I have to stop again

Thank you Pat xoxo

Thank you

 good for you

 

that is great

Thanks sue. It was really hard. Am sure if the champagne had been mine I'd probably have opened it, and of course a waste of money putting it back in the fridge. OH and I would have to have finished it off!!

my daughter had been promoted to manager and her colleagues had given the champagne to her, so obviously I couldn't drink it.

roll back 10 years ago, I'd have drunk it and then replaced it. So I suppose that's a positive thing. The fact she put it in the fridge is also a good thing. She would have hidden it and not said anything about it.

ive just re-read my post and now thing how pathetic it sounds, like I'm doing some big thing, but in reality 'normal' people wouldn't have even thought about it.

It's not pathetic, it's a great step forward. If I ask my husband to only eat the 1 cake in the house, he can never do it, and as for a trifle !! No chance,he says he will just have 1 portion, but by the end of the night the whole family trifle has gone !! I try to explain to him that is like me opening a bottle of wine and not drinking it all , he can't quite see the comparison , and I suppose it's not quite the same thing. But it is a similar compulsion .

so I say well done 😃

one of the main reasons I drink is to sleep

Oh gosh we are all so very different; even a moderate amount of drink really messes with my sleep; it knocks me out like a light for 4 hours solid (I can count on it being just the 4 hours!) and then I just cannot get any more sleep and I feel awful and can't function. Knowing really why we do it to ourselves, when it obviously we would feel better if we didn't is the million dollar question and sometimes I think it does come down to a habit we just can't break

I had quit for 4 months, then found I could have a bottle of wine and stop again... then it crept right bak to where I began

But you have had really good success in the past and you should be really proud of having quit for 4 months hold on to that and pat yourself on the back (can't say I've ever been able to that.) There is a website that has really helped me called 'Living Life To The Full' which is free and not just about problems with drink but aims to make you see life in general differently. It is written by a GP and is so simple and down to earth you should give it a try. In fact I should re-visit it right now!

thank you I will check it out

Insomnia/anxiety/depression can all be down to alcohol, as,I know to my cost! Alcohol is a depressant which combined with antideptessants eliminates any benefit from taking them. Alcohol sleep is not proper sleep, REM (rapid eye movement) is the important type of sleep. It's a vicious circle. You feel anxious and depressed and alcohol, although very temporary will relax you and enable you to go to sleep, but this type of sleep doesn't do what your body needs. You don't wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead. Instead, well at least I do, wake up hungover, nauseous and no energy, so then you top yourself up with a couple of drinks to function and get you going. Then you panic and feel more anxious wondering if you did or say something wrong when drunk and then feel guilty and the whole nightmare starts all over again. If this patten continues its where alcohol takes over, and before you actually realise it you are alcohol dependant. Often it's a question of which came first, the anxiety/ depression/ insomnia or the alchol.