New Here, 7 Days w/o Alcohol
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Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Seeking a peaceful state of mind
Posts: 99
Max, I have been listening to an audiobook called Alcohol Explained this week—it really does explain clearly and simply what is happening physiologically and psychologically to drinkers when drinking and also when we quit, and I think this could be really helpful to you right now.
Please check it out—it also is available in print and through kindle.
You are doing great—it does get easier so hang in there—
Please check it out—it also is available in print and through kindle.
You are doing great—it does get easier so hang in there—
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Seeking a peaceful state of mind
Posts: 99
Hi Max…I’m in my late 50s and I can relate to what you’re saying …I’ve binged on beers from all over the world. I loved the taste, and the buzz they all gave…Some a whole lot more than others…Didn’t do wine that much, except when I ran out of beer and couldn’t drive to the store for more.
Anyway, I realized the beer or the alcohol in general just wasn’t doing it for me anymore…A six pack on weekends turned into a 12 pack and a few shots of vodka 4-5 days a week or even every night for several weeks at a time. Yeah I would quit for awhile maybe a week or two but soon as I recovered I was back at it bigger than ever.
Like you said, the health became a major concern and thoughts of my family became a priority. So I quit. Wasn’t easy at all during the first couple months but after the horrible paws symptoms, things finally started to mellow out. I’ve only got a little over 5 months in but the symptoms have significantly improved. Still getting there, but I’m glad I made a great decision to remain sober.
Please hang in there and I understand how you feel. Like those here that kept telling me over and over again…It Will Get Better!
Keep reading, keep posting, and keep coming back here to get the support you need to stay strong and stay sober…I wanna hear from you.
See ya soon.
😇🙏🏾👍🏾✌🏾
Anyway, I realized the beer or the alcohol in general just wasn’t doing it for me anymore…A six pack on weekends turned into a 12 pack and a few shots of vodka 4-5 days a week or even every night for several weeks at a time. Yeah I would quit for awhile maybe a week or two but soon as I recovered I was back at it bigger than ever.
Like you said, the health became a major concern and thoughts of my family became a priority. So I quit. Wasn’t easy at all during the first couple months but after the horrible paws symptoms, things finally started to mellow out. I’ve only got a little over 5 months in but the symptoms have significantly improved. Still getting there, but I’m glad I made a great decision to remain sober.
Please hang in there and I understand how you feel. Like those here that kept telling me over and over again…It Will Get Better!
Keep reading, keep posting, and keep coming back here to get the support you need to stay strong and stay sober…I wanna hear from you.
See ya soon.
😇🙏🏾👍🏾✌🏾
One thing I would like to share is that I have used CBD oil to good effect. I buy it, when I can from Green Gorilla -hope it's not against the rules to put that here. It's the purest or one of the purest on the market. I have to pass a 12 panel drug screening for every contract I get, and I have never had an issue while using it. The CBD oil was suggested by a friend who had serious inflammation issues from diabetes. I resisted for years and finally tried it for my chronic pains and anxiety. It works pretty well. I have been using both the liquid and the gummies, quite a bit more than usual since I stopped alcohol. I helps mellow me out some. I thought I should at least share something that might help someone going through this mess.
One of the things that keeps coming back up in my mind is all the times, especially over the past 10 years, that I have been mean to my wife. She's a wonderful, heart of gold woman, and has put up with me for so long, now she's starting fall apart, and it's mostly my fault, my emotional outbursts, when I was hung over especially, were terrible to her. I never hit her or anything like that, I never would, but I would take things out on her and I feel so bad, so terrible about it. We are both in counseling, I have been for about 5 years, and she just started. I hope we can repair the damage. Sorry for the ramble.
Thanks,
Max
Hi Max
One of my drugs of choice was pot, so I’ve decided not to use CBD products. You don’t say but if you’re using the kind with THC I’d be very very careful.
It’s very easy to use one drug to get off another and find yourself with a whole new problem.
D
One of my drugs of choice was pot, so I’ve decided not to use CBD products. You don’t say but if you’re using the kind with THC I’d be very very careful.
It’s very easy to use one drug to get off another and find yourself with a whole new problem.
D
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Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 2,601
Welcome max and congrats on 1 week. I go to smart meetings and would recommend them. It's all about looking forward taking responsibility and learning coping techniques. Cbt and rebt stuff. Great stuff to be applied in life as well as not drinking.
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Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Seeking a peaceful state of mind
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I was worried about that, but it's THC free. I've smoked pot ages ago, know what it feels like. I hate the stuff to tell the truth, makes me stupid and paranoid -I'm already dumb enough 'eh? Like I said, I've passed at least 6 drug screenings while using the Green Gorilla CBD oil. Their salve helps my aching feet a bit too. You could check out their products if you search on: "I love green gorilla CBD." I get your meaning on getting stuck on one thing right after alcohol, it's happened to a couple people I know who have quit drinking, but are now pot-heads or stuck on benzos.
