jnewt4098

Hi everyone

I have struggled with drinking for a few years now but this is the first time I have felt motivated enough to really stop ( I hope!) I am also taking antabuse to help.

2 days sober, and boy are the cravings there. In my head I am even planning when to come off the antabuse so that I can line up my drinks for the weekend... (today is tuesday)... any advice and support would be appreciated!

How long do cravings/chemical addiction take to go away typically?

Thanks all!

James

icandothis20

Hi James,

I am also 26 and today is my first real day sober. Make sure you recognize that pesky little voice for who it is, the addiction speaking. I don't know if you have ever heard about Belle at tired of thinking about drinking, but her analogy to the voice in her heads really resonates with me (its called Wolfie) and she has some super good info on her website. I know how hard it can be to be young and not normal like your friends can drink. If you ever need support DM me, I am in the same boat!

Ironhorse1

Well done on 2 days...the first days are the hardest. I also take Antabuse and it has been a great tool for me in early sobriety. For me, it helped me stop obsessing about drinking because you can't drink even if you wanted to (I guess you could, but that would be bad news). The thing with Antabuse is that it doesn't address the real problem. Long term sobriety will take more than taking a pill.

I started taking Antabuse daily, then every other day, then every 3 or 4 days. Usually by day 3, the temptation to drink would come knocking (even though it takes a 7-14 days for the medication to fully leave your body). After 6 weeks or so, I was taking it sporadically until one day I decided I would skip about a week so I could have a few drinks on the weekend (crazy, I know). My plan was to have a few drinks, and then take the pill after the recommended wait time. As you may have guessed, the "few drinks" turned into a few more and then another day of drinking, followed by a hangover and a lot of regret and shame.

Antabuse makes it real easy to convince yourself that you are all better. My recommendation would be to use the "easy" sober time you get with Antabuse to equip yourself to deal with cravings after you stop taking it. And whatever you do, don't drink with it in your system!

rascalwhiteoak

That's awesome that you two are quitting in your mid-20s. That's when I started to realize I had a problem. Just don't drag it on for another 15 years as I did.

Cravings are going to do what cravings do, but they really don't last all that long if you can ride them out -- urge surfing and AVRT have been helpful for me. At seven months in, the cravings are few and easily dismissed.

Dee74

welcome jnewt4098

D

deniedfish

I'm only on day 10, but yeah the first couple of days sucked hard! Tough mentally and physically. I don't think I got any sleep until night 3 and still finding sleep sporadic. I did everything I could basically not to drink. First 2 evenings (my normal time to start drinking) I went to the movies actually. Big popcorn and coke and went to the latest ones I could find. Bought ticket online so I felt since I already had spent the money should go. For me I just had to be out of the house and away from any place that had that drinking familiarity.

least

It took me a few months before the cravings went away at all. My first few months were spent furiously "not drinking". When I got comfortable in my sobriety, then I was just normally a non drinker.

It also helped my recovery when I started to practice gratitude every day. Really adjusted my attitude.

In the first few weeks/days, expect to feel anxious and jittery. I had trouble sleeping at first but it got easier with time. My emotions were up and down for a while too. It can be rough at first but it gets better.