The Smell of Alcohol
 

I'm just shy of a year. There are a couple of guys 4 seats away drinking Corona's ...I can smell the beer from here r and its all I can do to keep from retching. Beer wasn't my DOC but when I drank I sometimes had corona's.

The same thing happens if I smell wine...which was my preferred beverage.

Even the memory of drinking makes me nauseous.

Am I very odd (in this aspect...I know I'm odd in general..lol).

The reason I wonder is because I did an exercise associating drinking with vomitting when I first got sober...I am curious if this is the result.

I'm glad in a way because I sure as hell don't want to drink...but I also want to ride the train without losing my cookies!

Thanks!

Maybe it's a psychological thing, but I'm the same way when it comes to vodka.

Just reading the word triggers a mental memory and it makes me want to gag.
So smelling it, definitely makes my stomach turn.

Someone dropped/broke a bottle of wine in our elevator on the weekend and when I was trapped in that box for 4 floors I felt so sick. Yuck! To think I smelt like that a little as it seeped out of my pours. I also tend to find the smell reminds me of bad feelings, sickness. The Police ended up getting called to that apartment that night for excessive noise. Great Night for all and I am sure they spent the weekend recovering.

I have the same thing when my wife breaks out the wine (for herself). I ask her to brush her teeth before I will give her a kiss after she has had a glass. Hard liquor is even worse, I about toss my lunch over the smell of whiskey.

I hate it too, LaFemme. I particularly find it repulsive on people's breath, it actually makes me have to take a few steps back. My hubby is still a nightly drinker, and I've told him I really just can't bring myself to kiss him when he smells of red wine. So there's been no intimacy for 64 days...sad, but we've got to the point where he needs to decide whether he wants me or the wine in the evening :(

I don't know whether it's something I'll get over in time, or that he will change his drinking habits in consideration for me. It's caused quite a bit of tension.

I sometimes get nauseated by the smell of hand sanitizer that has alcohol in it. I know it's totally psychosomatic. :lala

This morning I shuddered when I smelled a coworker's breath. We were all at an out of town conference, and she had either had a stiff drink on the plane or had done some serious drinking last night. I smelled like that last week, I'm sure. I was able to smell myself in the morning sometimes. Astounding how denial works. That is the smell of death.

Had the same sensation just the other day while hanging out with a friend who was having a beer. One whiff & I couldn't help but think, how could I have ever drank something that foul smelling.

K00L, I see that you see this as past tense...over and done with!

Good to know I have company!

Most kids don't like the smell of alcohol...they are pretty smart:)

So true and I never really thought of that, my kids hate the smell.

I went to a clients house yesterday at 11:00 AM and I could smell the beer on this guys breath. It really did not bother me that much but it sure made me feel sad for the poor guy. Needles to say, his entire house was full of bottles, empties and fulls.

I hate to admit it but, for a while, we had a rodent problem in my garage. I mentally associated booze with rat poison. Both equally toxic.

Congratulations on the almost one year Femme. Hard to think of you as being shy.:dance3:

Luckily, I haven't had any 'social' incidents of smelling people's breath. LOL I don't frequent restuarants or bars. Don't go to parties or outtings.
Although my dog has bad breath, but that's another ball of wax.
I know that if I got a whiff of whiskey I would get a tornadic spinning knot in the pit of my stomach. I know it. I'm prepared for the day.
Luckily, at my work I am a register away from actually smelling people and usually body odor is what lingers over the counter. UGH.
I did have one guy at 10am that was more worried about bagging his boxwine and carrying it, than breaking his eggs he'd bought. He fumbled around for money and fumbled for his keys -so yeah, I'm sure he went home and stuck a straw in that boxwine like a capri cooler.

Funny, I don't mind the smell. I don't seek it out, but I don't mind it. I didn't used to barf from drinking, though. What keeps me sober is the intense memory of being hungover in the mornings and having to function. How the hell did I ever do it?

The smell of wine makes me absolutely sick now. That is pretty much my reaction with any kind of alcoholic drink and the smell of it, I feel sick rather than cravings.

The weird thing is that about 20 months later, sometimes I still have 'flashbacks', I really think I can smell alcohol when there is none, sometimes there's even almost a taste, out of nowhere. It doesn't last long, but it's kind of like a faint aftershadow/trace/imprint of the addiction. Alcohol addiction seems pretty complicated, I think it even involves a lot in our sense/emotional memory. I like to think I've left it behind, in many ways I have, but I guess part of my 'makeup' is still an alcoholic and I will always have to exercise caution and awareness about it.

I'm the exact opposite. I smell alcohol and I want it. Period.
Anyways, driving the kids to the skatepark today I remember many a time it took all my concentration to accomplish it I was so hung over..it was a breeze today and I actually enjoyed the drive.
So...thankfully the benefits of not drinking outweigh the urge to drink for me.

Gosh, I hope some day I am sickened by the smell of wine! That would be awesome!!!! But what I wouldn't give to be able to go wine tasting in sonoma and do it like a "normie" :(

i don't really care but hand sanitizer does smell like my random bottles around the house that reak of booze

I do not like the smell of hard liquor on my husband's breath--but I think that's about my father (who never hurt me but was a fabulous alcoholic). There is definitely a gut reaction.

