I've decided to quit drinking

All sounds great Brandy, you seem to have made up your mind and give a lot of gusto and jumping straight in But don't set yourself up for a fall, set yourself realistic goals. Good Luck and I hope you'll keep us posted. Had you had a drink before writing this? Just wondering.

 

You have had a wake up call... and trust me i know what that is like. Have you really asked yourself why your drinking, enough to know that being behind the wheel was not the thing to do? Maybe you need help with other issues? You are clearly functioning but that if your honest with yourself this  is not a good sign. Dont be ashamed, we all do things inc drink and we dont know whay even if they are not good for us. If you read my other posts this week you would know what i mean. But this is about you. How much do you drink each day, was this just a silly moment?  Or really if your honest with yourself could you see it happening again? You sound like a person who is probably under a lot of pressure so maybe look in to that. There are meds and counciling but it really does depend where you are and to be honest from what you have said i am not sure. I would honestly say see your gp as they have to be unjudgemental (thats prob a lot in your head right now given your job), but it can be better. We are always here too. x

hi Brandy...the drinking is hard to beat and often we need little excuses to have that one more drink and then??? try and stop considering your family as well.. I had to...Robin

Hi brandy.

Bit of a scare you have had there. Will that memory keep you sober forever? Or will you in time, forget that you could have lost everything? Alcohol alters your brain, it doesn't take long before you are in it's grip.

You don't really say how many units you have been drinking in a week, or are you a daily drinker dependent on alcohol?

Don't beat yourself up if you have a slipup. Sounds as if you do have AUD Alcohol Use Disorder

We are here if things start getting tough

Kind Regards

JulieAnne

Brandi, the near-DWI tells you that the reasoning, rational part of your mind can get overruled fairly quickly when you drink. There's a part of the brain that's involved with addiction, that part of the brain only sees the pleasure gotten by the endorphins released by drinking. It's part of your "Reward System" that makes you run from pain and towards pleasure. It doesn't have any capacity for reasoning or rational thought. 

Indeed, putting down the bottle is the first step and the first thing you should try. The problem that many run into is that their resolve fades as the "Reward System" eggs them on and says "I can have one, one will be fine" and then they find themselves buried in the bottle again. The strict abstinence approach has about a 10% 4-year success rate and you might well be one who can pull it off, but have a "Plan B". A 10% success rate tells us that 90% who attempt abstinence will indeed be drinking, but in more of a binge style with longer dry periods in between. 

The Sinclair Method can be a very good Plan B indeed. Here's a page on Patient that covers it:

https://patient.info/health/sinclair-method-for-alcohol-use-disorder

There's info for the UK in there too, but it sounds like you may be in the US. I suggest you read up on this treatment so you understand what it's about and why the Alcohol Deprivation Effect derails so many that vow abstinence. This is only one type of Medication Assisted Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder, there are others like Campral that helps as well. 

Hey just wondered how you are?

You made the first step :-))) As the others said, it will take effort, but you managed to do the most difficult thing: taking the first step.