Katie200

Hey all, it's my third 24 hours without alcohol after daily drinking for the past twenty years.

Today has been quite tough. The cravings in the morning were pretty bad but I managed to push through.

I've been looking up things and I seem to be suffering from the standard withdrawal symptoms.
I'm anxious, a little bit shaky, I had the worst phantom hangover this morning followed by head cold like symptoms this afternoon.
I'm absolutely starving hungry too even though I've eaten a ton today.

I understand all these are normal symptoms but it's been tough. I've found Red Bull has helped a bit as it's sweet, sugary and fizzy, although I don't want to keep drinking that stuff going ahead.

So here I am just saying hey really

Just as a little side note, and I really don't want to offend anyone, but I've been suggested AA before, and it's just not something I wish to do. There may be other groups I will look into, just not that one. Again, I don't wish to offend.
Here's hopefully to an alcohol free future.​​​​​

least

Welcome to the family and congrats on three days! There are lots of ways to get and stay sober. I use this forum and I practice gratitude every day. That keeps me sober and happy.

Dee74

Welcome to SR Katie

The site helped me turn my life around. I know we can help you do the same.

D

Anna

Welcome, Katie and good job on Day 3.

You should follow any program or plan you have that works for you. That's all that matters.

fishkiller

Welcome Katie!

I use a little bit of everything in my sobriety.
No one program. Just me and SR working through this.

ScottFromWI

Welcome Katie, you've made a great choice that you'll never regret by quitting. How you go about getting sober is really up to you, whether it's a structured meeting base program like AA/Smart/Lifering/etc or something more self-driven like AVRT or therapy/couseling to online groups like SR. My only advice on that front would be to not rule anything out until you've tried it - all roads to sobriety are rocky and steep for a while. Most people end up trying multiple ones and it evolves over time.

Boondock

Welcome Katie, congrats on the decision to quit and change your life. Use whatever works for you, even though I'm mainly AA I use a little of everything. Any tool that resonates with me to keep me from that first drink.....I'm like a smorgasbord. Hang in there..

Steely

Welcome Katie. I hope you're doing OK.

Anything that works is the way to go Katie.

Hope you continue to post.

Hevyn

Great to have you with us, Katie. Congrats on your 3 days sober. We know how challenging it is when you're first getting started.
I hope you'll keep posting - this is a great place for encouragement & understanding. We're with you.

D122y

The brain damage from drinking is forever. As things get better, by the moment, other things stand out.

Things didn't get better as much as I got used to them. That is why it takes so long to get well and why a relapse causes so much of a set back.

The fact that you want to quit, versus have to quit, is a really big deal.

Some people I know tried to make it a big deal that I quit, like I must have had something go wrong. e.g. domestic violence/dui. They are sort of right, but the real problem seemed to manifest after I quit drinking. Basically, the self medication of booze was hiding the damage it caused.

That is how I understand it. Everyone is different. Bottom line. I hate booze. There is nothing good about it.

Any rationalization about the benefits are generated for marketing hype, lies, brain washing, addiction etc.

I will never let the poison pass my lips again. I am blessed to be this free and it just gets better and better.

Suffering and time.

Thanks.

Surrendered19

Three tough foundational days Katie!!! Good for you!!!

I have never done AA but many in my in-person group have and it has helped them tremendously. I wouldn't foreclose any options you might want to have down the road. AA has saved countless lives.

But there are many ways to get on top of this thing. SR saved my life. And I am blessed with a bunch of other recovering attorneys that I get together with in person. If you don't do AA, that is just fine. But make sure you have a good plan for staying sober.

Steely

How you doing Katie?

Katie200

Thanks all for the welcome
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Hodd

I went through a Red Bull stage. Nothing wrong with that. People who say “just drink water” have never had to withdraw from alcohol dependency. Others try ice cream, chocolate - nothing will be worse than alcohol.

You’re doing OK.

Scd619x

Very impressive as you were a daily drinker, 3 days is huge, as opposed to if you were a weekend drinker when it's not so much lol

I do AA, but it's not the only way to get sober. Hopefully you will be thinking, in the future, about a plan for keeping sober as, for me, i was drinking to deal with how i felt sober, it wasn't that i was all fine and dandy sober then unfortunately drink led me astray! SMARTs a good one to look at, i've done that. Maybe some counselling, self help books, new hobby, stuff like that?

Keep posting here for sure though!

BackandScared

I did not want to do days 1 to 3 ever again. My first week was a nightmare. I did not realise how bad my body dependence had become and I was really scared. The thought of going through it again kept me on the right track. I read the blog mummywasasecretdrink, several books on alcoholism, did the 30 days challenge by Annie Grace, wrote 3 things I was grateful about everyday. I wrote on my 'July 2019' beginners thread here and read every post, especially stories of success.
It gets much better. You have done something incredible already. It is really tough but I am sure you were in a very tough place already. You are on the right trajectory. Well done

lessgravity

Welcome! There are plenty of us here who did not use AA but instead found permanent sobriety with SR. It takes work but it's such a better life.

tursiops999

Welcome Katie! Congrats on your 3 days. I hope reading around this site will provide a lot of good support and information for you ... there are many tools and approaches that have worked for folks here. Glad you've joined us.

Hodd

Sh*t, yes! Those first few days are incredibly scary. It feels like something dreadful is about to happen health wise. There are pains everywhere, sleep is non-existent and anxiety and boredom are huge. Wish I’d kept a blog or invented a withdrawometer to gauge how I felt as the days went on. Looking back, it’s “only” a couple of weeks. You need to keep very occupied, Katie, during these first few weeks.

DriGuy

Day three was the day I caved in so many times, and day 5 the worst, but I'll say this again, even though you will hear it from hundreds of others, "It gets easier!" In fact, it's gets so easy, you will eventually wonder why you even thought it was hard. Why was it even an issue worth labeling with a degree of difficulty? Hang in there. It's not the fun part yet, but you are on your way. Right now, you're probably wondering if recovery can ever be fun. Well, that's the point of the whole thing. You'll see.