I feel like having a beer
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 348
I feel like having a beer
O.K. so I was a wine drinker and occasionally had a beer. Usually on hot summer days. My dad is an alcoholic and spent the weekend here. He didn't drink that much but now I have the urge to have a beer. I went to the beer store to buy him some. That was weird. Good thing it wasn't the liquor store. Anyho, I will get through this but urges just pop up out of nowhere when you least expect them too.
Joanne
Joanne
Om, Aum, Ohm...
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Punxsutawney/Pittsburgh
Posts: 4,797
Sometimes, for me, anyway, saying it out loud takes the power out of the urge. I don't really consider them urges anymore, but they can be some tantalizing ideas....till I remember to remember!
Glad you posted, Joanne. Keep truckin'
Peace & Love,
Sugah
Glad you posted, Joanne. Keep truckin'
Peace & Love,
Sugah
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,517
The main thing is to recognize it for what it is and then you can let it go. It's just a craving and it will go away. And Sug is right, sometimes when the negative stuff starts taking over my mind, I say something out loud to get rid of it. It seems to help, somehow, maybe bringing me back to reality.
Rinnie's Grandpa
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Pylesville Maryland
Posts: 1,273
(((Joanne)))
I call the urge the "it" feeling...
I can't really describe it, but it comes over my whole body like a wave. Sort of like a tingling sensation. I try to talk to someone or I go to bed and get under the cover's and try to go to sleep...
Try to get your mind on anything except alcohol. Talk to someone in recovery who knows what your going through...
Stay strong and positive...
One day at a time.
Steve
I call the urge the "it" feeling...
I can't really describe it, but it comes over my whole body like a wave. Sort of like a tingling sensation. I try to talk to someone or I go to bed and get under the cover's and try to go to sleep...
Try to get your mind on anything except alcohol. Talk to someone in recovery who knows what your going through...
Stay strong and positive...
One day at a time.
Steve
Old & Sober Member of AA
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Nursing Home in Brick, New Jersey
Posts: 5,174
You see, Joanne, the difference between us and folks who aren't alcoholics...when they "feel like a beer" (or any other drink), they just have it! We can't afford that luxury...the cost would/could be too great.
As long as you realize the fleeting thoughts will come from time to time, and as long as you don't act on them...you'll be OK!!!
As long as you realize the fleeting thoughts will come from time to time, and as long as you don't act on them...you'll be OK!!!
Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Finding out what I have been missing!
Posts: 1,011
Wow, I know that feeling, funny thing though, I was more of a beer and vodka drinker,(who am I kidding I would drink just about anything if it were all you had to offer) but I sometimes feel like having a galss of wine. Shiraz to be exact.
I grab water, juice of sometime a Pepsi and It help it to pass
Hang in there focus on the good that has come out of this!
I grab water, juice of sometime a Pepsi and It help it to pass
Hang in there focus on the good that has come out of this!
Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Somwhere over the rainbow
Posts: 1,175
Hey Joanne, I find those urges are very subtle in their hitting on my reserves... for me little things.. being in a place, a telephone conversation with a friend, etc. are all triggers. What I've learned is to be on guard for these types of situations and to have a "plan" in place at all times on how to deal with them.
Peace, Levi
Peace, Levi
Living on a prayer
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NC
Posts: 234
The times I get the urge to drink again are always when I'm fixing dinner. It doesn't happen every day, but it has happened several times now. It works best for me to just go tell my husband. He's a great supporter of my recovery, and says all the right things to remind me why it's so important not to pick up a drink. His encouragement helps me shake that feeling and focus back on staying sober. I know a girl in recovery that wears a rubber band on her right wrist. She snaps herself with it if she starts pondering picking up a drink.
Reason to believe
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Vienna, Austria
Posts: 94
st a little reminder of why we shouldn't EVER do it. Don't know where I got this...maybe on here somewhere a while back...
The hangover can be excruciating for the non-alcoholic, but it becomes much worse for the alcoholic in the later stages of the disease. As one expert put it, "[Hangovers]... are so extreme for the alcoholic that they really should have a different name. No normal drinker would recognize them as what he has."
The source of the physical and mental pain of the alcoholic hangover is, to repeat, the state of hyperactivity in the central nervous system caused by the withdrawal of alcohol. The cells, which are accustomed to the presence of alcohol and dependent on it for energy, stimulation, and sedation, become agitated when it is suddenly not available. The cells' distress is experienced by the alcoholic as the headache, eyeache, dizziness, nausea, and anguish characteristic of the hangover, ("anguish" is an older term than "anxiety" and refers to both mental and physical pain or suffering -- "anxiety" refers only to psychological conflict or tension).
