KellySad

Can SOMEONE please tell me how to fight the cravings for alcohol that I have, whenever I stop drinking?

I am SO anxious and depressed about these cravings.

I stopped drinking last week.

KellySad

Anna

Hi Kelly,

I don't think there are any magical answers.

My advice would be to listen carefully to your body and give it what it wants. I craved good, nutritious food and quickly gained back the ten pounds I had lost during my last months of drinking. Sugar/chocolate often helps too.

I think B vitamins are a godsend for people recovering from addiction. Alcoholics lost the B vitamins in their bodies and it affects general health and well-being.

I also think that doing something physical such as biking, walking, etc can help you to get through the cravings.

GettingStronger2

Are you talking physical cravings? For me, I drink juice mixed with soda water. The natural sugar in the juice helps.

SSIL75

I found my cravings were worst when I was bored. Actively changing my life so that I had exciting plans that were incompatible with being drunk helped. And yeah - at the start it's kind of a grin and bear it (because everything sober is 'boring' and 'lame', right? or at least I thought it was). But slowly something changes inside and you'll start to enjoy other things. Give it a chance. I'm enjoying things now that I'm pretty sure I literally COULDN'T when I was drinking. Like something in my brain stopped me from getting joy from anything except alcohol.

KellySad

Thanks - how long have you been sober?

KellySad

least

When I was in early sobriety and got cravings I'd ask myself two questions: one, would drinking make the situation better, and two, did I really want to wake up tomorrow feeling crappy and hating myself? I rarely had to ask the second question 'cause I knew in my heart that drinking would not make anything better, on the contrary, it would make everything worse.

That's what I used to do when cravings hit.

SSIL75

I am pregnant so I've been sober now for a month or so. It's easy for me to not drink when I'm pregnant but this time I'm actively working on recovery which is a different scene for me.

I realized I had a problem years ago. It's been a slow road.

Mcribb

time takes time.

hotshot

There was a lot of good avvice there. I know through personal experience that your mind is not your own for a while it needs to recover too so you need to have some outside help to get ya through . Meetings and having people ya know around you can help along with all the other advice you have gotten. Good Luck

CarolD

Here is my experience with cravings....
please see if anything works for you KS....


I think there are 2 types of cravings
perhaps a mixture?

One type is more a habit than physical.

You drive home and your car steers into your
favorite bar or package store.
You come home tired...sit in "your: chair and
want the usual comfort of a glass/can in hand.
To sleeep better...toss down a drink.

These can be avoided by changeing your routine

Drive a different route
Change the furniture around..sit in a different place.
Fix a glass of anything non alcoholic.

If you drink booze from a can...use a glass
If you did drink from a glass...use a mug

I did time my cravings in early sobriety.
Mine were 5 to 7 minutes in duration.
seemed forever...but that was false.

I took action....drank cold watter ...brushed my teeth
went for a walk...danced around the room...ate Lifesavers

I was also taking a multi vitamin and a B 12
I was following an eating plan for hypoglycemia
I attended AA daily ..committed myself to the program.

Within 2 weeks they lessened immensley... in both
intensity and duration By 2 months they vanished
The mental obcession to drink has never returned.

LawMama

Everyone gave great advice. At first I did a lot of cleaning, exercising, repeating the Serenity Prayer (even though I didn't have a higher power at the time), attended AA mtgs sometimes twice a day, deep breathing, cigarettes (wouldn't recommend it but it is better than booze!), reading the Big Book of AA, and more repeating the Serenity Prayer. Keeping busy helped me a lot and it got a lot better after the first week. Now I am 68 days sober and my life is A MILLION times better.

Good luck, and good job on your first week!

fighttowin

go to mcdonalds and get a large coke for 1.00 That seems to really help me. Keep busy and I agree it is a head thing. It has only been 5 days and my cravings are habit and being bored. Its like learning a new way to live and ya seems like life is boring, but when I think of tomorrow morning it is all worth it. everyday gets better!

Kmber2010

Lots of good advice in this thread and Carol was right on about taking a vitamin supplement and also breaking down the cravings - in terms of habit.

I found changing my routine was key to getting on track. I went for walks, when I felt antsy...I took a cool shower, took vitamins, ate healthy....and came on here to share or to read about what others did in the early days.

It does pass....just take it easy and know that it takes a bit of time retrain ourselves.

Remember it gets better. All the best.

firestorm090

I've never used pregnancy to get sober, it never worked for me, but then again, I'm a guy, lol.

Those cravings are a real bummer and take some getting used to, so I'm trying to learn new ways of substituing those thoughts for more pleasant ones, such as thinking how much better I'll feel tomorrow, how much better life is overall when I'm not hungover, just simple thoughts of life without the booze. When the going gets tough, and it does, I come here or go to an AA meeting and hold on for dear life. I have faith that the others who have been through this can show me the way, hold my hand, or kick me in the rump, as need be, lol.

Congrats on the week!! keep up the good work and welcome to SR.

Fandy

I changed up my routine too...even to the point of a different grocery store that did not have the liquor store right next door....everyone is correct in that some cravings come out of habit and boredom.

the more time i spent pursuing some hobbies i had, the happier I felt....I get satisfaction from improving my surroundings and making my house clean and peaceful...i was not interested in a clean house when drunk, i didn't care.

wpainterw

KellySad:
You said "whenever I stop drinking". I guess that means you're drinking off and on. If that's so, you're putting yourself through the pains of withdrawal time and time again. Why not give it up for good and do all this painful stuff for the last time. You've received lots of good tips on how to handle the cravings and the longer you abstain the less the cravings tend to become. At least that's been my experience. Now, after many many years I don't have any cravings. It takes time and determination but eventually the cravings aren't a problem.

W.

57jewels

What I've learned about combating craving in rehab is: take a multivitamin and a B-complex vitamin every day and eat a well balanced, but high protein diet. These things will help your body heal. Sugar - hard candies, gummie bears, will help give your mouth something to do, while replacing some of the carbs you body used to get from alcohol.
These have worked for me, along with LOTS of prayer and support from my sponsor and my sober friends.
Good luck!:ghug3
43 days clean & sober & counting (1 day at a time) n 57jewels

oak

It helped me to write a list of advantages and disadvantages of drinking and being sober. Seeing it in writing made a difference for me. I did not think that it would help, but I was desperate. Here's the link for that form.
http://www.smartrecovery.org/resourc..._Worksheet.pdf

(there's other techniques on the SMART website to deal with cravings/urges.)

I keep hearing that keeping a craving log helps. Just writing down whenever you have a craving and what you had been doing right before and if you know what triggered the craving/urge. Maybe add why you want to be sober.

I have had lots of cravings and urges. I keep reminding myself that drinking will increase the cravings, even if part of my mind says it will help.

And I replay in my mind why I stopped (embarrassing moments, dangerous things, worried friends).

Congratulations on getting sober!!!!!

KellySad

I just want to thank ALL of you for your advice...the B12 and multi-vitamins sound good.

I was most tempted to drink at 10 pm at night, to get to sleep.

Does anyone have advice on how to get to sleep at night?

Thanks again,

KellySad

CarolD

While this has nothing to do with drinking or de toxings
you might find this useful....I sure hope so....

Insomnia? 42 Simple Tips to Help You Get to Sleep - Insomnia treatment, cures