I can't get past the cravings.....
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 113
I can't get past the cravings.....
I have wanted to be sober for a long time now but I cannot manage to get past the overwhelming and hugely powerful cravings. It is like something comes over me and I go onto auto-pilot until I have acquired alcohol and then I feel total despair that once again I am drinking. I am starting to get pretty hopeless of ever overcoming this affliction.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 113
I will be seeing my doc about getting some meds that supposedly help with cravings and will have to go back to AA because things are not changing for me. I don't want to get kicked out of my house so I really need to fix this mess soon.
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Eastern Us
Posts: 1,366
Have you tried Urge Surfing? Cravings don't last forever. They come and go. The next time one comes along get out a watch and time it. Mine never really lasted for more than a few minutes at a time. Once you begin to understand that you can just sit with a craving and not act upon it, it gets easier to resist. At least it worked like that for me.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
This is a parallel ongoing thread about cravings:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-cravings.html
Mine were absolutely awful in the beginning, intense, long, and nearly everyday. You need to develop active strategies to cope with them, meds or not.
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-cravings.html
Mine were absolutely awful in the beginning, intense, long, and nearly everyday. You need to develop active strategies to cope with them, meds or not.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 11,430
Hi Robert;
I found I had to fill my time with "non-drinking" things because I had so much time on my hands that used to be drinking time. I felt lost.
So I joined a crossfit gym and exercised whenever I felt the cravings coming on.
That had many benefits besides distraction--I also started eating a Paleo-style diet
which, once I got through the carb withdrawal, really helped me deal with the urge to drink.
When I first stopped, I also used the ice cream / dried fruit as an "emergency" way to deal with the urge to drink.
Since booze metabolizes as sugar, my body had over 35 years of sugar stimulation from my drinking, so I didn't try to cut it out all at once.
I bought five pounds of dried figs, and gradually reduced how many I ate each day until
I finished the bag, and that really did help me deal with the "gotta have a drink right now or die" moments.
It is really hard in the beginning, but it does get easier over time.
Just don't give up and you will get there.
I found I had to fill my time with "non-drinking" things because I had so much time on my hands that used to be drinking time. I felt lost.
So I joined a crossfit gym and exercised whenever I felt the cravings coming on.
That had many benefits besides distraction--I also started eating a Paleo-style diet
which, once I got through the carb withdrawal, really helped me deal with the urge to drink.
When I first stopped, I also used the ice cream / dried fruit as an "emergency" way to deal with the urge to drink.
Since booze metabolizes as sugar, my body had over 35 years of sugar stimulation from my drinking, so I didn't try to cut it out all at once.
I bought five pounds of dried figs, and gradually reduced how many I ate each day until
I finished the bag, and that really did help me deal with the "gotta have a drink right now or die" moments.
It is really hard in the beginning, but it does get easier over time.
Just don't give up and you will get there.
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