And stale beer has always smelled bad to me, but I don't think I share LaFemme's lucky proclivity! I too smell alcohol and want it. But I wonder if you can describe the vomit exercise...I'd be willing to try it.

I agree, Femme. I don't like it either. I remember being at a large table of wine drinkers and just wanting to be anywhere else.

One of my 'things' was to tell myself that beer tasted/smelled like peroxide. Still works.

^
Aaah, this kind of open-mindedness is why I just love SR !?!:)


LF, not around too much booze really, but do find it a little revolt'n when I am.

Interesting, I only read one or two ppl so far that either liked the smell or were indifferent.

For me, I liked the smell of alcohol, I would sometimes just have a scotch on the rocks, so to smell the booze in the glass as I drank it... but that glass typically lead to the entire bottle and then driving to get more.

I have not come across a time during my sobriety to test the smell theory now but I think I would still like it (whiskey's for sure).

I remember the article on addictions in TIME magazine (I believe there is a link to it hanging around here somewhere on SR) anyways, this alcholic was getting brain imaging done and they were doing some tests along the lines of sniffing his alcohol of choice (I believe it was dark beers). Anyways, the areas of his brain that represented the pleasure centres would light up as if he was actually taking a drink during various periods of his sobriety. These tests went on and gradually the areas of the brain no longer lit up from the scan readings after a considerable amount of time sober.

So, the alcoholic, said something along the lines of... I don't know if that means my brain is healed and back to normal from this disease of alcoholic addiction but I never want to test that theory out and end up back drinking.

If anyone knows the link of that article, post a link, it was interesting.

Cravings are normal for you right now. I have to say, I made myself pretty sick from alcohol in the past. Especially wine. Probably a lot of the reason why I don't like the smell now. And I never liked the taste of alcohol either, towards the end I could barely stomach it but forced myself to.

I haven't really done the exercises that are supposed to deter you from alcohol. My lifestyle doesn't really present me with alcohol in front of me a lot. But I did read the Allen Carr book. A lot of that seems to be to reprogram your ideas about drinking. I read it online somewhere cheaply, so if anyone is interested in that side of things, it may be worth checking out.

So, the alcoholic, said something along the lines of... I don't know if that means my brain is healed and back to normal from this disease of alcoholic addiction but I never want to test that theory out and end up back drinking.

is it possible that because this guy had come to view alcohol in that way it helped his brain heal?

When I had a hard night the night before work no-one was able to tell (LOL)

Over the years when I have stopped drinking I have has hallucinations associated with strong urges- weeks after not drinking- they have been "real" smells and tastes on my tongue.

I also read Carrs book and loved it.

I rarely vomited when I drank...but the few times I did it was awful...I actually wish I had bad hangovers from the start because then I might not have gotten addicted (I hate being sick:)).

So the exercise I did goes something like this:

Pick a memory of being sick from alcohol...preferably your worst....remember evjerything about it in excruciating detail...the taste of alcohol coming back up...the way your throatburned and stomach cramped...the clammy skin...the cool porcelain of the toilet...everything. whenever you have a moment think of taking a drink and then immediately pull up this memory.

When I first quit I did this many times a day. I also pulled up that memory if I ever had a randomly drinking thought as well. The further I got into my recovery the less I did this. Last week I drove by a brand new liquor Superstore and had an idle drinking thought. I realized I hadn't done this exercise in a long time...so I started to make myself Think about taking a drink...immediately I felt So nauseous I almost had to pull over. Its kind of like that drug some people take that makes you sick if you drink...but it seems to be pretty permanent...thank God! It would take an awful lot for me to drink today.

When I drank I loved the smell of alcohol...I went to wine tastings in Sonoma and while I can remember enjoying the wine if I try and recall the actual taste all I remember is that it tastes awful...its very strange.

Thanks LaFemme for explaining the exercise. I do that sometimes (not sure if I read about it here or just did it) and formalizing it that way would be good too. The first time I smelled alcohol after I quit I was disgusted and horrified (probably two months in), and you can add me to the list of those who won't kiss partners if they have been drinking. But, a couple of times I smelled old favorites because others were drinking near me, and was not repulsed... I much prefer when I am repulsed.

I still drink until tomorrow anyway and I don't like the taste or the smell of it. I'm glad that it almost made you sick. That's a good thing.

Early on I would smell or even just see beer and want it but now its GROSS. I went to a big concert 2 weeks ago and the beer smell was overwhelming. Sunday I was at Home Depot when these 2 guys got behind me in line that had that mega mega strong beer smell, must have been at it all day...I went to a dffnt line it was so nasty/overwhelming. I'm so glad I don't like the smell or smell of it anymore.

I just passed five years sobriety, and the smell makes me sick still. I can smell it a mile away...open bottle, bottle in the trash, and people. It is a good thing..Ii associate it with throwing up pieces of my liver when I had cirrhosis many yeers ago, I think....

Keep going! Good job!