savarna

Wanted to ask the longer sober members or even new comers , how they dealt with the nagging craving for a drink in early sobriety and the fantasies about the luxurious desire to get drunk , I find I dress the bottle up in my head like it's this amazing fun and desireable thing I just want , then if I binge on it I realize it's all ******** , I know I pick the drink up in my head weeks before it happens ,so how does a alcoholic stop this , I would love advice thanks team

autan

Hi

This is a thread I started, which might help.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-voice-av.html

aasharon90

I had to train my brain into imagining
all those nicely dressed bottle were just
the devil in disguise or find a picture of
a poison bottle with cross and skull bones
on it and the word POISON written big
and bold on the front.

Poison kills..!

Argent

Orange juice and ice cream have been my go to late at night. Not in excess but just enough to get by.

Garen

Just wanted to say hi.

Not really sure I have an answer only being on day 3 and have tried and failed plenty of times so far. But one thing I have learned is that if my stomach is full and beer (I liked beer) is not on my mind, there isn't a craving. I think cravings are your thoughts entertaining the idea of drinking. If you are in the middle of doing pushups, there's no craving because it is not on your mind at that moment, your burning chest and arm muscles are. So if you can learn to just not allow alcohol in to your thoughts, that will probably go a long way. That and don't let yourself get hungry.

savarna

Thanks everyone I like the poison cross bones that may be wat I think of now on , my last drink was on the 5 th January 14 ,

autan

I would definitly go along with not letting yourself get hungry.

autan

Well done.

Mags1

Hi savarna, tv dress up alcohol enough for us, we don't need to imagine half the time it's thrown in our faces. Good point Garen made when hungry he doesn't get the cravings.
I pick up a bowl of ice cream when cravings come though to be honest, they do get fewer the longer you resist alcohol.

It does get better.

I never thought I'd say that last sentence, by the way.

RevivingOphelia

At times, in the beginning, it was a minute by minute struggle.

One night I parked my car across from the pub and sat and sat and sat…thought it through and drove home. Another night, I had one sip and the thought of drinking as much as I needed to get the buzz I wanted disgusted me, and I threw it out.

I had to THINK IT THROUGH---->to the end result: the BRUTAL mornings. The horrific hangovers. The shame. The anxiety.


I ate something.

I trusted that the craving would pass.

I would take a hot shower and change into PJ's. I never drank in sleepwear or after a shower, so that helped.

I would drive STRAIGHT home after work, as this was the time I would go pick up some wine.


I spent countless hours on here…still do and is still an invaluable resources. 14 months of sobriety, and I still have to deal with some TEMPORARY urges to drink, and this site has been amazing to nip those cravings in the bud.

I trust the process of those who came before me. They keep writing on here that it gets better. It does.

Petecrab

I used the thought of waking up without a hangover as the motivation early on. As fun as having the drink seemed, the thought of not being hungover was better!

The cravings do get easier , early days are the hardest. Keep up the good work and it will get easier.

Dee74

Hi Savarna

I think if you keep the mindset that all those kinds of thoughts are lies, you'll be doing ok.

Here are some useful tips for both physical and mental cravings:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-cravings.html

D

Notimetoloose

Tackling cravings head on works for me.
The very nano second or the very moment I am aware of drinking thoughts, that very first alcoholic thought, I shut it down.
I separate me from my addiction/desire to drink and address the addiction as the third person.
If I am alone I will tell it where to go out loud and sometimes in no uncertain terms, When I am around people, quietly and to myself.
I dont want to drink my addiction does, my addictive voice has no way of getting alcohol without me. I tell it I will not be drinking and will not change my mind.
Lots of times I need to eat something.
You can't believe when I have had cravings for alcohol, I have been watching shows like intervention and there are people right in front of my eyes dying of alcohol abuse and I have gotten cravings for a drink.