Spinaholic

Hello all! Lemme get right to the point here . I am a guy whos not ashamed to admit Im an alcoholic to most people, I admit to doing so out of pride (and humor, sometimes, although I personally know its not a laughing matter). My quit date that Ive set is 2-19-2011, Im an all-or-nothing kind of guy, as I imagine a lot of alcoholics are, I drink 12 beers a day of light beer, rarely but sometimes more than that, and have been doing so for 12 years, starting at 1 beer a day or so in the beginning. 12 a day for several months now, actually.

I have had other quit attempts over the years. The longest ive gone is about 31 days, and I remember those as some of my better days that ive had. That was a few years ago. Im functional, only drinking after work, but unhappy about the costs to my life. I feel like I dont have time or energy to do much outside of work, especially socially, and usually drink alone. Thats bad but will change when I quit. Ive never joined a sobriety type forum before, this is my first post ever in a place like this, im posting this because it cant hurt to do so.

The point is, I need to quit, simple. I have stopped hating God and joined Him and am on His side. The biggest fear I have is failure again but I am also adamant that I will succeed this time. When I quit I know that to try to stay sober will shake my faith and myself to the very roots of my being. Its so much easier to say all this than it is to do all this, but I will stop going on about this and just leave it at hello to you guys and gals in this excellent forum!

Edit: by the way, sorry for the run-on sentences, im not posting drunk, I just suck at grammar and spacing sometimes. Just sayin

Mark75

Welcome!

MsCooterBrown

Hi SPIN! Glad you could join us...you will feel so much better in sobriety. Just have to find other things to do in place of when you used to drink..sounds like you have plans! Welcome!

artsoul

Welcome! I stopped for a multitude of reasons and found that this forum really helped. Sobriety is better than I thought it would be!

Glad you plan to get sober - any reason you picked a future date instead of quitting now?

Spinaholic

Hey artsoul! I picked a date so I will know that date will be the very last date I will drink, and I can ready myself for the last day. I cant even fathom not succeeding, if for some reason I do, I will have to change something, but im pumped for eliminating alcohols effects on my life.

Thanks for welcoming me guys and gals by the way, being on this forum makes me feel better.

Spinaholic

One thing im wondering is, I plan on using kava kava powder drink (and have plenty on hand) to reduce some of the withdrawal and reduce feelings of "vaccuum" after i quit, if you know what i mean. Will this be a bad thing to do? Ive drank it before a bunch of times, it produces a nice feeling, and ive gotten over the admittedly nasty taste of it. I think of it as a crutch of sorts. Is this unique? Or is it a mistake? Just wonderin. I also believe from what ive read that is much safer that what im currently doing.

artsoul

Hey spin- I'm not sure about kava kava, but Vitamin B-complex is recommended (along with a multi-v and lots of water).

Just be careful - detox can be dangerous in and off itself, and adding other things to the mix........ well, I'd sure ask a doctor before you do. Infact, it's not unwise to talk to someone beforehand.

All the best!

BoozeFree

Welcome spin!

Manz

Hi Spin and welcome. Glad to have you here and wish you all the luck in the world and know that with the help of people here, you can realise sobriety.

As for kava kava..... hmmmmm.... in my part of the world the folks from the pacific islands drink it in place of alcohol, because of its availability. So I would advise caution.

The best advice anyone here would give I think is check with a doctor first, as detoxing can be very dangerous for some. Drink loads of water, eat healthily and think about replacing some of the sugar from alcohol with some other sugar source.

Take care and look forward to hearing how you go.

ReadyAndAble

Welcome, Spin. You sound like one determined guy, and I'm not hearing a lot of self-pity; I think having that kind of attitude has made a big difference for me this time around. Be strong and be hopeful, because if you're anything like me, you'll have a great new feeling to experience in a matter of weeks—gratitude!

Stevie1

Welcome Spin!

I don't know about kava...I drink tons of water (did when I drank too) and for some reason have found grapefruit juice, oddly enough, a satisfying replacement for booze.

Spinaholic

Thanks all! I will try the grapefruit juice before the kava kava, and def. use some vitamin B, as my alcohol-ravaged body needs that and soo much more. I will drink the kava kava as a last resort i think, im just glad to get so much support so quickly right off the bat!

Dee74

Hi spinaholic
Welcome

Yeah I'm from the same part of the world as Manz - there are some significant health problems with kava use here...

even without that, you may come to rely on it for an 'escape' which pretty much leads you back to square one in my opinion.

I'd stick with the grapefruit juice.

D

mtnmagic

Ha, my sick brain wants to research Kava Kava right now.
Nope, not going to do it. I'll take the advice and stick
with grapefruit juice too!
Welcome Spin - Glad you are here.

CarolD

Welcome....

Ive been useing God and AA to successfully
remain sober for a long time....

I hope you will check that out too..

Spinaholic

Thanks guys. I just hope that this does not end in failure again. Been getting feelings like I will fail, I just cant put the booze down right away, thats why I decided on a quit date instead of just stopping. Im drinking a good tasting Samuel Adams now, blackberry whitbier, not drunk but its late and I just wanted one. I came back to post my thoughts. God help me please. I need His help or this will eventually kill me.

BobGT

Hey Spinaholic. After many relapses, my attitude changed from trying to quit to just quit. I see the Yoda quote here sometimes. “Try not. Do or do not... there is no try.”

That may seem like it is just a word game, but it made a difference to me. I hope that helps.

Kmber2010

Welcome Spin and all the best.

We are here to support!

Juancho

Welcome spin.

Spinaholic

I consider myself already failed for that quit date. However, I am determined to quit on another day. I just had to update. Im just not ready to quit. For many reasons.