Gutcheck

Hi,

First time poster. Been a nightly drinker for 20 years, watched two people die from it. Still using. Nightly is usually 2 beers with diner followed by two to four glasses of wine before bed. I have never been a day drinker. I am 45.

I am worried that if I stop I will go through withdrawals and not be able to sleep. I also use sleeping pills in the middle of the night if I wake up and can't go back to bed. I am very active, exercise daily, yet am overweight and would like to attempt to stop this for a month and see what happens. The thought of permanence scares me and is too big.

I have a son, and want to have time with my grandkids.

Looking for advice on what to do, where I can get help, etc. I can't do it alone.

Motivated by watching many friends / colleagues just stopping drinking for various reasons.

Thanks.

Hevyn

Welcome, Gutcheck. I'm so glad you found us.

I think being here will help you decide to stop all together. You're aware of the danger - and that's good. When I first came here, I'd been drinking 30 yrs. I couldn't imagine myself stopping forever - but that's what happened. I hope you'll decide you don't need it in your life.

ReadyAtLast

Welcome to SR We are a similar age.

I find sleep is not great the first few days but try and avoid sleeping pills as I can get addicted them too. No matter how little sleep I have in the first few days I still feel better if I've not had a drink the night before .Sleep does come eventually.

least

Welcome to the family. I didn't want to stop drinking either and thought my life would be boring without it. That was a lie. My life is much better now that I'm sober. I hope our support can help you get sober for good.

Gutcheck

Thanks guys. I will update daily.

Denny1974

Welcome Gutcheck. I'm also 45 years old and have been nightly drinker for about 28 years. My nightly drinking though was alot more beer and then usually 5 or 6 mixed drinks nightly. In addition to that I drank just ridiculously on weekends. I've recently discovered that my drinking is affecting my health and therefore I just have to stop. I've been wanting to quit anyways forever but now I am finally doing it. I'm on day 8 and it is not easy. Everyday without a drink is a victory and it is getting easier for me each day. It's a proud feeling to know that you are doing the right thing and beating this sickness. Good luck!

Gutcheck

Denny1974

I quit cold turkey and definitely had a dazed and very foggy head for the first 5 or 6 days. Nothing major though just could tell my body was missing something. Just starting to feel a little more normal now but things are still a little hazy. That was me though and you might be totally different. Withdrawals will vary greatly from person to person. I really don't have enough expertise to offer any insight into cold turkey vs. tapering. I'm sure someone will chime in that can answer that question.

biminiblue

If you're worried why not talk to your doctor? They can prescribe a short-term course of inexpensive meds to mitigate adverse events.

I drank a lot more than you and I quit with a three day taper.
Daily drinking about 12 drinks to Day One of the taper = 2 drinks
Day two of the taper = 1 drink
Day three of the taper = about 1/2 ounce of rum.

My disclaimer is that I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't know how dangerous coming off alcohol can be, so I was just ignorantly lucky.

The problem for me in stretching it out any longer than three days is that if I had drank more than two drinks in any one session I couldn't guarantee my ability to stop at two. That's the problem with attempting a taper. I would say if you try it and can't make it stick in three days, then tapering isn't likely to work. Lots of people feel they must keep drinking once they start, so it's a slippery slope. I would say cold turkey with meds is a far better idea only because I can see how the "taper" becomes its own problem.

I haven't had a drink since and that was five years ago. It was really uncomfortable and I had a month of pretty bad emotional swings, couldn't sleep, anxiety etc.

My experience is not yours, though. My body is not yours. Take care, figure it out sooner rather than later.

Gutcheck

biminiblue

It's pretty straight-forward. Your regular doctor would be able to recommend someone if not just able to prescribe him/herself. I hope you make that call today.

Don't spend any more time in, "Research," your Real Life awaits. A few days of restless sleep is a small price to pay, yeah?

CRRHCC

"Motivated by watching many friends / colleagues just stopping drinking for various reasons."

Is there a common denominator for those, "various reasons," that you could value?

When your values trump your addiction, there is no addiction.

Atlast9999

Anna

It's always a good idea to talk to your dr before stopping drinking because withdrawals from alcohol can be unpredictable. I'm glad you found us and that you're ready to change your life.

Gutcheck

Zebra1275

Looking for advice on what to do, where I can get help, etc. I can't do it alone.

Welcome. What worked for me was logging on to this website daily, and also swallowing my pride and trying AA.

I don't log onto this website quite as much anymore, and I haven't been to an AA meeting in a few months. But I'm grounded in my sobriety and have been sober over 9 years after being a daily drinker for a couple of decades. You can do it too!

Dee74

I'd check with your Dr if you're worried - insist on a closer appointment if you have to,

If you think going on the road will be a prob lem and you can put that off for a while, do that

Welcome to SR

D

Hawkeye13

The drinking was the real problem with sleep, but I thought I needed to drink to sleep.

Sober, I sleep great. You can do it, and it is very much worth it

Purina

Try drinking only the amount of beer you mornally do and cut out the wine altogether for 1 night and then tell us how you feel in the morning.

I dont think you are going to have physical withdrawal because I mean if you where really physically dependent then you would be forced to drink in the morning and daytime as well. I mean if your body is going over 14 hours each day without alcohol then it doesnt sound to me that you will get the D.T.s but give it a try and if you actually start getting seizures or shakes then just run and grab a beer and drink it.

When i quit I just went cold turkey, even quit cigarettes. Then the body was so confused it did not know which to complain about the loudest. The alcohol or the nicotine?

Good luck. Your going to be a much better father now without the alcohol which makes us impatient and grouchy around family members.

Dee74

The body doesn't know wine from beer or vice versa.

Drinking more alcohol is just going to prolong the agony and reinforce the idea, mentally and physically, that you need alcohol to sleep.

Insomnia doesn't last forever, Gutcheck.
A few nights of discomfort will pay off, trust me.

D