Quitting drinking

Don't be silly. We all need water.

Loop of Henle wrote:

Don't be silly. We all need water.

:)

Back on topic, I think it could be helpful to share our processes here so that we may learn how to deal with the new situation.

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've tried many a time. For 2 or 3 months I decided I was going to kick it as a New Year's resolution. So starting today I'm done.

Every time I've stopped, I've started feeling crazy fresh on runs after 4 days of not drinking.

So now in the evening I do club soda with a dash of lime in place of a beer. Plus lots of decaff teas.

ghost of jamin wrote:

So now in the evening I do club soda with a dash of lime in place of a beer. Plus lots of decaff teas.

I also drink club soda instead of beer and lots of tea. I've heard somewhere (and find it very accurate) that it's of utmost importance to avoid being hungry or thirsty.

Former drinker:

I used to drink, binge drink. It cost me my career. Then my drinking almost cost me my life. You want to stop, go to AA. Abstinence..

This. Life is all about balance and proper dosing, whether it be exercise, sex, alone time, social time, food, or drugs and herbs. There are support groups with secular, religious and psychological angles. And within those categories, differing schools and approaches, yet still. Investigate it for yourself.

Former wrote:

Former drinker:

I used to drink, binge drink. It cost me my career. Then my drinking almost cost me my life. You want to stop, go to AA. Abstinence..

I tried AA and NA. It helped me immensely at the time to hear people talking about things I could relate to. But that was it. I don't think it has to come from within this time.

My drinking cost me every single relationship in the last 9 years and running, I love running so much and alcohol doesn't allow me to fully enjoy it.

I meant to say I feel it HAS to come from within this time.

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.

That was me.

It was strange, but I had a switch in my brain where I came to the point that I HATED alcohol. I actually journaled how I felt while drinking & timed my buzz. After 4 drinks the actual good buzz only lasted 19 minutes. After that I was still buzzed but a slight headache settled in along with a mixture of nausea and hunger that wasn't pleasant. I journaled how I felt during the good buzz & even that wasn't that great. I wanted more alcohol to take me higher, but more alcohol only made me sicker.

In the past I tried cutting back numerous times with no long term success. I tried cutting out all beer or all liquor to see if that would help, but it didn't. I always tracked the # of drinks on an app, & tried to drink as little as I could, but once I got 1 drink in me it was/is almost impossible for me to stop at 1 or 2. So I knew I had to quit cold turkey.

Nobody knew I had an alcohol problem. My wife thought I had a beer a night. She didn't know I had a large shot of vodka before it, & several drinks of vodka mixed with water after the beer. She thought I was drinking water all night after the beer.

I really do think this is it for me. I think I'm done with alcohol, & hopefully I'm not over confident or delusional right now. Again, it was a switch in my brain & I'm going on an all out war against it (personally). Like running on "pure hate." I have had my moments though that I've craved a drink. We made tacos one night & it was my habit to always have tacos with Pabst. Eating tacos by themselves felt very odd & I craved an ice cold PBR.

The hardest part is how much of a habit in my life I made alcohol. So many things gave me a reason to drink. Practically every night it was a habit to come home from work & grab a shot of vodka followed by beer. I always found an excuse to drink -- My teams playing on TV... It's Friday...It was a bad day at work...it was a boring day at work...it's Sunday night & the work weeks ahead...I'm anxious etc

Adding replacements or more activities has helped a lot. The first week was awful, but I planned daily outings outside of my home after work. Checked out local libraries, went to coffee shops etc. I started exercising more, & do it after work. Drinking coffee has helped a lot. I drink 2 cups each night. Ya, I know coffee is still a drug, but it ain't alcohol. Today I'm going shopping to look at some coffee supplies like a bean grinder & an aeropress to get more involved in the coffee side of things. Putting my alcohol money elsewhere.

What a fantastic post. Thank you for this. I can relate to so much of what you wrote.

The evenings and weekends are the hardest part for me. I live on my own and moved countries (again) recently so I only know a few people here and have no really close friends or group of people I can meet.

Alcohol has been my "company" for years but then when I got a chance to meet some people in the morning or evening, I would choose to drink instead.

I drank because I was lonely and drinking made me push people away.

I always quit drinking in the month of January. It seems my consumption gets more and more starting with Thanksgiving and ending with NYE. I even skip beers during college football playoffs and the Super Bowl. I just need to detox and lose some bloat and giving up booze does the trick. January is challenging but by February I'm ready to enjoy it sensibly again. It isn't something I consider a problem but I always find my running getting better when I let it go.

I am the liquor industry's nightmare of pot legalization come true. Quit alcohol and switched to weed (legal) last summer. At first the "body thirst" after a run was strong, but cannabis mellowed that out. There is almost none of the physical downside of (vaping) pot that comes with even 2-4 beers a night. I know "anti-drugs" people will find affront, but my life is very much improved and I have no desire to go back to bludgeoning my body into a buzz with liquid toxins. I vape the weed about 5x week and sometimes before a long run. I have read that cannabinoids are the chemicals behind "runner's high" and I tend to agree.

I quit when my wife was pregnant with our first son (sympathy quits) and was able to never start back. That was 7.5 years ago now.

To my surprise, I had just as much fun going out with my friends, and I actually enjoyed the role of designated driver. I also lost weight and got in better shape. It definitely helped that I had a built-in period of time that I wasn't going to drink. That made "just not starting back" a lot easier 7-8 months later when our son was born.

I wish you all the best. FWIW, I do NOT endorse trying to have a kid to help you on your journey ;-)

Were you hiding the vodka in another container? How could your family not know about the cocktails?

I think I'm at that point, too. Not going to stop drinking because I don't have a daily drinking issue, but I am going to stop drinking to get drunk. It's been any every weekend thing for years, and at this point it seems like the distance between the enjoyable phase and the "too drunk, bordering on blacking out" phase is way too close. Not to mention, once you're out of college women find drunk dudes a lot less appealing. So no more shots, no more pre-gaming, and stick to 4 or 5 beers max. I've always used alcohol as a way to deal with social discomfort, so that'll be the tough part.

I read about this app called Hello Sunday Morning that deals with this stuff, seems like a good motivation.

thejeff wrote:

I wish you all the best. FWIW, I do NOT endorse trying to have a kid to help you on your journey ;-)

Thank you, and ha! ;D

The problem is that there's not much socially to do around town at night besides go to bars. I guess there's also hooka lounges.

I didn't drink last night and am toying with the idea of sobriety for 2016. The longest I've gone sober is 11 months. That was a few years ago now. It was definitely worth it for me. I started drinking again after the sober period because I felt like I had a handle on it. I did have a better handle on it afterwards for probably only 6 months then spent the last couple years drinking out of boredom or to mask depression which is silly because it only contributes to depression for me. On the other hand when I practice sobriety I have more feelings of tangible euphoria and more epic experiences with other sober people. I've noticed epic experiences with other drunks are not that epic in hindsight. I'll keep you updated.

I quit February 9th 18 years ago! Cold turkey! No AA except the 12 court ordered meetings.