Binge Drinking
 

I am a mid 30s male with a young family. By clinical terms I am defined as weekend binge drinker. This past weekend I decided I want to stop.

I noticed that as my age increases so does my hangover. Normally when I drink alcohol I wake up the next day intoxicated and my BAC does not drop to 0 until the afternoon. Once the hangover starts it can last anywhere from 1 to 3 days from 1 night of binge drinking. (can you get withdrawl symptoms if you binge drink only 1 night a week?). I also get very bloated/puffy and this can last a few days.

Anyhow, I decided to abstain so I can be there for my family and not spend the whole day on the couch complaining how horrible I feel. I have tried this before and failed. I hope it works this time, any advice?

I think support will help Binge :)
Are your family and friends behind you as well?

welcome to SR btw :)

D

Welcome, Binge 2014!

SoberRecovery is a big part of my sobriety. Any time spent here is time well spent. Read around and post often!

I also recommend going to a local AA meeting. Maybe you won't feel it is necessary for your recovery to keep going to meetings, but just knowing there are other alcoholics in your community can be helpful.

binge, I needed a plan to quit drinking. I also was a binger. Have you looked into AA? it's very helpful to have face to face support and the 12 step program is very helpful for rebuilding a sober and peaceful life.

I used rational recovery as well. RR made so much sense to me and described what was going on in my alcohol addicted head! you might check out the books by jack trimpy, keeping in mind he's got a bad case of rash against AA. So take that bit with a spoon of salt!

You can read more about RR in the secular section here on SR.

welcome!

love from Lenina

Commit to it and you will succeed. The first month or so will be challenging at times, but it gets easier.

I'm a binge drinker too. Used to be on weekends, then sometimes in the week, then every second day now, I have wasted so much time being hungover. Wasting my life away actually. I started blacking out too recently, every time now,I am 31. It's really scary how fast it progressed
Thought it's better to quit before I get too out of control. I found the binge drinking sneaks up on you, at least it did for me. I'm well on my way to binge drinking every night then into the days if I don't stop. Be careful!

Oh you asked for advice! What's working for me is I keep remembering the who I am, want to be and who I'm going to become if I keep this up. "Play the tape"or "think through the drink" as I've been told :)
Also keeping busy doing other nice things is working. Like dinner or reading, walk, anything that you enjoy, but wouldn't do if you were drinking or hungover.

Welcome, Binge, glad to have you with us.

Lots of ex- bingers on here.

It's really helpful to have a good support system, such as AA or AVRT.

I've stayed sober so far by mostly staying close to this forum. There is always someone around 24/7 if you need to talk :)

Thank you for the advice so far. Traditionally the night before Thanksgiving I go bar hopping with friends. Just like every year, I received multiple text messages to go out but I simply declined and turned my phone off. Woke up feeling great!

Glad you're here, Welcome!!!

Keep coming back!!

Alcoholic is a cunning foe, many drink for years with no withdrawls and some only for periods and have issues. As with recovery, it just depends on the person.

Good for you and getting out of yourself today - recognizing that OTHERS come first. We can be very, very selfish people in our addiction......

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm a recovering binge drinker myself. I never thought of myself as an alcoholic before, because I could get through the work week without drinking.

Well, this year I hit 40. You mention being mid-30s. The last year or so my drinking has really negatively impacted my body. 1 day hangovers turn into 2 and even 3. I'd get major anxiety, shaking, hot and cold spells, etc. I'm not a kid anymore. When I was younger, I could cover it up and get by. Now? Forget it. Binge drinking is literally killing me.

Hard to say with withdrawal, I don't think I go through withdrawal. For me, it was just the horrible things booze was doing to my body didn't go away. By the end of the week I would just start to feel better, then of course it was time to start the cycle all over again.

Yet, I could not control my weekend drinking.

Guess what? I'm an alcoholic. I can't control my drinking. You may be in the same boat. While I can make it through the week ok, the minute I touch a drop of booze I'm on a downward spiral that doesn't end until the bottle is empty.

Honestly there isn't much difference for binge drinkers. We're alcoholics just like others. I went to my first AA meeting last weekend am finally realizing I need more help to quit.

Keep posting here and consider an AA meeting. It is super easy for binge drinkers to slip into denial. "I don't drink everyday". "I make it to work on Monday". Well, as you get older you'll probably feel worse and worse. Yet no matter how bad I felt, I couldn't stop. Eventually the light bulb went off for me - I have a serious problem.

Best of luck, and congratulations for staying home on "Black-out Wednesday". Doesn't it feel good waking up without a massive hangover? :)

Hi.
That’s a good start! We stop drinking one day at a time in a row. Being an alcoholic I needed to learn a new way to survive without drinking on a long term basis and gratefully I have so suggest what works for me and millions world wide.
My guidance came from the understanding people in AA who were my guides even when I didn’t want guidance being undisciplined. They fortunately said “keep coming” and I did and learned how not to drink one day at a time in a row.
It works if we want it and work it.

BE WELL

Welcome to the forum nice to meet you Binge

If you read around the site you will quickly see that weekend drinking turns into a couple of times a week binge drinking and then a few times a week and then every day. Look at it as giving up a powerfully destructive drug that can and may destroy your life not just cutting out one day per week binge drinking. Quit before it becomes even more of a problem and please don't underestimate the commitment that you will need to show to overcome it. Good luck!

Hi there, it sounds like you are ready to stop, coming here is a great first step! I can relate in terms of binge drinking, and what has worked for me so far is not having even ONE. I am not sure what your plan is and if that will be easy or not. I found when intoxicated it was nearly impossible to stop drinking once I got started. I was a little daunted at the fact of not being able to even have a beer. If you need anything send me a PM, we can work through it together :)

I am a binge drinker too. with 2 children.
but i haven't drank since 11/11. i have just armed myself with plenty of vimto, coffee and every other food and drink available until tonight when i go to my first meeting.

i am doing it for my children, so they don't end up repeating what they see.

I am a binge drinker too. with 2 children.
but i haven't drank since 11/11. i have just armed myself with plenty of vimto, coffee and every other food and drink available until tonight when i go to my first meeting.

i am doing it for my children, so they don't end up repeating what they see.

Welcome to the Forum Binge!! :wave:

Binge, my pattern was pretty similar to yours. I would throw in some weekday nights to mix things up, but I would always spend several days sobering up before I would feel good enough to repeat.

As I stopped drinking, I found a few things helpful. One is to eat a big dinner early, as that tends to curb my desire to drink. Binging on a full stomach isn't appealing to me. Another is to plan activities to keep yourself busy on nights that fall into your drinking pattern-- movie night or whatever.

Also, silly as it might seem, one strategy I use is to stay well-stocked with miscellaneous healthy drinks. I now have a monster tea collections and I drink at least 2 cups a night. And a last thought-- though this one really depends on the person-- is to consider meditation. Even starting with a few minutes daily. Meditation relieves anxiety and helps train the mind to objectively identify and deal with things happening with the mind and body.

Congratulations of your success with Thanksgiving eve!

update:

When I recall my thoughts to the past and compare them to today I can say without a doubt that I drank more frequently and in greater quantifies in my 20's (during and post college). The reasons why I think I don't binge as frequently (more than once a week) now is because I have a young family and the hangovers are worse.

Today I would normally have a few drinks to unwind and relax. Sometimes it could be 3 to 4 drinks, or sometimes I would go out with friends and get trashed. Today I got several invitations to go bar hopping but I declined (but to be honest it would be nice to go out and socialize after the whole week). Anyway, at least I will wake up feeling great tomorrow morning.