Last edited by MaxVano; 06-08-2021 at 02:14 PM. Reason: typos
Hi Max,
I am in my 50's a mum with two young children, and have drunk heavily in different ways for over 30 years - still shocks me when I write it. I am only 20 or so days sober and have had as you say 'blistering headaches' ever since, insomnia, pains in feet and numerous other aches. I don't go to AA just because I hate being in 'groups' of people - here is great for me because it's less intrusive and does not make me anxious - it's also full of experience and understanding and wisdom, people who have walked the same road and who will get what you are going through.
Your biggest motivator has to be your children - it is for me - has too - they cant lose their Dad - no way - take back your life and live it and watch your children grow - you can do it - keep posting here and just accept it's time to stop drinking. People here will support you.
I am in my 50's a mum with two young children, and have drunk heavily in different ways for over 30 years - still shocks me when I write it. I am only 20 or so days sober and have had as you say 'blistering headaches' ever since, insomnia, pains in feet and numerous other aches. I don't go to AA just because I hate being in 'groups' of people - here is great for me because it's less intrusive and does not make me anxious - it's also full of experience and understanding and wisdom, people who have walked the same road and who will get what you are going through.
Your biggest motivator has to be your children - it is for me - has too - they cant lose their Dad - no way - take back your life and live it and watch your children grow - you can do it - keep posting here and just accept it's time to stop drinking. People here will support you.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Seeking a peaceful state of mind
Posts: 99
Hi Max,
I am in my 50's a mum with two young children, and have drunk heavily in different ways for over 30 years - still shocks me when I write it. I am only 20 or so days sober and have had as you say 'blistering headaches' ever since, insomnia, pains in feet and numerous other aches. I don't go to AA just because I hate being in 'groups' of people - here is great for me because it's less intrusive and does not make me anxious - it's also full of experience and understanding and wisdom, people who have walked the same road and who will get what you are going through.
Your biggest motivator has to be your children - it is for me - has too - they cant lose their Dad - no way - take back your life and live it and watch your children grow - you can do it - keep posting here and just accept it's time to stop drinking. People here will support you.
I am in my 50's a mum with two young children, and have drunk heavily in different ways for over 30 years - still shocks me when I write it. I am only 20 or so days sober and have had as you say 'blistering headaches' ever since, insomnia, pains in feet and numerous other aches. I don't go to AA just because I hate being in 'groups' of people - here is great for me because it's less intrusive and does not make me anxious - it's also full of experience and understanding and wisdom, people who have walked the same road and who will get what you are going through.
Your biggest motivator has to be your children - it is for me - has too - they cant lose their Dad - no way - take back your life and live it and watch your children grow - you can do it - keep posting here and just accept it's time to stop drinking. People here will support you.
I felt like absolute garbage when I quit and felt like garbage for weeks after. I was a MESS. On some days all I could do was come home from work and close the bedroom door to lay in the dark. I was overstimulated, over everything and did not see any light anywhere. It was very dark. I employed the "fake it until I made it" method. Every hour was accounted for as to what I was doing and how I was doing it. A strict program of reading, SR, work, Tea, exercise, bedtime and wake up. I literally became a drill sergeant for my life. The "fake it till you make it" slowly became the "I see light. This is working. Its tough but I can do this"
I don't feel troubled any longer and I wake up daily with gratitude and hope. To win and succeed. Raising your life condition and getting your health back. Trust the process. We are here for you.
I take magnesium when I get headaches and it works. Magnesium Glycinate. Just a thought.
I don't feel troubled any longer and I wake up daily with gratitude and hope. To win and succeed. Raising your life condition and getting your health back. Trust the process. We are here for you.
I take magnesium when I get headaches and it works. Magnesium Glycinate. Just a thought.
Max, I have been listening to an audiobook called Alcohol Explained this week—it really does explain clearly and simply what is happening physiologically and psychologically to drinkers when drinking and also when we quit, and I think this could be really helpful to you right now.
Please check it out—it also is available in print and through kindle.
You are doing great—it does get easier so hang in there—
Please check it out—it also is available in print and through kindle.
You are doing great—it does get easier so hang in there—
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Seeking a peaceful state of mind
Posts: 99
How wonderful it is to come back to this forum and have someone ask me that. My own wife barely asks, seems irritated by me all the time -she doesn't know that I've quit. That aside, I feel 'okay.' Well, I woke up with a pounding headache, dry mouth, kind of achy, a bit disoriented; it's weird, I feel pretty much like I got my drink on pretty well last night, I mean LOADED, like I plowed through 10-15 beers and a couple bottles of wine, but I had nothing but mineral water. I'm surprised that I don't have diarrhea, sorry if that's TMI, but I usually would by now, which is going on 9 days. 9 days after midnight, or however one counts.
