Author Topic: Battling the bottle. (Read 63854 times)

Andrew Br · « **Reply #250 on:** 21 January, 2009, 10:45:53 am »

Over Christmas/New year I drank at a level that would have done me harm if it had continued so I decided to go on the wagon for January.
It's gone OK- going to the pub after football and having soft drinks wasn't a hardship and the only thing I missed was a glass of wine sometimes with dinner (and a real desire to have a malt after reading Woolly's whisky thread !).
So I've stayed strong.

I don't feel any better for it. I don't bounce out of bed in the morning, I don't have more energy, I don't look 10 years younger. I'm disappointed.
I must admit that I thought that I would notice something straight away.

Naive or impatient ? I can't decide.

Rapples · « **Reply #251 on:** 21 January, 2009, 10:49:03 am »

You probably weren't drinking enough before you gave up

I'm back on a no alcohol from Mon-Thur regime. feel better in the mornings and realise during the weekends that what I previously considered normal was not

Andrew Br · « **Reply #252 on:** 21 January, 2009, 10:51:37 am »

Quote from: Rapples on 21 January, 2009, 10:49:03 am

You probably weren't drinking enough before you gave up

LOL !
I did wonder that.
It's a thought that I must dismiss though, I don't want a target to aim for.

Chris S · « **Reply #253 on:** 21 January, 2009, 10:53:59 am »

Quote from: Chocolatebike on 21 January, 2009, 10:45:53 am

Over Christmas/New year I drank at a level that would have done me harm if it had continued so I decided to go on the wagon for January.
It's gone OK- going to the pub after football and having soft drinks wasn't a hardship and the only thing I missed was a glass of wine sometimes with dinner (and a real desire to have a malt after reading Woolly's whisky thread !).
So I've stayed strong.

I don't feel any better for it. I don't bounce out of bed in the morning, I don't have more energy, I don't look 10 years younger. I'm disappointed.
I must admit that I thought that I would notice something straight away.

Naive or impatient ? I can't decide.

I think you only feel a dramatic change if were chronically pissed previously.

If you drink a lot (arbitrary guess: >10 units a day) then you start drinking again before your body has finished clearing up from the previous batch, so you gradually become more and and more pissed over a long period of time.

I've definitely felt better since I stopped in the New Year; but then I was drinking between 40 and 80 units a week, so chronically pissed by my measure [sic].

As it happens, I'm planning on stepping off the wagon this coming Saturday, as it's me burfday. Back on the wagon next day though...

toekneep · « **Reply #254 on:** 21 January, 2009, 07:13:06 pm »

I too started the no alcohol Mon to Thu last week. It went surprisingly easily and same again on Mon this week then last night I was lured into a pub on the way home by a mischievous work colleague so bad marks for me. Back on the Ribena tonight and we will see how it goes for a few weeks. I definitely feel better getting up in the morning but I'm not sleeping well at all.

My main concern with this kind of regime is that the body has just got used to no alcohol after four days and then has to adjust to three days with alcohol (yes I know it isn't compulsory to drink at the weekend but I enjoy it). I sometimes wonder if that isn't more strain on the body than a moderate amount of alcohol five or six nights per week.

Rapples · « **Reply #255 on:** 21 January, 2009, 07:29:14 pm »

I've found that it takes a while for your body to adjust it's sleeping patterns, but in the end you sleep much better for no alcohol. I would normally be falling asleep at about 10.00, only to wake up at 3.00am or something stupid. Now I don't feel sleepy until 12.00, ( I normally get up around 5.30- 6.00)

Once you settle down I find that generally I drink less during the weekend aswell,( although the first few Fridays are a bit of a blur

)

One "failure" a week is nothing to worry about. I find it all goes to pot in the summer, the temptation of hot weather, friends popping round etc

oncemore · « **Reply #256 on:** 21 January, 2009, 10:03:37 pm »

"One "failure" a week is nothing to worry about."

Sorry, but the whole point is that - for SOME people - YES IT IS.

Rapples · « **Reply #257 on:** 22 January, 2009, 07:34:00 am »

For some people yes possibly.

