My cravings are pure TORTURE!
 

I need help.

My cravings for alcohol are pure hell. I don't know what I am doing wrong. They are soooo intense.

I'm exhausted from fighting them.

Can anyone give me any tips?

I could also use some hope. I'm really suffering & don't know where else to turn. :-(

Thank you friends....

Grab a tree and try to shake it down! Yes, the cravings can be monumental. You just have to muscle through.

Coming here is a great start...talking through them helps too.

Check the "H.A.L.T" status too...are you hungry? Angry? Tired? Lonely?

Also remember cravings are simply feelings....you have a choice of how to react. And they will pass.

H.A.L.T helps tremendously! Sometimes you're all four at the same time ha. At least that can give you something to consider in lieu of alcohol.

Eat something delicious.
Call a friend or family member, or come here and talk.
Take a nap.

Etc

I went through a lot of that this week, too. What I found most helpful was to "walk away"... go for a short walk, find a distraction to the craving-- even if it is just watering plants!
I have replaced my vodka drink with water and some sparkling water.... sounds silly, but it is a mind game I play with myself, and it works. ( for me anyways.)

The cravings will go away. All I can say is it feels good to feel good!!!! First week of being sober, and I can honestly say that!

When you drink, which I read you did last night, it just sets off the whole cycle of craving. Yes it's torture, but unless you fight your way through it, you are just bound to repeat the relapse over and over.

Tough it out, make this the last withdrawal you'll ever have to do.

I agree with taking a walk. Get the heart going, break a sweat. I know it's probably the last thing you want to do, but its worked for me.

i agree, drinking last nite awoke the beast and fed it. your body has yet to fully detox - so for now, lots of WATER, eat something healthy and filling, get some rest. clear the rest of any booze OUT of your house. and commit to not drinking under any circumstances.

Distraction, as above posts suggest, is definitely key - for me, it's things like reading (I adore cooking magazines) in the bath or going to my fave Barnes & Noble, or taking a nap/going to bed early, or making to-do lists, or texting with a friend I know will be around to have a "conversation"...

One thing no one has suggested is drugs - if you have a doctor with whom you can work, and decide if anti-craving/impulse control meds might be appropriate for you, maybe this is something to consider. Other threads have discussed drugs like naltrexone, etc, so perhaps do some research into your options; insurance/cost is likely a factor in taking these, so consider your options regarding that too. These drugs can be good "short term" options that are a big help for some people.

Good luck!

I agree with August252015, finding activities to focus on such as reading/writing, exercise, or some other type of hobby can be a good way to distract yourself from constantly thinking about alcohol. I don't know what the physical/mental dependency is like, but it sounds rough. I also agree that maybe you should possibly look into medical help with regards to your cravings. Naltrexone and Acamprosate are some of these options I have learned in the past when I took an addictive disorders course in school. If you have access to medical care, maybe this could be of help to you.

I would also encourage you to maybe look into attending AA meetings in your area. Having a community to engage with and support you can be a big help in alleviating such cravings and getting you on to the path of sobriety.

Best of luck to you, and keep coming back here.

Get out a piece of paper and a pen - we're going old school here, No EVERNOTE. :)

Write down the 5 WORST things that will happen if you don't drink today.

That simple exercise exposed the urgent feelings I was having for what they were and made them much easier for me to deal with. Give it a try.

SR has great links for cravings in the what we did sticky in the top of newcomers

If it is really so unbearable, you could ask your doctor about something like naltexone ?

I was prescribed it last year and I reported being amazed at how my cravings entirely dissapeared when I was using it.

It really is a matter of toughing it out. Probably NOT what you want to hear, but it fades, We are walking-talking proof of it. But yeah, early on its a war. (no offense to any veterans here)

Kiki, glad to see you posted!

Cravings suck big time but they're not going to be around the clock. They will pass! I know this has already been posted. It's now 6 days for me and I'm not going to lie. It was beautiful out there yesterday and if I hadn't effed up like I did last Sunday I'm sure that I would have been sitting somewhere outside with friends.

What held me together is I've done this before. I now know that this is a normal part of this process and it doesn't last forever. It sucks while it happens but it fades. Before you know it you'll realize you're not craving anymore. It may take a few hours. When you realize that you come to this realization that YOU did this. YOU made it through the craving.

I make you a solemn promise, This does get easier. Not going to lie, every once in a while you'll still get a craving where you'll think what the heck??? I have battled less than this, how can I be feeling this way? The longer you do this the better it gets. There even comes a point where you'll get the feeling and yell "Ah, go away!" to it because you have developed resolve. It's still there but will have absolutely no power over you unless you let it.

Hang tight and hold on!! Never let it be forgotten that you're not going to feel this way forever.

You can do this!!!!!

Well said. Because this isn't my first time at the rodeo I also know when they come to just dismiss them and soon enough they will be gone. But a person has to learn that the hard way by experiencing it a few times. Until then your cravings are by definition crying for your attention and giving off the illusion that they are something you should be taking seriously. Alcohol is very sneaky like that. It's a poisen that fools us into thinking we need it to "feel right".

Personally I've managed to break through that illusion, but never got to the stage where I ever believed I could have as much fun or calm without it. One step at a time I suppose.

took me a while after stopping for the craving, complsion, and obsession to hit- i was quite miserable and in a fog after my last drunk but once that left they hit like a mack truck.

im very greatful to have sucked it up and fought for my life.
at times an hour at a time. at others a second at a time.

nothing worth fighting for is easy, but worth it.

Sometimes I visualize cravings or other kinds of emotional distress as physical pain. My drinking really wrecked me physically so I'm pretty strong through physical pain. When I imagine that the sensations I'm feeling are physical rather than emotional, I usually realize I can sit through them the same way I sat through the awful sicknesses I put myself through.

ETA: To start doing this I scan my body for the physical sensations. For example anxiety is often a chest tightness. Then I focus on those sensations rather than on the thoughts that go with them.

Please keep in mind that there is no magic bullet as far as dealing with alcohol. If there was, none of us would be here.

Here is one of the oldest tips I know of.

"One of the many doctors who had the opportunity of reading this book in manuscript form told us that the use of sweets was often helpful, of course depending upon a doctor’s advice." (Alcoholics Anonymous, first edition)

This suggestion is written in pencil across the tops of many of the pages in the original manuscript for that book.

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