Machine528

Hey I am new to the forum and found it while looking for motivation to stop drinking. My entire life I have competed in athletics. Over the last 3 years I have gotten into the habit of drinking 2-4 nights a week to get drunk. Its as if I do it out of boredom. I began to have cravings for beer whenever I was sitting around relaxing and I always ended up drinking 6-9 beers a night. I never in a million years thought I would develop this problem. I still managed to maintain a decent level of physical fitness but this last year I started to notice a decline in performance, a lack of motivation and frequent outbursts of anger which I have never suffered from. I would not consider myself a alcoholic but I feel I am on my way and need to stop before this gets worse. I am welcome to any advice and look forward to staying clean and sober for the rest of my life !

least

Welcome to the family! Lots of support here and good info too. I'm glad you found us and glad you decided to live a better sober life.

Anna

Welcome!

I'm glad you have decided to live a sober life. Alcoholism is a progressive disease, so I'm glad you are ready to stop drinking.

wpainterw

I suspect that you are correct in believing that the lack of motivation and sudden outbursts of anger may be wakeup calls indicating that your body and chemistry have begun to change as a result of drinking. If you stop now you would be saving yourself a lot of trouble and heartache later on. Also your athletic skills, which I am sure mean a lot to you, would not be seriously affected. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose in saying goodbye to alcohol. Be careful, however, and join some group, like AA, where you can get tips on how to stay sober, like avoiding people, places, etc. where there is a lot of drinking. Giving up alcohol is not like just becoming a vegetarian. Some folks will pressure you to drink. There are lots of ways to cope with them. Good luck.All the best!

W.

CarolD

Welcome.....thanks for joining with us

Here is an interesting article you might have missed

How We Get Addicted - TIME

I'm glad you are quitting alcohol now.
It's a toxic liquid for all who drink.

Please keep posting...many of us are now non drinkers

artsoul

Welcome Machine - If your gut tells you that you're headed into dangerous territory, you probably are. I began to notice some of the same things you're talking about (lack of motivation, irritability, letting my healthy habits go, etc.). Alcohol is a depressant and it does crazy things to all our organs, including the brain.

As others have said, it only gets worse, so it's a good thing you're looking at it now. Glad to have you with us!

Ghostly

Welcome to SR! You will find a lot of support here. Clearly with the amount you were drinking it will affect your physical level. Glad you decided to stop if that's what you feel is best for you. Let us know how we can help.

Keep us posted.

LaFemme

Welcome and congrats on deciding to quit! After I quit I learned a lot more about alcohol and the more I learned the more I wondered why any sane person who cared about their health would drinl:-)

Machine528

Thanks for the warm welcome ! It has been hard because since I was 18 years old every social function I ever attended has been centralized around drinking. From Eating out, to socials and formals,weddings, picnics, watching sports, it was always normal to get " drunk" prior to or while engaging in every social activity. I am going to have to remove myself from certain friends for awhile because they have always engaged in this behavior. I am trying to keep myself busy during the evenings either by cleaning, reading, or working out. Last night I had the urge when all was calm to have a few drinks but checking in on this forum quickly kills the urge.

TexasNative

Hey Machine, welcome...this is a great place to come hang out instead of doing the beer thing. Beer was my poison and it started out as just a few, 2-3 nights a week. Then I started to crave it as you said, and before I knew it I always craved it. I'm in a position where I can basically drink whenever and not get in trouble at work so during the height of it I would drink a few first thing in the am to get the hangover to let up and at least 4 times a day go to the corner store and buy 1-2 from the cooler and drink 'em in my car!!! Glad you are arresting it, because it really is progressive, as clichéd as that sounds. As you distance yourself from it you'll miss it less and less, it will seem repulsive to go back. Best wishes to ya.

Machine528

Ok... I have a quick question, Whenever I go a certain amount of time without having my 6-7 beers at about day 5 -6 I feel jittery and get an upset stomach. Usually this is the point where I give in and drink that night and it seems to subside. Last night was day 6 without beer and that feeling creeped in. Is that a symptom of withdrawl ?

LexieCat

Probably not physical withdrawal as much as psychological. Physical withdrawal usually starts within a day or so of the last drink and starts to subside after three or four days (depending on how much you were drinking).

Before I was a daily drinker getting physical withdrawals I would get strong urges to drink on days when I normally went out with my friends to the bar. The stress of a psychological withdrawal could make you feel jittery and a have an upset stomach. And, of course, if you feed the addiction, your brain gets "happy" again because it got what it wanted/expected.

I'm not a medical professional, it's just my own experience talking. If you don't feed the addiction the urge tends to pass. If you drink, it sets the whole ball in motion again.

milwaukeeguy85

Ya I am not a doctor so do not take this as 100 pct accurate, but it doesn't sound to me like withdrawal. Withdrawal is something (imo) that is pretty much impossible to miss. Some of the things that have happened to me and others I know include: the shakes, cold sweats, pins and needles, nausea, aches, dry heaves, headaches, and just a general terrible feeling. Personally those symptoms go away for me in a day or 2 but we are all different and if it is worrying you I would talk to an actual medical professional because if withdrawal is bad enough you can die. I know first hand as one of my best "friends" (pre attempting sobriety) was a 5 minute ambulance ride to detox away from going in to massive convulsions and dying. Personally I also got in to a car accident due to withdrawal because my hands wouldn't function properly. The sad thing is I was on the way to the bar to drink again. So do not take it likely.

And like others have said: You have done a good thing in realizing that you were developing a problem. Now its on to the part of addressing it. The people on this site are supportive, informative, and you will probably find someone that is/has been in the same position you are in now.

joinedintime

Machine, consider yourself fortunate for having realized that there is a problem to be addressed and even more fortunate that you have realized it before it has become worse.

As in sport, eventually luck is is distributed to all, however it the ability to capitalize on the luck that makes the difference.