However, toekneep said giving up Mon-Thur seemed pretty easy, like me, alcohol isn't a necessity, but a bad habit of drinking too much possibly. If he were talking about stopping completely it might be a different matter.

It's no use beating yourself up for being weak willed occasionally

Edit: If you are only trying to cut down not stop

toekneep · « **Reply #258 on:** 22 January, 2009, 08:20:24 am »

We need to be careful here that we don't confuse the difference between genuine alcoholics trying to give up drinking forever, which as I understand it from my many family sufferers, is the only option, and people who are drinking more than they feel is good for them who are trying to cut down. I have three cousins who are now dry, and two who are dead through alcoholism so I do speak with some experience. Personally, I believe that I have the potential to become alcoholic if I don't keep a lid on it. I have been in the habit of drinking every night for years and years and I have decided that I need to break the habit and limit my drinking by having several dry nights each week. I am hoping that if I can make this a new habit it will make it a lot easier to meet targets of a limited number of units per week. Not necessarily the governments figure but something that I feel comfortable with.

I have the utmost sympathy and admiration for any genuine alcoholics who are taking one day at a time and for whom any lapse can be disastrous.

Chris S · « **Reply #259 on:** 22 January, 2009, 08:44:08 am »

Well said TKP, well said

.

tonyh · « **Reply #260 on:** 22 January, 2009, 08:46:38 am »

Quote from: Chris S on 22 January, 2009, 08:44:08 am

Well said TKP, well said .

Yes indeed.

Julian · « **Reply #261 on:** 22 January, 2009, 08:55:21 pm »

I'm having a booze-free January as part of an early-year bid to lose half a stone and do a bit more exercise (there is no early-morning swimming if I've had a drink the night before).

I went to a close friend's birthday bash last night. I'm usually one of the 'let's have another one somewhere else' brigade, and people seemed to take it... personally that I wasn't drinking. $:-\$ I'm not not drinking in order to make them feel like a bunch of booze-soaked reprobates, it's because I want to, just for a few weeks, but there was a distinct air of accusation over it.

[/whinge]

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #262 on:** 22 January, 2009, 08:58:27 pm »

I think that's quite common. I think sometimes people justify their own drinking on the grounds that so-and-so drinks more. Or, sometimes people worry or feel bad about their own drinking and see other people choosing not to drink as some sort of moral judgement on them. We have a very screwed-up attitude to drink in this country.

hellymedic · « **Reply #263 on:** 22 January, 2009, 09:12:14 pm »

Quite. The old definition of an alcoholic was 'someone who drinks more than their doctor'...

oncemore · « **Reply #264 on:** 23 January, 2009, 03:36:31 pm »

"I need to break the habit and limit my drinking by having several dry nights each week."

No idea if such a service exists in your locality, but Notts ADAS (which is VERY good) runs "controlled drinking" help groups. It does seem to work for some people (not for me though).

toekneep · « **Reply #265 on:** 23 January, 2009, 04:23:22 pm »

Quote from: oncemore on 23 January, 2009, 03:36:31 pm

"I need to break the habit and limit my drinking by having several dry nights each week."

No idea if such a service exists in your locality, but Notts ADAS (which is VERY good) runs "controlled drinking" help groups. It does seem to work for some people (not for me though).

Thanks Dave, I'm doing OK at the moment and I've no idea if there is such a thing in my area but I will keep a note of your post for when and if it warrants more investigation. I had no idea that there was anything other than AA for support. Apart, of course, from YACF.

oncemore · « **Reply #266 on:** 23 January, 2009, 04:28:24 pm »

No problem.

FatBloke · « **Reply #267 on:** 23 January, 2009, 04:33:38 pm »

Quote from: toekneep on 23 January, 2009, 04:23:22 pm

I had no idea that there was anything other than AA for support. Apart, of course, from YACF.

Yep! I'm off to the pub with several of them this evening! $:-\$

David Martin · « **Reply #268 on:** 23 January, 2009, 05:05:51 pm »

Quote from: Liz on 22 January, 2009, 08:55:21 pm

I'm having a booze-free January as part of an early-year bid to lose half a stone and do a bit more exercise (there is no early-morning swimming if I've had a drink the night before).

