Stride34

Does anyone ever feel in good days of sobriety that everything is right, my life's in order, feel good, relationships are good, so now I can lay back relax and have some beers tonight? It's almost like the better I feel, the more craving I have to drink. Like I can deal with a hangover tomorrow because I'm in a strong state now. Because I guess things going well is just not quite enough... I need EUPHORIA. It might be even some mild form of hypomania.

I know its the AV and im not going to drink, but I feel like this sometimes and its uncomfortable. I'm interested to hear how others get past this.

Andante

Of course. The "AV" can use any emotion as a crowbar to gain access to conscious thought and make having a drink seem like a really sensible idea.

In the days when I was sorta trying to quit drinking but hadn't really decided to do whatever it took, positive emotions were just as likely to touch off a binge as negative ones were.

Use whatever method works to train your brain away from this pattern.

hpdw

This is very common with alcoholics in early recovery . Just as you describe you get to feeling great and you convince yourself your strong enough to handle a few drinks . Once you accept that you are true alcoholic ( one drink sets up and obsession and compulsion to keep drinking ) , once that line is crossed no matter how long you are sober or how good you feel alcohol will bring you crashing back down and very quickly too . This is my experience at least .

yinzer

Yep. That’s when it hits me; when I’m feeling good. Not when I feel like crap because I let booze use me as a punching bag again.

tomls

It gets better with time but I know that I am one drink away from disaster.

Stride34

Thanks for the feedback. I'm 7 years no opioids but only 2.5 months no drinking so I'm still getting used to it and picking up new things. The recoveries are different but booze is much trickier than I thought it'd be, and I was more of a binger not even a daily drinker.

NoahJ

Same here. Cravings hit on really good days. They come at me sideways and seem to say “good job buddy - you really handled it today, you deserve a drink!”

So yeah. I try to keep ice cream and steaks in the house now for an alternate reward.

Dee74

Yeah I was triggered as much by a 'need' to celebrate or relax as much as I was by needing to blot something out.

Whatever the trigger, not drinking is the answer

S

bluedog97

I can totally relate. Day 36 here and my AV is saying “Come on, you’ve done so well for 5 weeks. You deserve a few beers to relax”.

Tricky AV, so sneaky.

Porcetta

Akin to dying in the corner due to a bender them drinking the next night as you have perked up a little.

Also, it is/was actually nice to be slightly 'off centre' - that sort if 1 glass of red wine feeling so I know how you get that feeling on a good sober day.