no cravings so far
Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 18,299
Originally Posted by Eclipse 
I had quit for a month and honestly can say I did not have any cravings at all. I could walk into the store and not even think about the wine aisle. That is when I decided I could go have a couple drinks with a friend and that was the end of that.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,682
I think i will stay on the antabuse forever at this stage, as i said i take it with the morning vitamins so who cares? Eclipse makes a good point, the amount of times i did manage to give up for 4-6 weeks over the years, not very often but a few, and i would think well i can just start drinking again if i go out on fridays only and guess what i was back drinking worse than ever in a week! This is why this time it is so strange and i am very grateful that i feel this way.
As for booze i never liked the taste of it anyway, it was all about getting drunk!
As for booze i never liked the taste of it anyway, it was all about getting drunk!
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,385
I'm really glad for those who live obsession free.
But I'd hate anyone to think that's the way it is for everyone, or that there's something wrong with them if it's not happening that way...
From my own perspective, I had six months free of cravings - then they returned.
I don't see this is any reflection on my recovery LOL - I drank for 15 years - it seems natural to me I should sometimes have these urges.
But that's all they are- thoughts, and mostly fleeting ones. It's very different to the old days - because I am.
I'm not scared or put off by it - for me, knowing I'm always gonna have to be vigilant keeps it real.
Not trying to discourage anyone or scare them - just offering my personal experience
D
But I'd hate anyone to think that's the way it is for everyone, or that there's something wrong with them if it's not happening that way...
From my own perspective, I had six months free of cravings - then they returned.
I don't see this is any reflection on my recovery LOL - I drank for 15 years - it seems natural to me I should sometimes have these urges.
But that's all they are- thoughts, and mostly fleeting ones. It's very different to the old days - because I am.
I'm not scared or put off by it - for me, knowing I'm always gonna have to be vigilant keeps it real.
Not trying to discourage anyone or scare them - just offering my personal experience
D
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 679
YeahGr8-
I am writing this as my own experience which might have no bearing on your own— everyone is so different in this, people's bodies/minds/etc react so differently.
So I didn't drink for 4 months about two years ago and I really never had a craving during that whole time. It was so easy to not drink. I was even going out to bars, basically continuing my old lifestyle just alcohol free. I now realize I was a "dry drunk." All I did was stop; I was not at all working on my recovery. However, this sort of makes sense because when I initially stopped I only was going to stop for a month, then I felt good, it was easy so I just kept going for 4. I always knew it was a temporary situation. It was a sort of challenge I gave myself. If you had talked to me then about recovery I don't think I would have gotten it. (I don't do AA)
Ok, now I am again four months sober. This time 'round it is totally different. I feel like I am in recovery. So many things are changing, thought patterns, feelings, etc. It is a whole different ball game. And I have cravings. They actually aren't horrible. I think the physical cravings of cigarettes are way worse but I still am having difficulty with booze and seeing it. I definitely don't go to bars or out. I feel like I am mourning alcohol, my ex-bff. I see people drinking beer in the park and it gives me slight pangs, like a dull sadness for something that I once had or could have. I even had one physical craving so bad, so anxious I wanted to jump out of my skin, that I gave in and relapsed around month 1 or 2 or so (I try not to keep track of time).
So that is my personal experience of the two different times I have quit and the two different experiences with cravings.
I am writing this as my own experience which might have no bearing on your own— everyone is so different in this, people's bodies/minds/etc react so differently.
So I didn't drink for 4 months about two years ago and I really never had a craving during that whole time. It was so easy to not drink. I was even going out to bars, basically continuing my old lifestyle just alcohol free. I now realize I was a "dry drunk." All I did was stop; I was not at all working on my recovery. However, this sort of makes sense because when I initially stopped I only was going to stop for a month, then I felt good, it was easy so I just kept going for 4. I always knew it was a temporary situation. It was a sort of challenge I gave myself. If you had talked to me then about recovery I don't think I would have gotten it. (I don't do AA)
Ok, now I am again four months sober. This time 'round it is totally different. I feel like I am in recovery. So many things are changing, thought patterns, feelings, etc. It is a whole different ball game. And I have cravings. They actually aren't horrible. I think the physical cravings of cigarettes are way worse but I still am having difficulty with booze and seeing it. I definitely don't go to bars or out. I feel like I am mourning alcohol, my ex-bff. I see people drinking beer in the park and it gives me slight pangs, like a dull sadness for something that I once had or could have. I even had one physical craving so bad, so anxious I wanted to jump out of my skin, that I gave in and relapsed around month 1 or 2 or so (I try not to keep track of time).
So that is my personal experience of the two different times I have quit and the two different experiences with cravings.
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,682
I am certain that if i had not been lucky enough to find my alcohol counseller and seeing her twice a week, in group and one on one, coupled with the changes that i am seeing happen and doing i would be heading for a fall. I know exactly what you mean about giving up and being a dry drunk, it just makes it temporary and it always will be in my opinion. I think everyone is different and everyone is succeeding if they do not drink, or at least keep trying not to drink...I think cravings are the norm and maybe i am having a honeymoon period...i honestly hope not but im not going to stop coming here so you will see over time:-) One thing though i could not be more grateful and although i am not religious every morning i mumble a thank you in the mirror!
