grubby

Day 36 of no alcohol.

All the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms seem to have dissipated except for the insomnia...... which I seem to be getting under control. Used to STRUGGLE just to get 2 hours of sleep a night in the early days, now using multiple large cups of herbal tea (chamomile) and OTC sleep pills (doxy succinate) I am averaging 6 hours of sleep a night...... a very big improvement since the hell of week 1.

Anyways, I had a question for you all since it seems relevant to what I am experiencing these last few days:

How often do you get cravings? What times of day?

When I decided to quit back in February my thought process was ;

"alright, the booze got me thru the glum winter days and nights..... ill quit just in time for spring and then hopefully ill have more things to do outside the house so i wont be tempted to drink as much"

Well........ seems just the opposite has been happening the last few days Lol

The weather has been REALLY nice where I live over the last 5-6 days..... it really does feel like spring is in the air, the grass and plants are going green everywhere and so on. Definitely the type of weather where you would throw a BBQ or hold a wedding, etc.

Coincidentally, i been getting a LOT of cravings the last few days for some reason as I drive around and observe "spring weather" in action. It's not the type of craving where it's like "Omg I need a drink, i need a drink, i NEED a drink!" with hands shaking or anything like that..... its more like this:

"man this weather is perfect for a beer and just sitting on the patio soaking up some sun, a big cold one would be just PERFECT for this weather...... just like i used to do, sitting out on the patio getting buzzed and just relaxing"

These "craving thoughts" seem very subtle and seem to sneakily cross my mind when i am out running an errand, especially when i drive by a park or some other "social" location.......... it triggers a nostalgia episode back to 2011 and 2012 where i did attend the occasional "outdoor" event where the booze was flowing

Also, around 6 pm i get the "craving thoughts" simply due to the fact that my afternoon "ritual" used to be drinking in the afternoon....... now that the booze is not coming in around this time frame it seems to be triggering similar nostalgic thoughts about drinking at night.

anyways, just wanted to get some input from the community.... is the stuff described above pretty normal? is it normal to get these thoughts crossing your mind throughout the day?

thank you for sharing and i look forward to your responses

least

I got a lot of cravings in the early days. I just had to ride them out. I used to walk the dogs when I had cravings just to have something to do with myself. (the dogs liked it tho)

Now after over four years I don't get cravings anymore.

autan

Last drink was 2nd Jan 2014, I no longer get cravings at all. No AV, not temptation.
Sleep got me through the early days, as well as Hypnosis.

I can easily be around people drinking, it really doesn't bother me anymore.

neferkamichael

In the early days the cravings were powerful and relentless. 3 years 8 months sober now, I can't remember the last time I had one. More than doing anything else I just suffered through them, rootin for ya.

Dee74

I think it's useful to differentiate between cravings, that physical visceral grawing in your gut for a drink...and thoughts or obsessions about drinking...

although, if you're not careful both can end up in the same place.

I was troubled by 'gee wouldn't it be nice' kind of thoughts for a few months but they grew fainter with each passing week.

Playing the tape through and Urge surfing can be useful tools to guard against nostalgia or daydreams.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-cravings.html

If you have troubles with a certain time of day, try mixing your routine up as much as you can?

D

Aellyce

Hey Grubby, I'm ~2 months sober and had really evil daily cravings in the first month or so. Still get more than I would like, but significantly less in frequency and intensity. Can be any time of day, even in the middle of the night (my drinking schedule was all over the map in my last 2 years), sometimes multiple times a day and in the beginning for hours at a time unless I stuffed myself with food

I no longer treat them with food but really try to pay attention to having a regular healthy diet now. Also try to get some exercise at least 3-4 times a week and usually walk to/from work when the weather is good. I was a lone drinker at home and when I crave, that's what I still crave, never social drinking. I usually distract myself with something actively involving (including posting and interacting on SR, tends to help a lot), or meditate. Now starting to more seriously work on my attitude, goals, morals, etc. Of course still have bad days sometimes. I don't tend to worry too much about the emotional ups and downs (they are getting much more even now also), what I've always found most uncomfortable is the cravings. I look forward to them disappearing or showing up only very rarely.

I think the craving patterns can be very individual, depending on many things from our old drinking habit pattern (times etc) to physiological states etc. I suggest to do things you had not done while drinking, new things, and try to stop those "nostalgic" thoughts.

Aellyce

I'm also a bit grateful for my bad cravings, actually. In the beginning they caused me a lot more discomfort than the physical withdrawal itself during the first few days. I think this experience help me stay sober now because I remember those crazy cravings and I *really* don't want to start over with that, or most likely, worse. So this is the upside

Lance40

I'm on Day 25 and experience much the same as you. In the first 2.5 to 3 weeks I would have occasional strong craving episodes in the late afternoon that lasted 15 to 30 minutes. The last week or so, episodes have changed; they don't come often and when they do they have mellowed into a warm, fuzzy, nostalgic feeling of patio drinking in springtime. They are usually short-lived and easily dismissed.

Mountainmanbob

I don't really get cravings but if I did I would sure not entertain the thought for very long because if I did I would end up drinking
MM

Notmyrealname

We're creatures of habit. Yeah, I have had those moments too. I try hard to stay active when it gets warmer out. Nowadays nice weather gives me a craving for a run, not a beer run.

It's all just time and reprogramming the circuits in your brain to associate with non-booze stuff. For me at least booze was omnipresent, ubiquitous and permeating, so pretty much everything associated with booze. Good times, bad times, dawn, dusk, sunny days, rainy days, snowy days . . If you keep on the right track and are actively doing stuff/things/activities to stay busy, I think it gets better.

