Hey man, good job. I’m glad to see you making progress.
One of my favorite addiction and trauma specialists is Gabor Mate. He says stop trying to cure anything wrong with you. Just acknowledge you have a problem and work on it a little each day.
All of the slogans apply. Keep coming back. It works if you work it.
If you want to cut down on the soda, you could try mixing your Mello Yello with seltzer. Maybe start with a 3:1 soda:Seltzer mix. Then slowly ramp it up.
The 2+2 poster feedmykids/feedmykids2 passed away due to alcoholism by way of liver disease. He was 34.
Justin was a fascinating guy. I first corresponded with him when he posted this thread about jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge: Ask me anything about jumping off a bridge - Other Topics Forum - Discuss Pop Culture, Arts and Entertainment
As I learned when we started chatting after the above thread, he was a high-level pro bridge player. He had some great stories about the seedy underbelly of the bridge world. It was a show with everything but Yul Brenner. I thought, and still think, it would have made a great movie. Bridge player jumps off a bridge. But I wish it had a happy ending.
Here’s an obit of sorts: Justin Lall (1986-2020)
forgot i started this thread, i haven’t quit lol. i’m fine with it for now.
You’re not that heavy of a drinker and this isn’t the year. Maybe switch to weed or something. 2020 is not for sobriety lol.
I didnt realize feedmykids hadn’t posted since 2012. I knew who he was and I am terrible at remembering screen names.
I can’t imagine how much of a heavy drinker you’d have to be to pass at 34 from liver disease. Pretty gnarly.
It’s well known about me that I drink a lot but I am down to just 1 beer a day with dinner. That is down from 3-4 beers a day 6 months ago and 5+ about a year ago.
I don’t know if I wanna make the jump to quitting entirely but 1 drink per week is my next goal. For some reason just tapering it has led to more success for me.
Edit: oh, he made another screen name.
I started my own thread that was similar a couple weeks ago and requested it be deleted for various reasons. Several of you reached out about my concerns about my drinking which was much appreciated.
I legitimately don’t want to quit but I do want to drink less and not have hangovers. I also went to the doctor for my annual checkup and was diagnosed with hypertension. I discussed my drinking with my doctor and he agreed it was likely a contributing factor and encouraged me to drink less. Luckily my liver/kidney function looks normal.
So for now I am not drinking hard liqour and trying to avoid drinking every day and avoid hangovers when I do. I am doing better. I am going on almost two weeks of no hangovers. Baby steps. I also had an odd experience with my mom last night that makes me wonder if there is some genetic alcoholism issues going on also. We had a fairly normal night. Had dinner at their house and had a bottle of wine amongst 4 of us. We all say goodnight and go to our bedrooms. I realize i forgot something in my car and saw my mom pouring a rather large glass of wine that made it obvious she wasn’t going to bed. I didn’t say anything but did have the damn is my mom hiding her drinking moment? Do we have some of the same issues?
As others have said now is an exceptionally tough time to stay sober but I am committed to trying to moderate. We will see how it goes.
I am also cutting back for hypertension reasons
I’m up to a pint a day. Was teetotaling before covid. Then I’d have a beer during the weekend. Then two and now it’s a daily thing.
I know you’re supposed to have a glass and a half but I just can’t drink that much!
Even pre-covid I would have a few drinks per week. One thing is that my drinking is inconsistent, sometimes I’ll go weeks barely drinking at all and then I’ll have a month where I’m up to 10 drinks a week. Makes it hard to benchmark, am I drinking more or less? Who knows? The thing I’ve really noticed is that I gained weight in April/May. Some combo of drinking more and exercising less.
I quit around the same time as OP, cold turkey from probably 24-30 units/week. My BP was high, so I cut out alcohol and salt. I can’t say that I really identify with all of the sobriety is so great proponents, but it’s aight. My BP is under control, I’ve lost about 15 lbs. now, and I’m not ingesting poison to quell anxiety any more. Anxiety generated by drinking to quell that little bit of anxiety – see books below.
