Wastinglife

I am feeling great even on lockdown alone. I am sober and well rested, which is how most people without a drinking problem just think as normal. To pass time and fend off boredom, I was downloading a bunch of songs on Spotify. Some old favourites and new favourites.

The problem is that when I listen to the songs, I get that natural dopamine release we all experience when we hear a song we like, and then I start to crave alcohol. I guess I have a very strong association with drinking and music.

Music triggers a strong urge to drink in me. I am in early sobriety so that factors in I'm sure. Does anyone else get strong alcohol cravings from music??

thomas11

I had to basically quit listening to music, big time trigger.

Cityboy

It was probably six weeks or so before I could listen to the same music I would normally listen to before quitting. Doesn't bother me in that way now.

Abraham

I used to not be able to drum if I did not have a drink on the floor by my feet. Now I just drum without plus alot better. You will come around. Way back in the day(1999) I could not play drums if I did not have a smoke in my mouth. We all move on.

Rsanchez920

I relate big time! But im a music head its my whole life and first love and im a musician so quitting music is not an option for me, theres no point in living without music in my opinion.... I just try to switch up the genres for the day or take a break and watch a show or if im having a really tough day with it i will turn it off for the day... Hoping through time we can enjoy it without the need to use....
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crown86

Man you got me with that one. Majority of my destructive drinking has been done at home alone and what went great with it was music. I also play guitar and sing so yeah I totally get where your coming from. I have been playing a lot but I find myself having to not play certain tunes and genres. One of my favorite artists had a live stream on Sat night..him acoustically. He was drinking and the songs he was playing made me think of drinking and the good times. I am early in this at day 12. Ha - I am avoiding certain tunes. I love all music so hope this fades

Wastinglife

My favourite thing to do is drink at home alone and watch youtube videos of whatever pops in my head, particularly live performances of concerts that I actually attended. Re-living the moment only even more drunk. I think it's the escape out of my head that I am chasing.

PeaceManic

Yeah I did the same, drinking and listening to music, partly because I didn't have the brain power to do much else.too. We probably need to listen to different music, and start associating it with other things? I like drawing and listening to stuff, but relaxation, deep breathing etc, and music seem made for each other. Maybe not with heavy metal.

And all addicts must enjoy the escape from the normal mind, but there's got to better ways.

doggonecarl

My obsession to drink came from my addiction, my alcoholism. It came from inside. However, there were many times that I externalized that obsession, blamed it on something. But when I looked back over the course of time, there were any number of things I said made me want to drink.

SoberCAH

I agree with you, Wasting, and the other posters completely.

The music I favored was not exactly Gregorian chants and hymns.

I had to just give up my rather hard core music for a good while because it brought back drinking memories.

Everything I did I associated with drinking, so I had to make a pronounced cultural pivot.

I had to give up car races and some other fun things because they would have played a head game with me.

We’re glad you’re here.

Let the music wait until you can handle it again.

ciowa

Music is probably the biggest trigger for my euphoric recall moments. Thats when Im driving or something and a song I used to listen to before I went to the bar or a song I listened to while in the bar comes on.

I learned a relapse starts with a trigger and eventually leads to the physical act of drinking so what I do is stop the reminiscing before it turns into a craving. I do that by "playing the tape" forward and then realize the music is only part of that sad drunk story.

To a lesser degree I also watched certain movies before or while drinking and also used to watch youtube clips while I was drinking.

What I do now to exorcise those demons is I listen to my drinking songs before I go exercise or do something physical, like hard labor. That way, I get amped up and I get it out of my system by doing something that tires me out. I also watch my boozing movies/clips while its sunny and nice and they are more boring that way since I associate them all with the night life.

BasketCase69

I found I had to go silent for a week or 2.
When I did plug back in I went for the total opposite of what I would normally listen to. I found classical again. And watched operas

Tetrax

I now mostly listen to music when running and it's like a double high for me. At home I do still play guitar plenty and am - unsurprisingly - much better at it sober.

But yes I know what you mean.

FlyAgain

courage2

For about the first six months, I had a lot of uncomfortable urges and thoughts of drugs and drinking when I listened to the bands I liked most. Not at all anymore. I can listen again to anything I want, plus my musical tastes have expanded a lot.

See you on ABC Song Titles?

daisy1

I haven't listened to music for nearly a year now for exactly that reason!

Bilbao

As has been said above, we can associate our favourite music with our drinking times in the past, so it's not surprising it can be a trigger. Maybe use the Spotify playlists and recommendations to look for some new artists or styles that you don't associate those times with? At the very least you might discover something you really like that you wouldn't have otherwise found.

My problem with alcohol and music is that I'm out several nights a week (or was, until lockdown) playing with bands in clubs and bars, and as well as being surrounded with drink, drinkers and drunks, I would always have a few drinks (as much as I thought I was able to whilst staying under the drink drive limit) to relax myself before playing and take the edge off any nerves, and then hit the bottle more seriously once I got home afterwards. I'm not bothered by all the alcohol surrounding me in the clubs any more, but I do occasionally still miss the "reward" of a good big drink at the end of the night.

It's a cup of tea these days but my head thanks me for it the next morning.

Dee74

I couldn't stop listening to music - music is my life - I just had to dissociate that from drinking.

D

Thrillhou

Limp Bizkit gives me urges to drink because it's a terrible nu metal garbage band.

silentrun

I quit when True Blood was on HBO still. I would save half a fifth to drink while watching that every Sunday night. I looked forward to it. The first few times it did trigger me to drink but I wasn't going to drink no matter what so I just watched the show. Eventually, I learned to enjoy watching it without drinking. It takes a time to break associations. If it's something you like with alcohol it will be something you like without alcohol. Probably even more so without the alcohol because it overpowers everything.