I said in a thread awhile back that it's not so much cravings after awhile as plain old nostalgia, I think that's right. And that even feels like it fades over time.
So keep the bow pointed forward, progress is thataway

sillysuzanfree

There is a difference between cravings and thoughts I think...I loved drinking with ambience so I can relate to thoughts such as:
"this weather is perfect for a beer and just sitting on the patio soaking up some sun, a big cold one would be just PERFECT for this weather...... just like i used to do, sitting out on the patio getting buzzed and just relaxing"

Only for me it would be a cold tumbler of wine. After almost 2 years, yes, I still miss times like that. But it's just a thought and as also mentioned, a bit of nostalgia. I don't actually get what I would call physical cravings anymore.

GreenEggsAndHam

Yep, that is obsession and also known as romanticizing the drink. I do the same thing...how wonderful would it be to relax on the patio in the sun with a drink and my friends? Which is absurd because I've alienated most of my friends and because I know I won't stop at one drink...it will go on and on.

I have to remember it's nice to sit on the patio with a sweet tea also.

LBrain

I'll have 90 days in a few. I never really had ravings. But I still think about having a drink. Certain situations. Like the first warm sunny day. Or just a feeling like having one. Last week a guy was talking about how much he wanted some beers. After about ten minuutes I was ready to go with him. We didn't but he romanticized it so much.

Solar

The problem with nice, sunny spring days is that when the sun is out and you're sitting on your deck, you're usually working on beer #1 or #2. By the time you've progressed, it's no longer a sunny day - it's late in the evening or at night, and you feel like crap. At least, that was the case for me. That's why it's so difficult to resist temptation when it strikes on sunny spring days - I don't have any negative moments to associate with sitting on the deck and drinking a few beers, only good ones. The bad memories are formed afterward.

Try this - late tonight, when you're lying in bed and getting ready to sleep, think back to when you were sitting out in the sun, thinking about drinking. Then ask yourself - how much happier am I right now that I didn't get drunk? What would I be feeling right now if I'd started drinking this afternoon? Then do the same thing tomorrow morning. If I'd picked up that first drink, how would I feel right now?

Those regret-free feelings of good health and happiness are well worth avoiding that initial temptation. Enjoy them, and remember them the next time temptation strikes!

Silvy69

8 months. No cravings. The thought of putting alcohol in my mouth makes me sick. Also, I stopped smoking and the smell is awful to me now. I have no desires whatsoever. Grateful.

Arpeggioh

I totally agree with many above: romantic thoughts of how pleasant drinking used to be, in my case, were my biggest hurdle to long term sobriety. It certainly wasn't a physical urge, it was all in my head.

"Playing the tape all the way through" is my strongest tactic for ignoring, even laughing at, those fleeting thoughts -- oh sure, wouldn't it be nice? To look at that wrecked face in the mirror, after waking up startled to still be alive, after yet another day and night of epic booze consumption, wading through the growing pile of empty plastic vodka bottles, drinking a few shots for breakfast to be functional enough to leave the house, having people smell me when I arrive at church on Sunday to accompany services, crying alone at home knowing the vicious cycle will ultimately lead to my early death...yup, good times!!

Nostalgic memories of pleasant drinking experiences are what always led me to relapse...and every time, the horror at the end got worse and worse, the bottom plunged lower and lower, regardless of how long I was sober. This damned disease progressed even while I wasn't drinking!

I'm now left with the utter certainty that one more round of drinking will be my last; fear and loathing have pushed any sort of nostalgia totally out of my mind. All I have to do is remember the horror...

Not everyone drank to the point I did, and no one has to, but every alcoholic definitely has the potential to die from this. Pleasant memories are a dangerous lie...

jessie65

I can certainly relate to romanticizing the drink. I totally obsess about those wonderful early years (months?) when I discovered that alcohol was the best thing since sliced bread (Not).

I loved doing yard work while having a buzz (why did alcohol give me energy back then??). Now I drink and I'm useless, and I rarely get the euphoria I loved so much.

I still try to play the tape through when the obsession hits, there's nothing good at the end, just shame & regret.

grubby

Something I've been experimenting with is as follows..........

When I have been getting these thoughts yesterday and today, I have tried "inserting" the following thoughts into the middle of the warm fuzzy "drinking booze on warm balmy afternoons" nostalgia episode:

"Don't worry, you're still a weed virgin and there are also other things you haven't tried yet..... chill out, plus you are young!"

Seems to quiet my mind down almost instantly, it seems as soon as I remind my brain that there are "other drugs" that i still haven't "spoiled" as i seem to have inadvertently done with alcohol, it seems to calm down and then it goes back to other thoughts.

I think we need to "police" our thoughts in a similar manner and remind our minds/brains that it's not the end of the world just cos we quit drinking and that "its not so bad after all!"

The price of sobriety is eternal "mental vigilance"?

MIRecovery

What is interesting is that the cravings seem to be just as intense just shorter and less often. At 4.5 years it can go weeks without even a passing thought and when they do come they leave as quickly as they arrive.

Drinking is just not an option any more.

Ruby2

I sometimes get cravings for a drink when the seasons change. Wouldn't a nice glass of red wine be good on a cold winters night? Or when it is raining outside. Or a margarita when it is hot. The thought usually is pretty fleeting and goes away because I am more mindful now that with each passing season or the beginning of a new season I am faced with a new set of triggers again. Things I always associated with drinking in the particular season I am now facing. So when the season starts, like you are seeing now with the beginning of spring, the cravings or thoughts will be there a little or a lot more strongly than before until you have processed them and faced them down. After you do they will diminish...until you get to another seasonal change but by then you will realize what it is and know what to expect with a season change. Same goes for hitting all the holidays for the first time sober.

Just know that it will get better and pass if you stay sober through it.