possummagic

Hello everybody!

Today is my first time sober and first time on this site.

I am a binge drinker, not a terribly bad one, but enough to not be able to remember everything I do and feel very embarrassed and shame the next day.

Last night I was drinking, today I've had the day off from Art school due to the hangover and as I was still a bit drunk when I woke up. I love art school! I hate that im not there because I couldn't face going... I told myself I would be really creative at home to make up for it but all ive done is watch tv, eat and lay in bed.

Ive decided I will go to a beginners yoga class tonight and try an get into yoga and healthy living instead of drinking and smoking cigarettes?? I only smoke when I drink, another reason to stop. There is so much stuff I love to do, I don't have time for hangovers.

So I have had a few attempts at quitting drinking, I'd say ive struggled with my drinking for a long time now. im really happy to be in this place where I'm quitting for good.


I have a question, has anyone on here managed to go from troublesome drinking to just being able to have one or two???

Once I have 1 drink, I just can't seem to stop!!

Dee74

Hi Possummagic

thats the $64, 000 question.

Not me. Once you cross that line where drinking was to get wasted, I don't think you can go back.

D

LadyinBC

I can't stop at one drink either. One drink is too many and a thousand is not enough.

There is no way I'll be ever able to moderate. I just drink to get drunk.

Shelpy

I drink to get drunk too....I never really understood why someone would consume alcohol for the taste. Geez this sucks when you start realizing the truth and putting it in writing. I could never have just one I hate the feeling of being buzzed and not drunk...If I was going to have just one of something like with dinner I would just have a Gatorade. Im an all or nothing type of girl and it sucks.

possummagic

yep, I drink to get drunk and find that I end up planning my life around my drinking and hangovers, making sure I don't plan anything important after a binge.

I get uber excited when I know im going to be drinking.. So excited I get butterflys in my belly and need to keep using the bathroom! I enjoy the drinking, thinking i'm fabulous and being totally ver the top. I just don't like the next day when I realise that 'fabulousness' was actually obnoxiousness!

Bubovski

I believe that the problem drinker or alcoholic has an extremely low chance of becoming a so called moderate one.
Fifty years of extreme to relatively normal in my case is suggestive of this.
Currently 72 days sober and really enjoying A.A. ^
^

Welcome to the forum................wish your name sakes would leave my roof.

possummagic

I haven't been to A.A although there have been many times over the past 15 years when I have been very close. Once I was actually at the front door, had a friend with me for support and whom was also a alco, but we went to the pub instead, initially for a 'coffee' but ultimately to get blind.

Oh no! Possums in the roof are not fun. Much better when they are just hanging out looking cute.

congratulations on 72 days!!!

how does it feel?

possummagic

Ok so I have just got back from my first meeting! Very proud of myself. It was actually after reading some of the other posts around the forum. It was pretty good!

GracieLou

I am glad you went to a meeting.

I know I can't have just one. I drank to get drunk. Once I have one I want more and more. The drinks just get stronger and stronger trying to chase the high.

Just remember one day at time.

Tang

I would say the fact that you are here means you aren't a normal drinker. In my experience this means you will probably not ever be a normal drinker. You are special like us.

Personally after my first sip, I need to drink until I at least have a buzz. Due to the progressive nature of alcohol you will never go back to the early days when 1-2 satisfied you. Alcohol has modified your brain chemistry, like a dry desert riverbed that waits for the next flash flood. Once you've created these chemical fissures it is very difficult to reset. Why bother? It's "easier" to just stop altogether. My 2 cents.

LadyBlue0527

After repeated attempts at trying every way under the sun to moderate I finally gave up, this is my 4th attempt at trying to get sober. Moderation doesn't work for me. I don't think I've found a post yet on this board where it worked for anyone.

I'm 56 days sober now and if someone told me that I was going to feel as good as I do today I would have never believed them.

This is a great place for support and the people are fantastic. Glad that you decided to join!

FeelingGreat

Hello possum! Like you had a love affair with alcohol. I just want to say that for me the strong cravings eventually faded after maybe 2 months, or I learned to cope with them better. Although I have fond memories of my favourite bubbly, the rewards of not drinking are so good I don't have the desire to go back.
I hope you can get to the point where you can stop entirely too.

Tamerua

Hi possum,

I was a binge drinker too... By the time it dawned on me that I had a problem, I spent all of my drinking time trying to moderate and do the "just have 1 or 2" and then spent days mentally whipping myself because I couldn't. Not drinking is so much less stressful! I No longer obsess about that, or blacking out, or wondering if I was a jack ass, etc.

Good luck!

maureen14

I am a binge drinker, too. It starts with just one.

Bombadil

Most people seem to be able to have 1 or 2 and then stop, but most of us on here aren't and that's why we're here!

Once I start drinking, I'd sell my own grandmother for one last bottle of wine. Recently I realised that I didn't like the person I became when I drink: a loud, obnoxious, overly-opinionated moron. Total abstinence is better than running the risk of becoming that person again and damaging even more relationships!

Good luck to you!

DrunkenBob

Welcome possum!

I have yet to try having "just one drink". I fear I may give it a go at some point because I am such a stubborn pig :-) I hope I don't make that mistake.

I would think with binge drinkers the answer is obviously a resounding NO.

possummagic

Thanks everyone. I can now officially say I've been sober 1 day. That in itself is not massive for me, but that choice I've made that I won't be drinking again is! Im glad I've found you all here. Im sure I will be leaning on you all for support, especially as the weekend comes :-)