FredFrederson

Ive been drinking since I was 14 (24 now) heavily with patches of sobriety few and far between. The most recent one seemed to work out until every couple weeks i would smash a 12 pack of beer in one night and regret it enough to hold off another few weeks, until I caved 2 weeks ago. Since then ive been drinking over a case a day sometimes reaching 35 budweiser to feel normal. Im no longer hungry and it takes atleast ten beer to stave off the shakes, ive dealt with withdrawal before but its compounded to a point that everytime it seems much worse. Ive been to emergency rooms my blood work is fine at this point its entirely psychological. How do you approach the first few day hump without enabling yourself again?

Anna

Welcome,

It's not easy, but it's simple. You do whatever it takes to not drink. Get rid of alcohol in the house, avoid any people or places where alcohol is served, change up your daily routine to help break the habit, avoid any stores where you shopped for alcohol. Pinpoint the toughest time of the day for you and make a specific plan to be doing something else at that time. Following is a list of recovery programs and ideas that we used to stop drinking and recover:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html

january161992

hi Fred

once i was regularly attending AA meetings the desire to drink was replaced by the fellowship

its like a big sober social club

welcome

thomas11

At this point I believe a medical detox would be appropriate (particularly if it takes 10 beers to make the shakes go away). You don't want to put yourself at risk if you don't have to. As far as getting over the hump, you just do it. As Anna said, simple but not easy. If you can't do it yourself, there is no shame is seeking help or treatment. Wishing you the best.

Renvate

Fred, your story sounds like mine.

I know this is not an exact answer to your question.
But I wanted to share with you.

I also started at 14 and absolutely fell in love with alcohol (due to imaturity and our alcoholism that runs in my family)

I was the hard drinker among my friends, that was my status.

By 24 I knew Iam gonna have a problem later down the track, but ignorance is bliss right? I kept partying and partying and putting off my sober life, because I was not ready for it...but I started to show signs of alcoholism due to my violent drunk outbursts and my drinking alone.

Now Iam 27, and my addiction has gotten alot worse. I now binge (or used to binge) alone and I can drink - anything, all day, all night. And I really really didn't care what would happen to me, I was happy to drink all the time.

That was 8 days ago, and I was pretty dam scared. 8 days ago I nearly got bashed on the streets because I was walking to a club, and I started talking to some random group of people (I remember them saying leave now before you regret it) and I don't even remember what I said to them.

At 24 I never got myself to THAT level of intoxication to danger my life, I was always kinda alert.

And I see the differences between 27 and 24 . At 24 I didn't understand what addiction was or what sobriety actually meant. I was worried, but naive.

Stop while you can now, if your Able to abstain then do that. If you can quit! Even better. Just stop drinking. Full stop. Give yourself a break man.

I only gave myself 34 days break 2 years ago and thats drinking from 14/15.

Iam not trying to teach you, Iam just giving you my point of view and example.



All the best

RetiredGuy

The longer you wait to quit, the harder it will be, your health will go down hill, and you will encounter problems with friends and family due to drinking. Therefore it makes sense to stop as soon as
possible so you can enjoy a great sober life. Good luck, you will find lots of support here!

AshleyB

Great advise Anna!

nez

I heard one day at a time a lot when I first got into recovery. There were times when one day was far too distant a goal because the bottle would be screaming at me.

When that happened and I was seconds away from grabbing a beer, I would tell myself to wait 15 minutes. Surely I could hold off for 15 minutes and that beer would still be there if I wanted it.

I would then go for a walk or anything to shift my focus away from the bottle that was screaming my name.

Sometimes it would take a second 15 minutes, but I sit here now with 14 years without a drink.

The bottle doesn't even whisper to me any more.

The peace is amazing!

Dee74

Welcoem Fred - lots of good advice here.
This community helped me get sober and stay that way - just the knowledge that I had people who understood and who believed in me was a game changer.

I found it a lot harder to return to drinking when I had unstinting support to stay sober here

D