It's amazing learning to live again, it literally is a new life, it is indescribable and is there for anyone who wants it enough IMO:-)
It's amazing learning to live again, it literally is a new life, it is indescribable and is there for anyone who wants it enough IMO:-)
hi Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 679
hey jowinbo-
I'm sorry I just saw this. I don't think I realized the one above was for me. I am not sure if naltrexone helps or not mainly because I was never not on it. I started the day I stopped and haven't gone off it. I am also on topamax and have been for a really long time for migraines which is supposed to also reduce alcohol cravings according to some research. So I guess that I really have the drug cocktail going. I would say that my physical cravings are not that bad. I only had one night of horrible physical cravings and that was when I actually drank. My cravings are really much more psychological when I do have them. That night I took my naltrexone before going out thinking it might kick it. It did not but I did sort of feel like I was drinking slower than normal, that something in me wanted to stop a few times, but really who knows? I can't say. All I can say is that the medicine is relatively cheap. I buy it at Costco pharmacy, it costs me about $1 a day because it is generic (I don't have insurance— partly because I told my doctors I wanted to work on my alcoholism and when I applied I got denied, a whole other story....). My doctor makes me get liver tests once a month in the beginning to make sure it isn't harming it but I think now that we have an all clear we are going to taper those tests. I didn't take it the last time I quit drinking and didn't have cravings although the last time I quit drinking I did it as an experiment and meant it to be temporary and now was what I realized a "dry drunk" so don't know if that had anything to do with the absence of cravings. I think that naltrexone is worth a shot. I heard once that it works for some people and not at all for others. But again it is generic, cheap, relatively few side effects as long as it is good on the liver, and has been around for a long time. I am sure there is a lot of info on it out there on the internet. I know there is another newer medicine out there as well called Campral for the same thing. But in my book new doesn't equal better, just another option. Then of course there is antabuse which is entirely different mechanism of making you throw up instead of an opiate-inhibitor or whatever naltrexone is, I am not sure exactly the doctor can explain it. I actually think there is this whole strange method that people in Scandinavia are really into to retrain their body to drink using naltrexone called the Sinclair Method, you should look it up, it sounds interesting, a real different, very clinical look at the problem of alcoholism that uses the drug to promote moderation. However, abstinence is definitely my game. I am just fascinated by this whole field which is so vast and so full of contradictions and funny rhetoric. And also you could ask your doctor about Topamax which I am not sure if it is FDA approved for alcohol but I am pretty sure there have been some studies done about it reducing cravings, I feel like a few months back there were some articles in the big weeklies, like Time and Newsweek about it. Topamax is not generic but (hopefully) will be this year. But again I really don't know if it helps because I don't really know what it is like without it and seeing as all is going well I am not going to stop any time soon.
I'm sorry I just saw this. I don't think I realized the one above was for me. I am not sure if naltrexone helps or not mainly because I was never not on it. I started the day I stopped and haven't gone off it. I am also on topamax and have been for a really long time for migraines which is supposed to also reduce alcohol cravings according to some research. So I guess that I really have the drug cocktail going. I would say that my physical cravings are not that bad. I only had one night of horrible physical cravings and that was when I actually drank. My cravings are really much more psychological when I do have them. That night I took my naltrexone before going out thinking it might kick it. It did not but I did sort of feel like I was drinking slower than normal, that something in me wanted to stop a few times, but really who knows? I can't say. All I can say is that the medicine is relatively cheap. I buy it at Costco pharmacy, it costs me about $1 a day because it is generic (I don't have insurance— partly because I told my doctors I wanted to work on my alcoholism and when I applied I got denied, a whole other story....). My doctor makes me get liver tests once a month in the beginning to make sure it isn't harming it but I think now that we have an all clear we are going to taper those tests. I didn't take it the last time I quit drinking and didn't have cravings although the last time I quit drinking I did it as an experiment and meant it to be temporary and now was what I realized a "dry drunk" so don't know if that had anything to do with the absence of cravings. I think that naltrexone is worth a shot. I heard once that it works for some people and not at all for others. But again it is generic, cheap, relatively few side effects as long as it is good on the liver, and has been around for a long time. I am sure there is a lot of info on it out there on the internet. I know there is another newer medicine out there as well called Campral for the same thing. But in my book new doesn't equal better, just another option. Then of course there is antabuse which is entirely different mechanism of making you throw up instead of an opiate-inhibitor or whatever naltrexone is, I am not sure exactly the doctor can explain it. I actually think there is this whole strange method that people in Scandinavia are really into to retrain their body to drink using naltrexone called the Sinclair Method, you should look it up, it sounds interesting, a real different, very clinical look at the problem of alcoholism that uses the drug to promote moderation. However, abstinence is definitely my game. I am just fascinated by this whole field which is so vast and so full of contradictions and funny rhetoric. And also you could ask your doctor about Topamax which I am not sure if it is FDA approved for alcohol but I am pretty sure there have been some studies done about it reducing cravings, I feel like a few months back there were some articles in the big weeklies, like Time and Newsweek about it. Topamax is not generic but (hopefully) will be this year. But again I really don't know if it helps because I don't really know what it is like without it and seeing as all is going well I am not going to stop any time soon.
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