Alcoholics feel physically wretched during a hangover, but they also feel deeply and profoundly ashamed. From past experience, they know better, but they got drunk anyway -- why? Ignorant of the powerful workings of the addiction, the alcoholic can only blame himself. Remorse, self-loathing, and guilt therefore go hand in hand with the throbbing headache and queasy stomach ... "... the emotional pain which accompanies them -- the guilt, anxiety, self-accusation, the sense of hopelessness and despair ..." ... a very real and very painful physiological disorder.
The increasing misery of the alcoholic hangover is directly caused by the drinker's physical dependence on alcohol. As this goes by and the alcoholic drinks more, and more often, the withdrawal symptoms -- experienced in those minutes, hours, or days without a drink -- become more severe. He begins to feel shame and remorse when he repeatedly fails in his efforts to stop drinking or control his intake. He cannot make good his intentions to drink as everyone else does, and this personal failure causes great guilt and despair. The alcoholic believes that he should be able to control himself by a sheer force of will. He does not know that the physical addiction is in command of his every thought and action and subverts his persistent efforts to control it.
... The alcoholic's most cherished values -- his honesty, integrity, self-discipline, even his love for his family -- are repeatedly overthrown because he cannot reliably predict or control his own drinking behavior. Any normal human being would feel disgust and self-loathing at this seemingly pathetic inability to exert control and exercise will power; and so does the alcoholic, who may be normal in every respect except his reaction to alcohol.
The alcoholic's guilt, depression, self-loathing , and despair are therefore understandable reactions to a bewildering and mysterious inability to stop the ravages of drinking. Neither the alcoholic nor those around him know that his cells have become abnormal, for the physical dependence and cellular addiction have worked inside him for months or perhaps years, invisible and unnoticed. No wonder the alcoholic believes he is weak-willed and pathetic. No wonder many of the people who observe his behavior believe that he is psychologically unstable, self-destructive, and perhaps suicidal. Without an understanding or knowledge of his addiction, they have no way of knowing that the alcoholic's irrational behavior is beyond his control.
The hangover can be excruciating for the non-alcoholic, but it becomes much worse for the alcoholic in the later stages of the disease. As one expert put it, "[Hangovers]... are so extreme for the alcoholic that they really should have a different name. No normal drinker would recognize them as what he has."
The source of the physical and mental pain of the alcoholic hangover is, to repeat, the state of hyperactivity in the central nervous system caused by the withdrawal of alcohol. The cells, which are accustomed to the presence of alcohol and dependent on it for energy, stimulation, and sedation, become agitated when it is suddenly not available. The cells' distress is experienced by the alcoholic as the headache, eyeache, dizziness, nausea, and anguish characteristic of the hangover, ("anguish" is an older term than "anxiety" and refers to both mental and physical pain or suffering -- "anxiety" refers only to psychological conflict or tension).
Alcoholics feel physically wretched during a hangover, but they also feel deeply and profoundly ashamed. From past experience, they know better, but they got drunk anyway -- why? Ignorant of the powerful workings of the addiction, the alcoholic can only blame himself. Remorse, self-loathing, and guilt therefore go hand in hand with the throbbing headache and queasy stomach ... "... the emotional pain which accompanies them -- the guilt, anxiety, self-accusation, the sense of hopelessness and despair ..." ... a very real and very painful physiological disorder.
The increasing misery of the alcoholic hangover is directly caused by the drinker's physical dependence on alcohol. As this goes by and the alcoholic drinks more, and more often, the withdrawal symptoms -- experienced in those minutes, hours, or days without a drink -- become more severe. He begins to feel shame and remorse when he repeatedly fails in his efforts to stop drinking or control his intake. He cannot make good his intentions to drink as everyone else does, and this personal failure causes great guilt and despair. The alcoholic believes that he should be able to control himself by a sheer force of will. He does not know that the physical addiction is in command of his every thought and action and subverts his persistent efforts to control it.
... The alcoholic's most cherished values -- his honesty, integrity, self-discipline, even his love for his family -- are repeatedly overthrown because he cannot reliably predict or control his own drinking behavior. Any normal human being would feel disgust and self-loathing at this seemingly pathetic inability to exert control and exercise will power; and so does the alcoholic, who may be normal in every respect except his reaction to alcohol.
The alcoholic's guilt, depression, self-loathing , and despair are therefore understandable reactions to a bewildering and mysterious inability to stop the ravages of drinking. Neither the alcoholic nor those around him know that his cells have become abnormal, for the physical dependence and cellular addiction have worked inside him for months or perhaps years, invisible and unnoticed. No wonder the alcoholic believes he is weak-willed and pathetic. No wonder many of the people who observe his behavior believe that he is psychologically unstable, self-destructive, and perhaps suicidal. Without an understanding or knowledge of his addiction, they have no way of knowing that the alcoholic's irrational behavior is beyond his control.
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