UTVOLFAN

I found out I might have mouth cancer and decided to quit smoking and drinking while I wait on my biopsy results. Thankfully my husband decided to quit too, as an act of solidarity. We are both daily drinkers, and binge drink almost every weekend... I'm on my third day without drinking and I'm super grouchy and miserable and he seems totally okay. Every time I complain that I want to give up and have a drink, he is like "just think about something else, or do something to get your mind off of it." Which makes me even grouchier because that is easier said than done, at least for me. I did give myself a manicure, and I've eaten as much ice cream in the last three days as I did in all of last year. (I don't know why but ice cream REALLY helps with the alcohol cravings, am I crazy?)

So anyway, I know I need to quit....and honestly I do want to quit because I know eventually things will be better when I'm sober long term. But my short term frame of mind is SCREAMING like a toddler that this is a ridiculous endeavor.

How long does the grumpiness last? How long will I go on thinking about alcohol allllll day long?

And btw, congrats to anyone who has been sober for more than 3 days, bc this seriously sucks! :'(

Coldfusion

You are so fortunate to have your husband's support! Just give yourself time, it all gets better. But for me, 1 year and 4 months sober I still crave ice cream.

Pedro1234

lol UTVOLFAN. You have probably been drinking and smoking for years and only have given up for 3 days It will take a little longer but it does get easier and at that point you will also start to appreciate the benefits that sobriety and not smoking brings.
I really hope your biopsy results come back negative and you use this situation as an advantage to get sober and quite smoking. Plenty of laughter will then follow with time

Dee74

The grumpiness may last a week or two...but it will pass.

I really hope that you'll get a good biopsy result...and that you'll decide to stay sober and healthy anyway UTVOLFAN

Welcome to SR
D

Raider

It's great to have your husbands support.........


.........but if mine told me to go do something else or think about something else and I was on day 3...........

I'd pull out a can of whoop-ass on him..................

Blessings.

Gottalife

Gosh, that sounds like a great explanation of the difference between the real alcoholic and a hard drinker.

EndGameNYC

Based on your comments, it seems that your grumpiness is linked to your "thinking about alcohol allllll day long." Most of us were unable to relieve the obsession to drink on our own. There are many things about my sobriety with which I am not entirely clear, and that's okay. I don't need to know every reason behind my drinking and every detail about how I got sober. But one thing I know without a shred of doubt is that I wouldn't have gotten sober, and I couldn't have stayed sober, without a great deal of help.

So I suppose the answer to your question depends on what you're willing to do to achieve sobriety.

1newcreation

Don't know what to say in this situation, but said a prayer
Be blessed

new star

Thoughts with you! I'm on day 60 and it's amazing how much better it gets, trust me! You can do it too

MythOfSisyphus

Keeping my fingers crossed for good news!

ReadyAtLast

Hello and welcome to SR.
I can relate as my husband has just undergone biopsies for throat cancer. Whilst his drinking isn't a problem( I have the problem) he is struggling with the smoking so I admire you doing both at once.

It's entirely normal to feel the way you do,especially when you have additional worries about your health. I hope your biopsy is normal and you stay sober.

Chilledice

I promise you it WILL go away! You are doing an amazing job and the more you abstain from alcohol the less power it has over you! It is perfectly normal at the start to be feeling the way you are feeling, you are in the process of breaking VERY powerful chains that have been wrapped around you. KEEP GOING it will get better and you will feel better too!

least

Give yourself a week or two to 'settle down'. The grumpiness will pass but it takes time. And if eating ice cream is what it takes to kill the cravings... go buy a lot of ice cream!

KateL

Well done for putting your health first. You will feel better soon xxxxxx

instant

It wil settle right down, for me the driven, compulsive thinking lasted for three months- it wasnt all a big drama, the first week is the hardest

Hawkeye13

I had to launch myself into hobbies and activities to keep my mind off drinking.

I joined a gym, started playing guitar again, and checked a pile of books out of the library.

I also bought some herbal teas to have something in my hand and began to journal when feelings were really strong.

Take lots of hot baths, and I'm with you about the strong need for ice cream. I consume a lot of the wonderful stuff.

It will get better and you can do it. You will feel so much better in a few weeks.

You may start hacking out the crap from your lungs. Some strong lozenges like "Fisherman's Friend" can help with that. My mother tried to quit smoking and she said her lungs would itch and she coughed a lot.

The body can restore itself from so much if we give it a chance.
Best wishes to you and your husband.

UTVOLFAN

What do you mean?

UTVOLFAN

I'm white knuckling it right now, and I'm here for support. I don't know what else to do but take it one minute at a time...

ZeldaFan

I'm four months in and can tell you that you will stop thinking about the alcohol. It doesn't feel like it right now but it slowly drifts away and other thoughts fill that space. Stick with it and you will start to feel so much better!

As for the ice cream, your body is craving sugar to take the place of the alcohol. I'm still eating WAY more than I ever used to and I'm cool with having that as my crutch. Beats drinking!

FindTheAnswer

I eat ice cream maybe once a year and not terribly excited when I do. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks for me and for the past week, I kept thinking about ice cream. I actually made vanilla pudding one night, added almond extract, and froze it. It helped. I have been a hermit the last 3 weeks due to losing my job, but I wanted ice cream so badly the other night, I went out and bought 2 different ones! It does seem to help. And, it is still less calories than the bottle of wine I drank every night. More fat calories, though. But, don't they say alcohol is metabolized like fat?? Either way, I'm willing to eat it if it gets me to midnight and I get to check off another day.