How to start?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1
How to start?
I've reached a point where I just need to stop drinking. I'm 49 and feel all stiff and old. I've put on maybe 30lbs quietly and steadily over 2 years, am perimenopausal, and to cap it all have recently started snoring at night (how attractive!). I used to be a steady 9.5 stones in weight, able to wear pretty much what I wanted (though I've always been curvy, and that's ok). I find now, with 2 children (11 and 14), a bored and lonely mum at home with a busy stressed insecure husband, that I've found comfort in knocking back probably a bottle of wine a day. Sometimes (ok, often ) cracking open the wine during the day. Somehow it is comforting and makes me feel 'sophisticated' and relaxed, until the headache and buzzing in the ears kicks in and I realise what I'm doing.
I need to stop drinking. But as i never ever drink enough to be 'drunk', so i am in denial as to how the term 'sobriety' applies to me. Yet when I count the number of units I am averaging, see the obvious weight gain, feel the depression, ignore the clanking recycling bin and the fact I that I'm supposedly an 'intelligent woman', ignore how much the daily bottle is costing, and read up on the potential health issues I may be storing up (although I'm healthy for now...), apologise for snoring (I never used to snore) and breathe through the frequent mild morning headaches and bad skin, I can clearly see that this has to stop. Today. I need to break the habit and stop denying that this is a problem. Thanks for listening.
I need to stop drinking. But as i never ever drink enough to be 'drunk', so i am in denial as to how the term 'sobriety' applies to me. Yet when I count the number of units I am averaging, see the obvious weight gain, feel the depression, ignore the clanking recycling bin and the fact I that I'm supposedly an 'intelligent woman', ignore how much the daily bottle is costing, and read up on the potential health issues I may be storing up (although I'm healthy for now...), apologise for snoring (I never used to snore) and breathe through the frequent mild morning headaches and bad skin, I can clearly see that this has to stop. Today. I need to break the habit and stop denying that this is a problem. Thanks for listening.
Last edited by SoonToBe; 08-17-2017 at 10:27 PM. Reason: Typo
Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 1,025
Congrats! You just started, step 1 has to be the decision to do it.
I am not sure if you are going to experience detox or not, but if you aren't I d put together a recovery plan (I found it tricky to do it while detoxing, but basically as soon as your head is clear enough I recommend you write one). That was the game changer for me.
You can do this, stay strong and look ahead!
P
I am not sure if you are going to experience detox or not, but if you aren't I d put together a recovery plan (I found it tricky to do it while detoxing, but basically as soon as your head is clear enough I recommend you write one). That was the game changer for me.
You can do this, stay strong and look ahead!
P
Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: England
Posts: 645
Welcome to SR. You have found a great site which will help you achieve your aim.
Alcohol makes all people snore because it relaxes muscles. My poor wife would leave our room most nights due to my snoring and sleep in the spare room. Since I stopped alcohol (19 days ago - yay) she had spent every night in our room.
Alcohol makes all people snore because it relaxes muscles. My poor wife would leave our room most nights due to my snoring and sleep in the spare room. Since I stopped alcohol (19 days ago - yay) she had spent every night in our room.
AA Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 2,983
step 1 12x12
Why all this insistence that every A.A. must hit bottom first? The answer is that few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless they have hit bottom. For practicing A.A.'s remaining eleven steps means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking. Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? Who cares anything about a Higher Power, let alone meditation and prayer? Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry the A.A.'s message to the next sufferer? No, the average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn't care for this prospect - unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself.
i went to AA and followed direction
God bless
Why all this insistence that every A.A. must hit bottom first? The answer is that few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless they have hit bottom. For practicing A.A.'s remaining eleven steps means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking. Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? Who cares anything about a Higher Power, let alone meditation and prayer? Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry the A.A.'s message to the next sufferer? No, the average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn't care for this prospect - unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself.
i went to AA and followed direction
God bless
Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 292
Originally Posted by SoonToBe 
I need to stop drinking. But as i never ever drink enough to be 'drunk', so i am in denial as to how the term 'sobriety' applies to me.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 25,373
Well, in all fairness alcohol isn't the only cause of snoring. Being over weight is a biggie, too. ( pun intended 
)
I've never met a man who didn't snore if he was lying on his back, either. I blame the Y chromosome for that one.
)I've never met a man who didn't snore if he was lying on his back, either. I blame the Y chromosome for that one.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,246
Welcome. I am saying this from my own experience.....don't wait for it to get worse; it will make it a lot harder to stop. At least give it a try and then you will know the size of the problem you are dealing with. While drinking it is easier to rationalise the situation and minimise the hold it may have on you.
SR has helped me stay sober for 2 months. I am only learning the ropes as far as recovery goes, but when you stop drinking things are much clearer. For me, I did not appreciate the damage I had done to my body and mind until the dust cleared. Every day I am understanding more about the addiction that had me by the throat while whispering in my ear it wasn't really that bad.
If you want to do this stick close to SR- there are amazingly wise and kind people here who are experts through experience on addiction, many with a decade or more of sobriety.
Good luck to you.
SR has helped me stay sober for 2 months. I am only learning the ropes as far as recovery goes, but when you stop drinking things are much clearer. For me, I did not appreciate the damage I had done to my body and mind until the dust cleared. Every day I am understanding more about the addiction that had me by the throat while whispering in my ear it wasn't really that bad.
If you want to do this stick close to SR- there are amazingly wise and kind people here who are experts through experience on addiction, many with a decade or more of sobriety.
Good luck to you.
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
