markinsf

It's hard to believe right now - just 6 days ago I was consuming around 150ml of vodka per day and had been doing that for many months. It was 5 days ago at noon when I realized that I was physically dependent on alcohol when without having a drink before noon I developed the shakes very badly. I decided right then and there it was time to put an end to the drinking otherwise I'd end up in the mortuary much to the dismay of my wife and daughters.

I did a lot of research online and decided to do a self detox. I know a lot of people don't recommend it and say to see the Dr instead. Seeing as best case would be to start taking an addictive drug instead of alcohol I could see little advantage to doing that for myself. I picked up a bp machine and set my goals for each day. I cut back to a oz an hour immediately. I continued to cut back daily over the course of the next 5 days until yesterday I had only 4 1/2 oz drinks during the entire day.

Today I have not had a single drink, hence my first day sober in who knows how long - at least years.

During the entire time the worst symptom I endured was a mild headache from time to time. Though as I started stretching drinks and/or quantities out the last few days I would wait until the shakes or anxiety would start to kick in before taking my medicine as I soon came to refer to it as. Even then I'd take as small of dose of medicine as was required to eliminate the symptoms.

I kept track of my vitals each hour and noted how I felt and how much I had to drink. I put all my info in a spreadsheet that I saved for reference in the future should I ever decide I want to go back to killing myself again.

Going forward I'm looking at SMART or AVRT as I like the principles they are based on. All my life I've done things on my own and don't see any reason to change that now. Today I spend quite a bit of time on the AVRT webpage and am starting on writing up my plan. It's time to start to come to terms with the Beast.

In a little bit I'm going to celebrate - by pouring the last of the vodka out of the last bottle of booze I'm going to buy.

Anyway, that's the quick story of what it took to get me to day one (today) of being sober and where I'm going from here.

Dee74

Glad you're doing ok


Actually the reason I think seeing the Dr is the best idea, and why I recommend it, is not for meds...but so we can get our vital signs/general condition checked out.

Had I done that I may have avoided several mini strokes.

D

PreciousKitty

Day one for me too. THanks for sharing. Good Luck

Hope4Life

You just made the most important decision of your life and I really hope that you just pour that POISON down the drain.

Your Wife and Kids want and deserve to have you with them, so please do your best to follow through with whatever steps you need to get and stay sober.

I'm hoping to see more posts from you and hear about your victory in the battle against the beast!

BarrysMama

Great job!!

markinsf

Well, my wife has known about what I was doing this last week and she has been very supportive. I had not told my girls though. They are 23 and 25 and have known I've had a drinking problem for some time. I did finally tell them this morning what I've been doing over the last week. After catching heck from them about not seeing the Dr. they both told me they are very happy I'm making this positive step in my life and that they fully support me. Somehow during all this time I've managed to not alienate them and now I have 3 people solidly behind me. It's a nice feeling to have and is making day 2 a whole lot more positive.