I went to a close friend's birthday bash last night. I'm usually one of the 'let's have another one somewhere else' brigade, and people seemed to take it... personally that I wasn't drinking. $:-\$ I'm not not drinking in order to make them feel like a bunch of booze-soaked reprobates, it's because I want to, just for a few weeks, but there was a distinct air of accusation over it.

[/whinge]

I find that it really helps to have a goal in mind. My current one (and last year) was that as I am racing I need to keep on top of the training and I don't ride well if I have been drinking. So if I am training then I cannot drink.

I have events targetted and am actively training for them. This gets me kudos from friends who then don't try to persuade me to have a drink but actively support me not having a drink because I am 'training'..

It does help to have some genuine events to be training for. I'm considering being totally TT.. I am effectively so at the moment as we drink maybe a bottle of wine a quarter (and i have 1 pint a week after climbing with my mate).

..d

Julian · « **Reply #269 on:** 23 January, 2009, 05:13:19 pm »

It's really with TRAT in mind that I'm not drinking. I think this is the longest that I've not had any booze at all, even a pint or a single glass of wine with dinner since I was.... oooh... fifteen-ish. It is peculiar not wanting any because it will interfere with my training plans the next day. This is not a mindset I'm used to.

Unfortunately the friends I was out with on Wednesday have known me for far too long to take me seriously as an aspiring athlete.

David Martin · « **Reply #270 on:** 23 January, 2009, 05:18:09 pm »

Quote from: Liz on 23 January, 2009, 05:13:19 pm

It's really with TRAT in mind that I'm not drinking. I think this is the longest that I've not had any booze at all, even a pint or a single glass of wine with dinner since I was.... oooh... fifteen-ish. It is peculiar not wanting any because it will interfere with my training plans the next day. This is not a mindset I'm used to.

Unfortunately the friends I was out with on Wednesday have known me for far too long to take me seriously as an aspiring athlete.

But you can still turn round and say 'this is important to me and I can do it if I do the proper training'.

..d

Julian · « **Reply #271 on:** 23 January, 2009, 05:50:20 pm »

Yeah. They know, really, and they will be the first to applaud if when I do it. It's just that they're not used to me not drinking and I'm not used to me not drinking (in that context). They've already watched me go from being the one who was always around to go to the pub to always crying off because I'm cycling at weekends, and there was a bit of tension round that. Now that on the rare occasions I do make it out to the pub with them, I'm not even drinking, they're feeling a bit snubbed. I've had a facebook chat with a couple of people and I think the compromise has been that I'll lead a righteous and sober life up until TRAT and then they've promised to take me on a "massive piss-up."

Working out whether I actually want a massive piss-up will then be June's problem.

toekneep · « **Reply #272 on:** 05 February, 2009, 08:49:59 pm »

Tonight is a bit special for me. After years of trying to limit my drink intake I have suddenly found the will power to do it. I'm not trying to give up drinking, I don't want to, but I really want to get some control over it. Tonight is the end of the fourth week of not drinking at all during the week, Monday to Thursday, and I have only had one slip up during the second week. I can live with that. I have never managed more than a few days in the past before cracking and going back to having a drink every night.

As for benefits, apart from the obvious financial saving, I have only noticed better sleep patterns. I am however, hoping that if I can keep this up the next step might be to go without completely for a week or two or maybe even longer. The title of this thread is very apt, it really has felt like a battle but I finally feel like I am in control.

Chris S · « **Reply #273 on:** 05 February, 2009, 08:57:41 pm »

Good Post TKP

rower40 · « **Reply #274 on:** 05 February, 2009, 09:07:41 pm »

Well done toekneep.

I've not had any drinkahol since 3am on 1st Jan. (One or two sips of BEER as a part of being Bar Manager - Quality Control - usually leading to emptying 4 gallons or more of Vinegar-That-Was-Once-Real-Ale into the river)

Last time I gave up, I found exercise as a replacement. This time

it's food. I've just eaten an entire large Domino's pizza. The only excuse I have is that lunch was just one turkey cob, and I've very little proper food in the house.