Quitting drinking

This post caught my attention. I am a functional alcoholic. It has been a slow but observable degradation in drinking for many years. Beer is my weapon of choice and I am the guy that shops by looking at the percent alcohol on the labels. Anything under about 8% just doesn't do the trick (drinking double IPA right now). What's interesting, as I step back for a moment, is that I realize I've been considering switching to liquor because beer just fills me up too much. Right? Isn't this how one might continue their decline? It started with a six pack every week starting in ~ 1996 and has progressed to where I am now, consuming large (but not quite obscene) amounts of beer every week.

Regarding physical activity the day after drinking...at first hangovers were a real challenge. I am a cyclist (and hobby jogger) and my hard rides really suffered. But this year I was able to place well during the cyclocross season after several beers the night before many races. In previous years this would not have happened. Part of it was the fact I actually did a base period during training. Part of it was an increased alcohol tolerance as I slowly march toward whatever end state it is that I will encounter. I wish I could quit but right now--at this specific moment in time--but I can't.

trying again wrote:

Another poster said he quit on December 8th. I quit yesterday.

Anyone else?

I am already starting to feel anxious but I am drinking a lot of tea (different herbal infusions) and at least I don't feel the thirst.

Last time I stopped I saw great results in my running after about 8 days.

I crashed and burned at age 27. "Unable to imagine life with or without alcohol." Ended up in AA - absolutely KNEW it wouldn't work. No chance. Well, it did. I'm 58 now and have been continuously sober since, which is 31+ years. And yes, I still attend meetings regularly. It helps me stay sober I believe, and it allows me to be there for the new guy.

AA doesn't work for everyone. It's not a perfect program. Or maybe it is a perfect program, just full of decidedly imperfect people. It's not the only way to stay sober but it's got as good a success rate as any other treatment modality (20%?, I don't know.). Anyway it's worked for me and I'm grateful. To say it changed my life for the better is true, and also a huge understatement.

Yeah, the switch from beer to liquor is where it goes off the rails. You'd have to be a determined SOB to drink a 30 of beer every night, but a liter or two of vodka is perfectly doable. Never went down that road myself, but talked to plenty who did in DUI classes. The ones who did it more than a couple years had permanent problems (peripheral nerve dmg seemed worst) -- good luck..

I don't know if it's because some process alcohol differently, or we just get used to it, but I've never had much an issue with exercising after "moderate" nights. Ran my 5k PR after 8 or so beers the night before. Maybe 12+ is where things get rough.

trying again wrote:

Another poster said he quit on December 8th. I quit yesterday.

Anyone else?

Yep, starting tomorrow, I will stop drininkig until one week from now. Girl Scout promise.👍

3 weeks 4 days sober.

It's Saturday night. Normally I'd be pretty drunk by now. Picking fights with people online/on message boards, or stirring up issues with my wife to debate over. I don't miss it.

Probably too much personal information, but we hit the bedroom early tonight. I recall times in the past being drunk & unable to finish. Wife thought it was her fault at times, not knowing I was completely numbed out by copious amounts of vodka. Since quitting, it seems like my testosterone has increased throughout the day. I know research has found a connection between low testosterone & alcohol.

I worked this morning which is unusual for me on a Saturday. Prior to quitting I would have used that as an excuse to reward myself & get loaded when I got home. Instead, tonight I've kept myself occupied by playing a video game & sipping on coffee.

Struggle: I haven't had any cravings today, but a couple times I've found some projects I need to work on. I was always really productive while drunk for some reason. My initial thought both times was that I would wait & do the project while drinking. Then I realized, oh wait. You're going to have to find a way to tackle this sober.

Well, I am going to have a nice cold beer...

Ahhhhhh !!

Damn, That's good !

Yeah, that's a description of me, too. Now unwillingly retired, the temptation to drink a lot is palpable because there are few consequences. So I try to work out for an hour a day either run or go to the gym. Seems to work, so far.

I quit drinking just a hair over six years ago. I quit turkey when I came to realize I was an a$$hole when drunk, I was getting drunk every night and waking every day perspiring booze, and I was wasting a large proportion of my limited lifetime being only partly tuned in to the life that was passing me by.

Best decision I ever made, took 30 years of hard drinking to make it. I thought it would be the hardest thing I ever did but it turned out to be the easiest, I have never looked back and stupid thoughts of taking a drink just don't enter my mind. I know in both my head and in my gut that drinking is hella bad for me and one drink will pull me into the abyss. So it's as easy as pie for me to decide not to take a drink, and my brain has moved on to other pursuits.

I know it is almost never this easy for most people and consider myself lucky as hell it was this easy for me to escape my prison. My dad is a recovered alcoholic (> 45 years sober) and needs AA, which is what saved him.

I had tried to quite a few times over the years after particularly bad drunks, usually when I'd done something really shameful to somebody close to me. I don't know what switch finally got flipped in my brain, but in my mid-40s my time was right. All the best to you and the others on here hoping/trying/wishing to quit. I hope some of you have my luck, and some of you also have my dad's luck, or some other version of your own luck. Drinking is not bad for everyone, but for those it is bad for, it can be a true hell.

