Approaching 20 years of Binge Drinking
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Join Date: May 2019
Location: UK
Posts: 3,948
Originally Posted by BackandScared 
My fitbit says that my resting beat per minute has gone from 84 to 59 in a year. No wonder I felt anxious: my heart was working at full speed.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 84
Thanks for checking in on me. I didn't stop this week, I of course made up excuses to just drink this week and stop starting next week because we are going to my parents cabin and i'd like to feel good, usually feel semi-good after a week sober. although i'm on 18 beers tonight, light beers, but still, pretty ******. I know i will feel like dog crap tomorrow and hate my life, I will check in then, actually it'sreally easy to not drink the next day, the hardest is between 3-18 days after a binge.
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Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 56
Hi Spybee, I've been drinking, mostly heavily for 31 years. Some of that time was mixed with coke as well. I also did the rave scene and ecstasy. I also included lots of mj time in that. I am 49 years old. I am on day 3. I haven't done tests so not sure how bad my liver is but I have no outward signs of severe damage. My enzymes were high 3 years ago though so we will have to see. Im going for a cycle today. I played basketball with my son a couple days ago. I cannot tell you how much life there is for you. 40? You will make it anyway. Please don't get to almost 50 like me and then decide. Or miss even that opportunity and get to 60 because then you will have really wasted like....decades.
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Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: USA
Posts: 808
Originally Posted by Makeright
Hi Spybee, I've been drinking, mostly heavily for 31 years. Some of that time was mixed with coke as well. I also did the rave scene and ecstasy. I also included lots of mj time in that. I am 49 years old. I am on day 3. I haven't done tests so not sure how bad my liver is but I have no outward signs of severe damage. My enzymes were high 3 years ago though so we will have to see. Im going for a cycle today. I played basketball with my son a couple days ago. I cannot tell you how much life there is for you. 40? You will make it anyway. Please don't get to almost 50 like me and then decide. Or miss even that opportunity and get to 60 because then you will have really wasted like....decades.
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
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Originally Posted by PuckLuck
Makeright, you should join our June Class of 2020. And congrats on 3 days!
D
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 84
Originally Posted by Dee74
Once you stop, have you given any thought to how you'll stay stopped spybee?
what support you might use, what your action plan for sobriety might look like?
D
what support you might use, what your action plan for sobriety might look like?
D
I really haven’t thought out a detailed action plan, although I know that would be critical and pretty much a must in order to stay sober, not just sober but I don’t even want to be having one drop. I do have great support, my wife doesn’t drink at all which really helps and she comes up with ways to help, like having me drive her into work, I don’t drive if I’ve been drinking so it forces me to stay sober and I don’t drink at night and I won’t start drinking if she is home, just during the day, so that’s one thing that helps. I know it’s not 100% effective though because there will still be plenty of opportunities, there’s always opportunities. Could you give me or link me to what an example plan of action would look like? That would be awesome! I’m on the end of Day 2, I feel ok, kind of itchy but I’m ready to get to week 3 where I start feeling a lot better, I also call that the danger zone because I feel healthier and then it’s harder to resist a day of binge drinking. It’s also harder to remember physically the anguish of the hangover and health anxiety from a day of binge drinking.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 84
Originally Posted by MaximusD
Hey spybee, did you stop? Check out Dee's link above. That will lead you to our thread for all of the people that have quit this month so that we can support each other.
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,195
I have been an alcoholic for 15 years approximately. Maybe longer. I can sober up for a while but staying sober is a problem. I always go back to drinking inevitably. Boredom, loneliness, and stress can overwhelm me and I need an escape. The consequences of my drinking never seem to outweigh my desire to drink and I have had many consequences. That's the nature of addiction....
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 4,251
Originally Posted by MLD51
I wish I had quit when I had "only" been binge drinking for 20 years. Instead, I went another 10. I quit at 51. If I had quit at 41 instead, a lot of bad things that happened as a result of my drinking would not have happened at all. I don't have any long-term health issues (that I know of yet), but that surprised the heck out of me. Toward the end of the drinking I was SURE I had done lasting damage, and it's still possible I did. Drinking ANY amount puts you at higher risk of many types of cancer, and there can be heart damage that's hard to directly link to alcohol, too. As a result of my drinking I had 3 DUI's in 13 years, I went through enough money that I could have retired by now at 57, and I could argue it wrecked my second marriage. I scared my kids and made them feel unsafe. I embarrassed myself countless times in my small town, and I probably still have a damaged reputation, and always will. I had several injuries, including a fractured skull that thankfully did not result in anything worse than a permanent loss of my sense of smell. Bruises, sprains, bumps - from falling down. The list goes on and on. MOST of that occurred in those last 10 years of drinking. You have a chance to avoid a lot of pain if you quit now. It's a downward slope - don't go there. It's really hard to climb back up.
This is exactly what I needed to read today. I am 41 now. I have experienced everything you wrote. Thank you for posting this.
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Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 67
Hey Spybee,
I haven't posted here in a really long time but this thread really struck me. I'm 34 and a couple months ago I felt just like you. 40 was a pipe dream. Death was around every corner and I might as well drink because I'm gonna be dead either way. The damage is done, it's too late.
I participated in a company sponsored employee wellness screening in February. I didn't even want to know the results, when the email came my anxiety shot threw the roof. I could feel my heart beating in my ears. When I read them I had stop midway because I felt like I was going to pass out, 3 out of 4 liver damage indicators came back in the red.
It can happen in an instant, even at 34. I wish it hadn't taken actual liver damage to make me get serious about sobriety. But I'm glad I finally had a reason to quit for good. The silver lining is I don't feel like death is around every corner anymore. I'm starting to feel hopeful for the future and making plans for things that bring me true joy, not the false promises and regret you find in the bottom of a can.
It's never too late. Please don't wait for the tests to come back bad before you make a change.
I haven't posted here in a really long time but this thread really struck me. I'm 34 and a couple months ago I felt just like you. 40 was a pipe dream. Death was around every corner and I might as well drink because I'm gonna be dead either way. The damage is done, it's too late.
I participated in a company sponsored employee wellness screening in February. I didn't even want to know the results, when the email came my anxiety shot threw the roof. I could feel my heart beating in my ears. When I read them I had stop midway because I felt like I was going to pass out, 3 out of 4 liver damage indicators came back in the red.
It can happen in an instant, even at 34. I wish it hadn't taken actual liver damage to make me get serious about sobriety. But I'm glad I finally had a reason to quit for good. The silver lining is I don't feel like death is around every corner anymore. I'm starting to feel hopeful for the future and making plans for things that bring me true joy, not the false promises and regret you find in the bottom of a can.
It's never too late. Please don't wait for the tests to come back bad before you make a change.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 84
I’m sorry to hear that Giggler. I could imagine my stomach sinking when getting those results and then worrying like crazy. Did you talk to a Doctor about the extent of the damage? I’ve read a few stories where people were yellow and quit, then they healed because they quit drinking. I’m still sober, day 5. Feeling a little better, but my heartburn/reflux has been really bad the couple days. Wishing you the best health.
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