge Surfing today.

HenryKrinkle

1. Pull out my journal and read the entries where I talk about how hellish the anxiety and depression was when I quit.
2. Remind myself that drinking again will necessitate going through that again, and that is something I desperately want to avoid.

too.tall

Get out of the house and get some fresh air.

malcolmsloan

That's a good one, too, Too.tall. I've walked around the block quite a few times over the last 6 weeks. I forgot to mention that one. Change the environment/the "sight lines," so to speak. Kind of like when a kid is having a tantrum and when you change the enviornment they snap out of it. Only it is our AV having the tantrum.