Newlife2606

Right guys, excuse my lack of knowledge on this but I Am confused. So I quit drinking 4 days ago. I was a 30-40units a week guy, depending on stress and social occasions. I started to realise that I wasn't getting hangovers if I drank a half bottle of whisky. My amount hasn't really escalated in the last 10 years but my tolerance has and more recently my sleep was very screwed up by drinking. If I drank a half bottle I would wake about 5 hours after my last drink wide awake and really hot in bed, unable to get back over, which meant I was shattered the next day. I know think maybe this was acute withdrawal??? I don't know. Anyway I Am under no illusions I have a dependency on alcohol that could escalate and wreck my life and I Am committed to kicking the bottle. I have plans in place etc. What I Am Confused about is that in the 4 days since I stopped, I haven't had any cravings, like it hasn't been in my head and I have just been carrying on with life, just not feeling tired. Given the signs of dependency I Am slightly worried my av is going to creep up on me and trip me up when I Am not expecting it. Any thoughts?

Bird615

Of course cravings can creep up out of the blue when least expected. That's one reason a plan is suggested.

Just not drinking didn't work for me. Sooner or later a craving would hit and I needed to be ready to handle it with some sort of strategy.

Good start on 4 days!

Forward12

4 days is still very early in sobriety (congrats on that!) and craving can hit at anytime. Some can find them to happen all the time and others it rarely crosses their mind.
Though you always have to keep your guard up, as you never know when it may sneak up on you and try to convince you, that you can have "just a couple"

HTown

The early months are the hardest. You really have to plan ahead for how to handle those thoughts as others have suggested.

starstarstar

Oh! I'm so sorry. Yes, it's withdrawal.

You've already started, keep it going.

Ruby2

Good job on four days. That's a good start.

Have you had any stress or social occasions since quitting? That's what the plan is for. How do you deal with a situation, sober, which used to call for alcohol? Once my initial withdrawal was over with I didn't initially have many cravings. However, that fluctuated depending. If I got angry over something, I'd want a drink to take the edge off. If I felt frustrated/angry over something, I'd want a drink to dull the feeling. Sometimes I felt like my brain ramped up the emotion, just so that I'd drink.

That is what you need to make plans for. The eventualities. A work party...what do you do? A wedding...how do you handle it? Attending sports events or concerts. Meeting up with friends who are normal drinkers (lunch or breakfast). What if someone you are close to gets seriously ill or dies? When my dad was very ill my brain said "absolutely NO one would blame me if I had a drink." But I didn't. I thought it through. What if I had to rush out to the hospital for some reason and I was too drunk to go? How selfish of me that I'm the one who wants to anesthetize myself when my father is the one who is unhealthy? He's better now and I'm glad I didn't drink over it.

Anyway, that's very long winded but just because you aren't experiencing strong cravings, or any cravings now, doesn't mean that they can't or won't happen. Plan ahead and keep on going.

BruceSA

Welcome, Newlife.

4 days is superb progress, well done!

For my recovery, a plan is vital. Mere willpower to say "I will / have stopped" is just the beginning and needs a plan as a foundation. Some people are fortunate and have minimal withdrawals, some go through a mild form of hell and some get hit 2, 4 maybe 6 weeks afterwards. Are you familiar with PAWS?

Keep on going, Newlife, it just gets better.

B.

BD84

The sleep issues you mentione are the tip of the withdrawl iceberg.

Your brain has been altered at this point and getting drunk will never ever again be a good idea.

Google: alcohol kindling

Newlife2606

I suppose the withdrawal thing is also confusing me. The night after drinking I wake up hot, with increased blood pressure and alert during the night and I can forget about getting sleep then, but the next night if I don't drink I get a great nights sleep and I never drink two nights in a row. It's normally a Wednesday and a Friday. It's literally that night. So if I stop drinking at 8, and go to bed at 10, I will fall asleep and then be awake by 3am. My last drink was Friday and I slept crap, next day i was tired and dissapointed in myself but no other symptoms. That night slept great and I have slept well with no other issues since then. Is it possible to get mild withdrawal symptoms on just the night after you go to bed when you have had a drink which are then gone by the next day. I'm not trying to minimise anything I Am just trying to make sense of things. Re the plan, no I can't say I have had that much stress since I gave up, so that is a good point. This sounds a bit random but my triggers I shortened to the word STAR, meaning stress,tired,angry,rejected. These type of situation are likely to make me want a drink to manage the feelings. I have made a list of things to do if I feel like this to keep me on track. I suppose I won't know until I Am in the situation. I suppose I forgot about the good times like work events, weddings, barbecues etc. Will have to give that some thought