Allen Carr's book "Easy Way to Stop Drinking" was really helpful for me. It simply walks through all of the reasons why people drink and shoots them all down. That really helped me get past the white knuckling of the first week.

There was no rock bottom, no awful drunken bash, DUI or major event. I started to notice things I didn't like and realized just how much I was thinking about drinking. Do I have enough at home for me and the Mrs? Do I feel like a porter or IPA tonight? Where can I get it? Oh, the 7-11 is the last store before you get home that has beer. On and on and on. My mind is clearer because I don't think about drinking as much - I can think about other things.

If you're thinking about quitting or cutting back, the book seems cheesy but it really helps.

This has been a nice thread, filled with a lot of support.

I like the idea of a drinking quota. 4-5 per week seems good. I would be surprised if I were over that more than once in a blue moon but I suppose if I start tracking, I'll know for sure.

Good luck to those of you pursuing sobriety.

if you ever need any tips quitting you can always come to me, i've quit like 20 times so i know what im sayin

Very interesting thread, thanks.I've often worried about wether I am alcoholic or not. (They say that worrying about it means that you ARE an alcoholic, but I don't know really.) For about 15 years I have averaged a bottle (750ml) of wine per night. Recently I decided every night is too much, therefore I will drink only on odd days of the month. I'm having no problem doing this, enjoying teas on the even nights. But I do drink a bottle of wine every odd night. Usually I drink said bottle over the course of 4-6 hours.

ScottEvil wrote:

This has been a nice thread, filled with a lot of support.

I like the idea of a drinking quota. 4-5 per week seems good. I would be surprised if I were over that more than once in a blue moon but I suppose if I start tracking, I'll know for sure.

Good luck to those of you pursuing sobriety.

Quotas work for some of us, maybe the functional alcoholics, or the non-alcoholics. I understand that absolute abstinance is the only way for many others, however. Many simply cannot do a quota other than zero.

Interestingness wrote:

I've often worried about wether I am alcoholic or not. (They say that worrying about it means that you ARE an alcoholic, but I don't know really.)

For about 15 years I have averaged a bottle (750ml) of wine per night.

You are not an alcoholic but you may well be French.

Interestingness wrote:

Quotas work for some of us, maybe the functional alcoholics, or the non-alcoholics. I understand that absolute abstinance is the only way for many others, however. Many simply cannot do a quota other than zero.

Ya, I used the quota method. I was well aware of the research supporting the 14 drinks a week limit, & no more than 4 drinks in a day.

Per research, if you keep it under this number you have a low risk for developing an alcohol abuse disorder among other things.

For awhile I kept my limit right at 14 or under. I believed that if I kept it under the magic #14, then I didn't have a problem. Then I started cheating myself. I knew the alc content on all beers. I'd buy beer with 8% alcohol, & count that as one drink. I'd basically gulp or almost chug the drinks & quickly have another. I'd measure a shot but hold the shot glass above the glass when pouring & "accidentally" pour over the top of the measuring shot glass. Oops, extra vodka. Still counts as 1 drink. And wine, I didn't have anything to measure wine, so ya, eyeballing that looks about = to 1 drink.

I'm pretty sure I'm the type who needs absolute abstinence.

Me I'm quitting drinking I can't drink cause when I do drink I can't stop. Will die soon if I drink again :(

24 hours sober here.

Interesting timing on this thread, finally decided tonight was my last drink. As far as consumption, I've never really gone off the rails with anything. But it's consistent as hell. Rarely missing a night. Other than my wife, I doubt anyone thinks I've got an alcohol problem. No DUI's, no stupid decisions (other than to keep drinking) I've manage to be a completely functional alcoholic. Good job, great family, pretty much all you could ask for. But it's time.

For me it's almost all mental. I'm depressed as hell. First it was just being depressed, then the alcohol to cover it up, that lead to more depression and so on and so on. It's to the point that my 2 year old was doing something absolutely adorable tonight and my wife was busting up laughing. The wife looks as me and asks me how I can't think it's cute as well as I sit there stone faced, totally in my own head thinking about my relationship with alcohol for about the 50th time today. Well, knowing I'm raising someone while drinking every day that will ultimately lead to an early death, again, just depresses the hell out of you. Pretty tough to laugh at anything at that point.

So I'm at the point where I can't even enjoy the best moments in life because of alcohol. And I can't do it anymore. Poured all the booze out, the wife is 100% on board, so I'm happy to have finally made the decision.

Great thread. I'm a highly functioning alcoholic. I've been through cycles of sobriety. Some of you know, the 'dry drunk'. I'm burned out of daily drinking and binging and pressing my luck driving and dragging through the next day and struggling to rationalize my behavior.

Great thread everyone. Good luck to everyone going sober or thinking about going sober.

As of this morning I've been sober for one month. Another 24 hours.