I did notice a significant difference in anxiety level, especially on a business trip like two weeks in. So normally on this type of trip, I would have 5-6 beers every night, go around to the craft beer bars, and be dragging a little in the morning. I had a big presentation at 8 am, and normally the night before, I would be like, ok, I have to keep it to 3-4 beers, get to bed early, and that would provoke anxiety. This time, I was struggling with cravings, and so I ordered food and kombucha for delivery instead of going out for dinner. Went to bed at a normal hour, and nailed the presentation with very little anxiety. It was very nice not to show up with bloodshot eyes, unable to concentrate, and wondering whether it’s completely obvious that this drunk was out drinking all night, and can barely function. That was a huge difference, but one that I would call being normal, not like some amazing experience of sobriety. Before, I was stunting and dulling myself, and now I’m not.
I think I posted in the yearly goals/resolution thread some resources for quitting or just exploring. I found the Reddit sub /r/stopdrinking to be invaluable. Reading about experiences similar to mine, and making recommendations to people in similar situations was really helpful. Two of the books they recommend are excellent: Grace, Annie - This Naked Mind and Porter, William - Alcohol Explained. If you are thinking about quitting, but don’t know whether you really want to (but I like alcohol), these are good books to read while you are still drinking and making your decision. I feel like I missed out a bit by not reading Grace’s book (and her 30-day test experience on her web site) before quitting.
BTW, my go-to replacement drinks are NA beer (Athletica Brewing lately), kombucha (homemade or store-bought), and seltzer with a splash of juice (usually grapefruit).
Good for you. Keep it up. Alcohol is a terrible thing, life is a lot better without it.
I’m sure I’ve posted about this elsewhere on UP, and tons on 2+2, but just in case: I’m a recovered alcoholic and addict with a little over 7 1/2 years clean and sober. It’s not the only way to do it, but I personally found my solution in AA and the 12 steps. If anyone is struggling, please reach out to me. It’s probably my life you’d be saving.
Gives Czechs a run for their money.
I wouldn’t say I’m addicted to alcohol. Just that it’s hard to go some days in the summer without one or two. Lately, that’s been everyday.
Possibly this is splitting hairs but what you describe might be more like a bad habit than an addiction. The main difference being that a habit is frustratingly difficult to break but nowhere near as hard to overcome as a addiction. At one or two drinks per day you probably won’t have serious physical reactions if you cut back or totally eliminate alcohol. Someone drinking 10 drinks per day is probably going to have debilitating withdrawal symptoms if they stop.
I agree. I’d like to go back to teetotaling though. Was good for me. My 20s and early 30s were a drunken haze. More of a functioning alcoholic at that time.
My belief is that this is probably right, and I tend to have one or two beers most days. What I’m trying to avoid, though, is the automatic nature of it. Like, 5pm rolls around and sometimes it feels like I’m robotically opening a beer, rather than it being a considered choice I’m making. That’s bad.
Edit: Agree with what jmakin just said. The quitting alcohol thread on 2p2 was fantastic, and this should be a thread about quitting alcohol, not defending “appropriate” levels of drinking.
5 beers a day is absolutely not healthy. 3-4 beers a day puts you in range of dependence levels of drinking.
Anyway this thread is about quitting alcohol so I’m not sure how productive this discussion is. Everyone has their own reasons. The level I drank at was unhealthy and was causing health problems. I want to drink less. It has nothing to do with shame or anything like that. It is what my doctors and body are telling me.
Definitely felt this when I was working in an office pushing paper in my early 20s. What once was a beer was me mixing Captain Morgan and cream soda out of a giant beer mug every night.
God, office work is such a terrible existence. Probably would’ve killed myself if I kept working there.
This is a thread about people interested in reducing or eliminating alcohol intake. The one on 2p2 was incredibly supportive and it would be fantastic if it were emulated here. It’s not the place for defending alcohol.