Posted , 11 users are following.
Hi, ive been a heavy drinker for around 3 years, drinking almost a litre of vodka every night, before then was drinking a lot but not as much. ive decided now that i dont want this life anymore and am nearly 3 weeks sober.
my question is when or if it gets any easier?
im still struggling each night without it, is there anything i can take/do to help? x
2 likes, 24 replies
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Joanna-SMUKLtd dondons
Posted
It is called the Alcohol Deprivation Effect (ADE).
This happens when we deprive ourselves of alcohol. Cravings build, and the longer we stay away from alcohol the more the cravings build..... and so on, until the almost inevitable relapse. And then the cycle begins again. This is why relapse rates with our condition are so high.
My best suggestion would be to look into seeing if Acamprosate (Campral) would be suitable for you. It is a prescription only medication, but is non-addictive, and can really help correct the changes in the brain that alcohol has caused.
It won't do all the work for you of course, but it can help support you in the same way that a crutch will help support you whilst your broken leg heals.
Smile47824 dondons
Posted
Hi. Good for you!!! You should be so proud of yourself!!! It is very hard to stop. How are you feeling? Any withdrawal symptoms or just finding it tough not to pick up that bottle?
To answer your question from my experience(which is the only one I can give you) is I stopped 1 year and 8 months ago( cold turkey) and in the beginning it was tough not to go back. Breaking the habit I had with my drinking was painful and sad. Like ending a toxic relationship that I knew that if didn't it was going to kill me. As days went on it did get easier and easier and today I don't even think about it anymore but the beginning is tough and I had to pin point why I drank and what to avoid. When the stressers hit I wanted automatically hit that bottle again so had to find a way to just push through it and get to the next day. Really...one day at a time and you will be very proud that you didn't give up. Then the days become weeks, then months and a year...Keep us up to date. I would love to hear the good and bad to so we can support you here.
HumptyDumpty43 dondons
Posted
Hi dondons,
Firstly well done for 3 weeks without a drink.
Secondly Yes it does get easier I promise you!!
I stopped back in July of this year after 25+ years of heavy drinking and believe me, as they say, if I can do it then so can you. With me it was a health scare that finally opened my eyes as to what I was doing to myself. Since July my blood results have been near normal, I've lost nearly two stone in weight and I feel fantastic. I've decided that I don't want to even have one little drink as I'm thinking that what is the point of having just one? I might as well go without as I don't trust myself to stop at just one drink.
I do fancy a drink every now and then but it's not worth undoing all the good work I've done over the past few months and I know I would hate myself for giving in.
It is difficult at times as now it's coming up to Xmas there's loads of alcohol ads on the TV but it's the same if you start a diet - all the ads are for food!!
Mine is a long story of stopping and starting drinking again but it can be done. You need to get to that place in yourself where you actually genuinely want to stop otherwise it won't happen. So, onwards and upwards for you. Even if you do slip up, don't panic, just start again and congratulate yourself for getting this far.
Wishing you all the best.
Humpty xxx
Robin2015 dondons
Posted
Hi Dondon. Try Campral as Joanna suggests and if you can get it prescribed. One litre Vodka seems a lot to me and i was a very heavy drinker for many years. Your body will struggle tremendously for many weeks but do try to persevere. Soon 6 years sober for me😁
dondons
Posted
thank you for your replies, i feel better knowing that it can be done, i know its only 3 weeks but ive shocked myself. i havent had any physical withdrawals, i actually feel more fit and healthy already, the past few days the sweats and shakes have stopped and the first 2 weeks was so hard to sleep but now my sleep is getting much better now so i can see benefits of stopping and im determined its just hard not having it each night. even now i want to go to the shop and get some x
HumptyDumpty43 dondons
Posted
How are you getting on now?
Humpty xxx
anna73794 dondons
Posted
I can recommend a very good website which provides information and support for people who decide that they have a problem with alcohol.
https://soberistas.com/
Joanna-SMUKLtd anna73794
Posted
That is a good website indeed, and it has been on the go for a number of years now. I was a member previously when you didn't have to pay to get all the features of the website.
Personally, I only have 2 small issues with these type of websites that people do need to be aware of.
Firstly, sometimes forums can be a place where people who have drink issues, and who might've been shunned by family and friends, can find some acceptance and love and validation. They are good people, hurting. This is wonderful, of course. But if that person places all their time and effort into a forum, rather than using the forum as a tool and just one part of their recovery, what many forums suffer from is that if someone is recovering well, then the attention towards that person may wane in favour of other struggling. For someone who starts to see the forum as some sort of personal validation and friendship, then they may find their popularity falling, as people focus on others who need help more. It's a fine line between using a forum as a great part of the recovery package and ending up with it being something that someone fully focuses on and effectively becomes 'addicted to', instead. An unintended off-shoot of this is that it can create a situation where someone who is in need of friendship ends up relapsing in order that they can then regain some much needed support and friendship again. Just read through some of the posts to see the see-saw of sober/relapse/sober/relapse to see what I mean.
Secondly, and this is by far my only real big issue with the particular website you mentioned, they don't seem to want to acknowledge that The Sinclair Method even exists. As many of you know, this is the best recovery method out there in terms of actual, measurable clinical results. I know a number of people who have become members of the website and tried to post about their recovery using TSM in order to help others, and have had posts deleted, warnings, and even being blocked because they don't class it as recovery (or more like, it doesn't fit their concept of what recovery is). On Sobersistas, recovery is basically measured in terms of number of days abstinent, and I am personally a firm believer that other options exist, should be talking about, and that recovery is something other than a number of days measurements.
It is a wonderful resource, and a very well known one, but then I feel they are doing a major disservice to their paying (and non-paying) members to not be open-minded about all the many ways of recovery out there.
(Just my opinion)
Joanna-SMUKLtd
Posted
How much is it to be a member now? I can't find anything about pricing on their website other than a 7 day free trial. They don't seem very upfront and open about what it costs anymore. I think I left when I realised that I wasn't getting much out of it (kept relapsing anyway) and they were introducing a £3 a month membership fee, but that was maybe 7 or 8 years ago now perhaps.
anna73794 Joanna-SMUKLtd
Posted
if you click on membership from the home page, you'll find the fees. there's an annual one or a 3 monthly one.
It seems up front to me. It's £39 for a year membership .
Joanna-SMUKLtd anna73794
Posted
Thanks, Anna. The price hasn't changed then, that is great 😃
I don't get that on the homepage. Wonder why? The only membership tag I see is at the bottom left of the homepage, and when I click on that it says I need to sign up or log in. If I then click sign up, it takes me to a page for the free 7 day trial but no prices.
Oh well, it's really good to see that they haven't had to increase their membership fees since they introduced them a little while back.
anna73794 Joanna-SMUKLtd
Posted
oh perhaps if you sign up for the free trial it lets you see the cost of membership. I hadn't realised it wasn't available generally.
dondons
Posted
I messed up thought i could do it thought i was doing ok but ive messed up
alexendra dondons
Posted
Hi dondons !!! How going on your life . Hope you has been almost stop this habit .
vickylou alexendra
Posted
alexendra
Your latest addition to this discussion doesnt even make sense
Robin2015 alexendra
Posted
Total rubbish reply Alexandra