Good man… Stay safe 
There’s a lot of problem drinkers out there, I’m glad you found the way out. 
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Preach brother 
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Cutting back has had a great effect on my blood pressure. I just took mine after taking my meds (which increase bp), having two cups of tea, and pacing around an extremely hot house. My reading was 121/85 with 85 bpm.
The day after I drank heavily it was typically 150/95 with over 90 bpm. That was WITH my hypertension meds. So I am hoping I can eventually eliminate those.
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Regarding the sleep disruption, I used to wake up and not be able to get back to sleep. About 5 hours after drinking, the negative effects kick in, including anxiety. So the alcohol helps you drop off to sleep, but makes you less well rested. Also, some part of the insomnia itself is caused by alcohol – I attribute my improved mental acuity (not quite at my early to mid twenties, but much better) to better sleep. Check out those books I recommended upthread if you want to learn more about the science of alcohol’s effects.
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Yeah this is 100% true for me. A drink or two doesn’t bother me at all. But anything more than 3 or 4 and I get a really shitty quality sleep. And the more drinks the worse quality sleep.
I read Alcohol explained over the last few days and it def convinced me to give quitting another go so we’ll see how it goes. Haven’t had any since Sunday.
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Being at home since lockdown in March has meant a sudden end to the biweekly after work drinks in the local, which was taking its toll on my health through poor sleep and a couple of falls I’d had running for the train (never a good idea after a gallon and some shorts regardless of how superhuman you might feel).
I’d habitually be awake by 4am after a night out, even after as few as 4 pints, and it was making me very grumpy and work the next day unbearably difficult.
I’ve never been a big home drinker so this is a chance to dry out a bit, and now I’m retired and enjoying life more I don’t feel the need to drink as much.
I do miss my old work pals and the laughs we used to have - it’s a pity the three of us core members are all at least 30 miles apart.
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You know, I won’t say there aren’t people who can relax and have a few drinks or whatever but I was never one of those.
I basically drank til almost blacked out for like 5+ years, drank a 6+ pack a night for 5 years before that and maybe like 3-6 beers a night for 5 years before that. I lost about 5 years to sitting on my ass at home by myself because I nearly got a DUI and didn’t want to have my drivers license taken away or get embarrassed further at work. At my worst I drank a half of a handle of scotch a night for maybe 1-2 years.
When it was at its worst, I woke up and my kidneys hurt. I didn’t call a doctor, I didn’t ask what my friends think or get the opinion of family members. I took a shower and asked myself if I wanted to live or die. I chose live which included quitting drinking for me. This took me years to accomplish as I tried to just ‘go out for a few drinks with coworkers’ and similar but really only cold turkey worked for me personally. 1 drink always lead to more even if not that drinking session but in a session down the road.
I never went to AA or anything and probably with the amount I drank it was probably potentially dangerous the way I went cold turkey. A month after going from almost a liter of scotch a night to no alcohol, if I thought about a drink my stomach roared like a train. It literally didn’t know the difference between food and alcohol.
For me my life has been much better. All the best to those who can drink in moderation but please fuck off if you are here to tell someone who is struggling that they are wrong just because you don’t agree with some shit that someone in AA said. Surely they are wrong about somethings but that doesn’t make you right. Thank you.
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Who is doing that?
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Victor
I have drank alcohol almost everyday since I was 15 years old. I don’t think I have ever went more than 3 weeks sober and that was a long time ago. Whenever I think about quitting my mind fills with all the fun times I have had. I never think of all the horrible times or consequences from drinking.
I also have a hard time thinking about not doing certain activities without alcohol involved. So much of my life and things I do I equate with drinking. Almost every holiday is an excuse to get drunk when I fly I get drunk, any sporting event, going to dinner, meeting with friends. It’s dumb but that’s why I don’t quit.
Yep, that’s the alcohol salesman part of your brain talking. The subconscious part only knows relief from that anxious feeling (when you need a drink), and pushes the good parts – vacations, drinks with friends, how delicious your favorite drink is. Your conscious brain knows about hangovers, health problems, relationship problems, etc. caused by alcohol, but the subconscious part brings that fear – forever?! really forever and EVER?! We can’t do that. Let’s have a beer.
The thing is, even though you associate all of those fun things with alcohol, you can still do all of those fun things, have all the same experiences, see the friends, visit the places, watch the game, without drinking. Drinking is like a few percent of the experience, but we build it up to be the sine qua non of the experience. It’s not.
Anyway, it’s not clear from your post whether you want to quit drinking or wish you could, but everything you describe is very common, and can be overcome if you decide to.
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These are the same thoughts I had before I quit. I couldn’t imagine doing all these things without alcohol. All the fun things I did involved alcohol. I planned things around where I could go and what I could do that involved alcohol.
Of course, that’s all bullshit I believed because I was an alcoholic. It’s amazing the justifications we will come up to enable our drinking.
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awesome, im at 3 weeks and 2 days, piece of cake.
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Congrats! First month is definitely the hardest. Lack of social responsibilities at the moment make it prime quitting time imo
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I’ve been very lucky to not have addiction issues so I can’t say this is as powerful for an addict as it was for me but I highly recommend the recent episode of Armchair Expert where Dax Shepard comes clean about his recent drug relapse.
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Month and 3 days now
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That’s awesome. Congrats! It’s much easier from here.
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I’ve decided to cut down for reasons of weight and mental acuity. For quite some time it’s been 2-3 shots almost every night. It doesn’t take much for my next days’ to be sluggish. Doesn’t help the depressive tendency, neither, and my weight loss plateaued. I once went two years having just one drink every other day after I first got gout, but that was a long time ago. So I decided to go a week totally on the wagon, then return to the one every two days routine. On day four. Grateful I haven’t had to struggle with it as much as some.
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