Snginga

Hi, Snginga here,

I was sober for 15 years. The feelings , cravings, everything DOES go away. I got married and raised two beautiful daughters, went to college, graduated, and Now I Chair my department at the college. Years and years and years of such joy, and energy, love for being given a second chance!!! I caught up on all the years I lost to drugs.

Then I found out I had Hep C. I went to get treated, the first needle of the first day and I passed out right in the doctors nurse's counter. I had to inject myself for the next 6 months and take meds....they screw with your brain. I have never been the same since and began using that year.

?I am now on day 6 of my second attempt at detoxing from Opiates. I am also on benzos --but I tries giving it all up once, and failed, this time I am going to get off the Opiates first, then later, much later, the benzos.

Any advice

Dee74

Welcome Snginga

I have no experience with opiate or benzo withdrawal but others may - you may like to start a new thread for yourself either in this forum or our substance abuse forum

Anna

As long as you make the changes in your life that you need in order to recover, you will not think about drinking.

Like2Hike

This is exactly how it is for me. It's hard to believe sometimes but obsessing about drinking or worrying about being able to stay sober faded away. Alcohol is no longer part of my life. 2-January will be my 1 yr mark. Like Scott wrote I respect how quickly it could change so there's still vigilance in staying away from trouble. The letting go and leaving it all behind has been a huge relief.

Leana

I have been sober for 5+ years and will say that the time I spend "not thinking" about drinking far out-weights the time I spend "thinking" about drinking. I go to parties, restaurants, even bars and never even think about ordering an alcoholic drink. Non-alcoholic ice tea always. We even went on vacation to an all inclusive, alcohol included and it never crossed my mind to drink. So, it does get easier.

Skye2

Same as Ippochick - If I think about it, I just don't want to do it, but it's no longer a struggle not to drink, it's a genuine aversion to alcohol.

MythOfSisyphus

I seldom give drinking/not-drinking much thought anymore, at least in my day to day life. I think about it when I pop in to SR, of course. During the first month I was obsessed with not drinking and it was a bewildering time, particularly the first week. I initially found it almost impossible to sleep, and I would get serious panic/anxiety attacks when I went to bed. This baffled and confounded me as I've never experienced anything like that at any point in my life. It actually felt like I was being buried alive when I turned off the lights and crawled into bed; my mind and body had no concept of sleep outside of passing out.

But things do improve as time goes on.

GracieLou

This is how I feel, I am eight months sober. I went from "I quit drinking" to "I don't drink".

That said, I go to AA and I continue to thrive because I get advice and friendship from other alcoholics. I have a home group. I set up, take down and chair meetings so I give back.

I have to get out of my head and away from myself so I won't stand in the way with my racing thoughts. Thinking to much, for this alcoholic, is a bad thing..lol