I'm hanging in there, I need to take my vitamins and supps and a small dose of ibuprofen and I'll feel better. I wish I could sleep for about a week, somehow it feels like if I could do that, that my body would heal enough that I wouldn't feel so bad when I wake up. Wishful thinking I guess. Thanks for asking, thank you very much! At some point, I guess I should start another post about the number of days or my progress in another part of the forum?
Thanks again,
Max
I'm hanging in there, I need to take my vitamins and supps and a small dose of ibuprofen and I'll feel better. I wish I could sleep for about a week, somehow it feels like if I could do that, that my body would heal enough that I wouldn't feel so bad when I wake up. Wishful thinking I guess. Thanks for asking, thank you very much! At some point, I guess I should start another post about the number of days or my progress in another part of the forum?
Thanks again,
Max
You can share days or not—not everyone counts, so whatever feels best to you. I know what you mean about feeling like you were drinking even when you aren’t—my body seemed to take quite a long time to detox fully in the past few years due to my years of drinking. The sleep will certainly improve and may even amaze you—you haven’t had a proper number of deep restful sleep / REM cycles in years most likely if you were a daily / frequent drinker. I drank to sleep, as many did here, and ironically, drinking really hurts your sleep—did you wake up in the wee hours pretty often? I did, and would sometimes drink to get back to sleep, and wake up exhausted.
My spouse was really angry with me too when I quit—just about to separate—I suggest just keep working on your sobriety and recovery, be nice and do you share around the house, etc., don’t talk too much about how you are getting sober (they have heard it all before and don’t trust you yet) and let your positive actions speak for you instead of using words.
Hydration, sleep, gentle exercise, lots of warm showers and distractions that you enjoy like old movies, reading, puzzles, journaling, etc. can help get through restless nights and the anxiety which will surge a little at times but over time typically gradually diminish.
Keep positive, and very important to be kind to yourself in word and deed right now.
Many people on this list have reported their liver function healing and improving greatly from stopping drinking for good—so just keep getting those sober days one by one, and you may be very surprised how much better your health, digestion and general sense of well-being improves in as little as a month.
My spouse was really angry with me too when I quit—just about to separate—I suggest just keep working on your sobriety and recovery, be nice and do you share around the house, etc., don’t talk too much about how you are getting sober (they have heard it all before and don’t trust you yet) and let your positive actions speak for you instead of using words.
Hydration, sleep, gentle exercise, lots of warm showers and distractions that you enjoy like old movies, reading, puzzles, journaling, etc. can help get through restless nights and the anxiety which will surge a little at times but over time typically gradually diminish.
Keep positive, and very important to be kind to yourself in word and deed right now.
Many people on this list have reported their liver function healing and improving greatly from stopping drinking for good—so just keep getting those sober days one by one, and you may be very surprised how much better your health, digestion and general sense of well-being improves in as little as a month.
Well done on another day! I also feel if I could just sleep for 12 hours or more every day I would feel a lot better - but I can't. I didn't tell my husband I had quite until I had done 2 weeks sober, simply because he would have not believed me. I have told him now, and he's sort of 'yeah ok' - And that's fine - he is not the type to pour endless empathy my way - I think use the people here for your support, sometimes expecting a partner/wife/husband to be your support just doesn't work - because you will want more than they can give, and that is no judgement on them, it's just too much to expect from them.
If you have time, I do recommend reading some of the old threads here, it is so good to feel you are part of a community of people that have been were you are. Hang on in there!
If you have time, I do recommend reading some of the old threads here, it is so good to feel you are part of a community of people that have been were you are. Hang on in there!
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 146
Hey Max, read your posts and just letting you know I know of other people that were in your condition who, without drinking, drastically improved their livers. If you don’t mind me asking how did you get diagnosed? Was it from an ultrasound, blood work etc.
thanks.
thanks.
Max, we do understand how hard this is. And, I agree, things seem to get worse before they start to improve and it's hard to be patient. But, there is no way around it, but to go through it. Be patient with yourself and continue to focus on your sobriety. Understand that your wife is suffering too and even though she's not asking how you are doing, I know she will be glad you have stopped drinking.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Seeking a peaceful state of mind
Posts: 99
Thanks to everyone for the support.
Max
Last edited by MaxVano; 06-09-2021 at 05:27 PM. Reason: Typos, I was using voice to text, and it doesn't work too well sometimes
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